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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Cannot mount Hard Drive
RipleyB - Jan 17, 2006 - 10:49 am
When I turn on my Powerbook G4, OS X 10.4.3 does not start. Instead, it shows a gray screen with a folder alternating between the Finder icon and a question mark. There has been a series of events leading to this situation, so here is the background and what I have subsequently done.
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Powerbook G4 15”
Machine Model: Powerbook3,5
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.2)
Number of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory 1: GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot Rom Version: 4.5.3f2
Initial situation:
My Powerbook was low on hard drive space (<1GB). Tiger was crashing during ordinary procedures (i.e. opening Safari and typing into a search engine). I deleted just enough space and reinstalled Tiger. Rebooting went as it always does (chime>gray apple screen>blue screen), however, startup would freeze on the blue screen.
Tiger Install DVD Troubleshooting:
1) I cannot reinstall tiger, because I have no hard drive space. In fact, my hard drive no longer appears in the ‘Select a Destination’ window during the installation process.
2)Quit Installer - Restart – just begins the installation process again.
3)Startup Disk – When I choose ‘Mac OS X, 10.4.3 on the volume Mac OS X Install DVD’ and press the Restart button, my computer initiates the installation procedure just as if I had inserted the Install DVD and turned the computer on. I think I may be doing this incorrectly. My intent was to use the DVD as a boot disk, but it continues to initiate the install; however, I don’t think there are very many options/ways to screw this up.
4)Disk Utility –
a.Verify Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS volume checked.
Volume needs repair
b.Repair Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS volume checked.
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
5)Have not tried Erase, Partition, RAID, or Restore
Other Tricks:
1)Reset Firmware
a. Hold ALT-COMMAND-O-F
b. reset-nvram (enter)
c. set-defaults (enter)
d. reset-all
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
2) Safeboot
a. Holding Shift shortly after the chime does nothing, back to the blinking finder folder.
b. I should also note that a Safeboot was one of the first things I tried. Even before I reinstalled Tiger, the Safeboot would not work.
3)Zap PRAM
a. Hold COMMAND-OPTION-P-R
b. Chimed 4 times
c. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
4) File Systems Check
a. Hold Command-S
b. fsck –y (enter)
c. repeat until no errors are found
d. shutdown -r now (enter)
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
5) Search for Bootable Systems
a. Hold Option
b. No bootable systems available.
At this point, I would like to simply erase the hard drive and reinstall Tiger; however, I would first like to rescue files on the hard drive if possible. I feel like this is my only option. I have downloaded ProSoft’s Data Rescue II Boot CD Image, which was about 182 MB. It was only $5, and you can upgrade to the full version if you find that it has potential to restore your system. I just can’t get it to work. I basically burned the .dmg onto a CD from a PC. I cannot find any instructions on how to create or load this boot CD. When I insert the disk and reboot, the same blinking finder icon comes up. Holding ‘C’ during the boot does nothing. When I hold option to select bootable systems, the disk does not come up.
As you could probably gather, I am not very skilled with macs, so I feel like I could be missing something simple (like you can’t boot from a disk image or something of this ilk). I sincerely appreciate anyone who has made it this far in my synopsis. I would love to access the data on the hard drive. Any help, directions, or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks.
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Powerbook G4 15”
Machine Model: Powerbook3,5
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.2)
Number of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory 1: GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot Rom Version: 4.5.3f2
Initial situation:
My Powerbook was low on hard drive space (<1GB). Tiger was crashing during ordinary procedures (i.e. opening Safari and typing into a search engine). I deleted just enough space and reinstalled Tiger. Rebooting went as it always does (chime>gray apple screen>blue screen), however, startup would freeze on the blue screen.
Tiger Install DVD Troubleshooting:
1) I cannot reinstall tiger, because I have no hard drive space. In fact, my hard drive no longer appears in the ‘Select a Destination’ window during the installation process.
2)Quit Installer - Restart – just begins the installation process again.
3)Startup Disk – When I choose ‘Mac OS X, 10.4.3 on the volume Mac OS X Install DVD’ and press the Restart button, my computer initiates the installation procedure just as if I had inserted the Install DVD and turned the computer on. I think I may be doing this incorrectly. My intent was to use the DVD as a boot disk, but it continues to initiate the install; however, I don’t think there are very many options/ways to screw this up.
4)Disk Utility –
a.Verify Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS volume checked.
Volume needs repair
b.Repair Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS volume checked.
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
5)Have not tried Erase, Partition, RAID, or Restore
Other Tricks:
1)Reset Firmware
a. Hold ALT-COMMAND-O-F
b. reset-nvram (enter)
c. set-defaults (enter)
d. reset-all
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
2) Safeboot
a. Holding Shift shortly after the chime does nothing, back to the blinking finder folder.
b. I should also note that a Safeboot was one of the first things I tried. Even before I reinstalled Tiger, the Safeboot would not work.
3)Zap PRAM
a. Hold COMMAND-OPTION-P-R
b. Chimed 4 times
c. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
4) File Systems Check
a. Hold Command-S
b. fsck –y (enter)
c. repeat until no errors are found
d. shutdown -r now (enter)
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark
5) Search for Bootable Systems
a. Hold Option
b. No bootable systems available.
At this point, I would like to simply erase the hard drive and reinstall Tiger; however, I would first like to rescue files on the hard drive if possible. I feel like this is my only option. I have downloaded ProSoft’s Data Rescue II Boot CD Image, which was about 182 MB. It was only $5, and you can upgrade to the full version if you find that it has potential to restore your system. I just can’t get it to work. I basically burned the .dmg onto a CD from a PC. I cannot find any instructions on how to create or load this boot CD. When I insert the disk and reboot, the same blinking finder icon comes up. Holding ‘C’ during the boot does nothing. When I hold option to select bootable systems, the disk does not come up.
As you could probably gather, I am not very skilled with macs, so I feel like I could be missing something simple (like you can’t boot from a disk image or something of this ilk). I sincerely appreciate anyone who has made it this far in my synopsis. I would love to access the data on the hard drive. Any help, directions, or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks.
Thunderthud - Jan 17, 2006 - 11:21 am
First things first. DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE TO YOUR HARD DRIVE! I don't know about burning disk images that are supposed to work on a Mac from a PC so I can't help you there but you can't rescue your data unless you have someplace to rescue it to.
Go to www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/ and, if you can afford it, buy a Disk Warrior CD not a download unless you are using a Mac other than the one with the problem. You might be able to get it faster from an apple store or CompUSA. Boot from it and have it repair your hard drive. If it is successful you can go about saving your data to some other media. Which makes me wonder where you are going to put it if your hard drive is full. You might want to consider a bigger hard drive. Anyway, you will have to make space on your hard drive to be able to reinstall Tiger. Once your disk is in nominal shape and has enough space on it for Tiger to be installed it should show up as a possible install volume.
Go to www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/ and, if you can afford it, buy a Disk Warrior CD not a download unless you are using a Mac other than the one with the problem. You might be able to get it faster from an apple store or CompUSA. Boot from it and have it repair your hard drive. If it is successful you can go about saving your data to some other media. Which makes me wonder where you are going to put it if your hard drive is full. You might want to consider a bigger hard drive. Anyway, you will have to make space on your hard drive to be able to reinstall Tiger. Once your disk is in nominal shape and has enough space on it for Tiger to be installed it should show up as a possible install volume.
RipleyB - Jan 17, 2006 - 11:50 am
Thanks for the quick response. . .
I have a Lacie 160GB firewire drive, so having somewhere to put the files shouldn't be an issue. I also hear you on the cease and desist suggestion. After doing all these things, I can't help but think I'm worse off than when I started.
On to purchased CD of Disk Warrior or Disk Rescue II. I'll be sure to post the results.
I have a Lacie 160GB firewire drive, so having somewhere to put the files shouldn't be an issue. I also hear you on the cease and desist suggestion. After doing all these things, I can't help but think I'm worse off than when I started.
On to purchased CD of Disk Warrior or Disk Rescue II. I'll be sure to post the results.
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