Powerbook won't load desktop.

twister

twister

Howdy
I recently gave my Powerbook 667 to my wife and last night it had issues. At 9 I went to put it to sleep and the mouse would move but I couldn't select anything. The clock said 7:45 so it had been frozen for a while. I just shut it down and went to bed. Today, when I start it up, the desktop won't load at all.

It does start up, does the chime, I see the grey apple screen, goes blue, has the round progress spinner and then stops. I end on a blue screen with the mouse. Mouse moves, nothing to do though.

I've tied hooking it up to my iMac and running disk utility and it found nothing wrong. I tried booting into classic but it never takes. I tried booting into safe mode but it either doesn't take or I have the same issue.

I'm not sure what to try next. :(

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks
 
Update: I realized that I had TechTool Deluxe, since I just got AppleCare for my new iMac, so I started off the CD and here is what I found out.

Random Read: Failed
Random Write: Failed
Linear Read: Failed
Linear Write: Failed
Read Buffer: Failed
Write Buffer: Failed

Is that software issues or hardware issues? I'm thinking hardware. :( Could an erase/restore fix it?
 
It certainly _sounds_ like the harddrive is gone. Can you mount it in target-mode? Make a backup. Then reinstall. That's what I'd do at this moment...
 
By harddrive is gone, do you mean software or hardware?

I can mount in Target Disk Mode. Most backup was already done as I just moved to my new iMac.

I also have four partitions. Maybe I'll just install OSX on another one to see what happens.

My poor wife is going to think Macs suck after this. ;) I told her how good they were and she's having nothing but issues.
 
Here is the latest update. I got the hard drives to show up in target disk mode so I backed everything up I could. I then restarted the laptop via the Tiger install disk and it didn't mount any hard drives.

I ran disk first aid and everything was fine (or so it said) but I can't even erase the hard drive.

So I'm guessing my hard drive is crap. How hard are they to replace? What do I do next?

:(
 
Hm. If you boot from the OS 9 installation CD, can you install _that_ on the internal drive? I'd forget about the partitions, though, and try to create just one. (btw.: Don't PM me about answering a thread, I'll do it if I have the time and info to help - if I don't answer, it means I'm either asleep, not around or don't have anything helpful to say...)
 
if you can either mount the disk in Target mode, or better, boot in safe mode, then try downloading the combo updater for the latest version of mac os x (large file...) and running that on the faulty disk. it worked for me, and i was having the exact same problems.
 
It was a major hard drive issue. I had to buy a new one and install it. Quite easy and now everything is great!
 
twister said:
It was a major hard drive issue. I had to buy a new one and install it. Quite easy and now everything is great!
Click to expand...

My advice to you now is you may want tot think about getting an external firewire hard drive and backup to it on a regular basis. With programs like Carbon Copy Cloner or Superduper and make a bootable clone on that external drive. You may never know when you will need a backup you can boot from.
 
Satcomer said:
My advice to you now is you may want tot think about getting an external firewire hard drive and backup to it on a regular basis. With programs like Carbon Copy Cloner or Superduper and make a bootable clone on that external drive. You may never know when you will need a backup you can boot from.
Click to expand...

Everything was backed up so we were all good. That and I could start in target disk mode for some reason. Plus why spend money on a hard drive when you can put it twards a new mac. :) I returned my external hard drive and put the money twards a new iMac. Much nicer. ;)
 
i just had the exact same problem last night on my ibook 1.2 ghz. i unfortunately had to erase my hard drive and start ll over. luckily i had backed everything up the night before it happened... sorry that happened to you it sucks i am still going through the pain of putting everything back on my computer.. very time consuming.. good luck to you.... if there is any other way pleas let me know... doubtful though could be wrong... sorry im rambling long night lol
 
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