iMac hanging... is my Hard Drive dead?

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Level 1

4 points

iMac hanging... is my Hard Drive dead?

Last week my 20 inch iMac (bought mid 2007, just after launch)started hanging weirdly. For no apparent reason, I got the Spinning Beachball of Death and everything was frozen. The dock was appearing when I moused over but no response, not possible to click or right click on anything. No response from the force to quit shortcut either. I have Menumeters in my menubar so could see that the CPU was idle and there was no access to the hard disk (up or down) but I could hear it do its little 'reading data' ordinary noise, like forever. So I rebooted using the power button. Everything went fine but it hung back on me after less than a minute. I was in the kitchen using bluetooth mouse and keyboard, so I unplugged the iMac and went to my computer room to try with the wired keyboard and mouse, just to be sure. Booted, SBoD'd after 30 seconds. Re-Booted, hanged on the grey apple/spinning gear screen. Read this forum, learned about the SMC reset thing. Tried the thing while thinking 'Hey, I just did that when I switched rooms'. Nevermind. Booted! Yay! I was able to actually use my computer for something like 30 minutes before the next hang. I even had the time to refresh my Time Machine backup(wich will come handy if, like I apprehend, my HDD is the culprit). But now I'm back in the Reboot/Beachball loop of h *. I also tried booting from the Leopard install disk to run disk utility but it didn't see my hard drive.

So, what do you think?
any answers?
any questions?

thanks in advance
Gabriel

Message was edited by: GabLeCrabe

20'' iMac (mid 2007), Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 2, 2009 9:00 AM

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Answer 1

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2009 6:36 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

I also tried the Apple Hardware Test and it didn't find anything wrong. Then I rebooted and I got the question mark folder. Booted again and everything was fine for a few minutes then it was beachball time again (as I expected).

So now I'm wondering if it's worth it to try to find somebody who as TechTool or Disk Warrior ( I don't) because I don't know of a store in my area where I could buy either and I understand I would need a DVD version to boot from. Or is my hard drive just dying a long and painful death anyways, any hope is futile, at least it had a good life, etc. etc.

Do you think of anything else I could try?
Oh and the nearest certified technician is a six hour drive away from me.

Thanks in advance for any reply
Gabriel

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Answer 2

Feb 5, 2009 7:20 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

Hi Gabriel,

You can purchase DiskWarrior online: http://www.alsoft.com/

Another way to check the disk is to use Safe Mode:
Starting up in “safe mode” may help you to diagnose problems you’re having with your computer.

To start up in safe mode:
Shut down your computer and wait 10 seconds.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key.
You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after your hear the startup tone, but not before.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress indicator (spinning gear).
To leave safe mode, restart the computer normally without holding down any keys during startup.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 3

seanlon

Level 1

5 points

Feb 5, 2009 7:32 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

I've had some of these same issues recently. The startup loop, spinning beachball hang/freeze for simple finder tasks like opening the HD to get a file. Ran disk utility (several times). Today things seem ok, although I do hear a slight noise from time to time. But it's nothing like the clunking or grinding noises that are up on some sites that describe a failing HD like this one http://datacent.com/harddrivesounds.php

You describe a "'reading data' ordinary noise" which is what I think this is and always thought was normal in the macs I've owned. But I've been hearing from people that my mac should me COMPLETELY silent. Is this true? Or is there a sound that's considered "normal"? Thanks.

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Answer 4

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2009 6:54 AM in response to seanlon

I tried safe mode but the problem was still there. Then I tried to run disk utility again but from the install disk that came with my iMac (OS 10.4.10), not from the Leopard install disk. It worked! I could see my Hard Drive. So I ran a repair disk routine, but it said everything was fine. Then I tried to repair the permissions and it had a very long list of bad permissions to repair. I had never seen such a long list, and I never tought for a second that could be the cause of my troubles, you know, with all the debate over permissions being a big deal or not, I came to neglect them.

So now my iMac has been running without a hitch for something like 12 hours. I'll keep it under observation for a few days just to be shure, but it still is a big relief to have it back...

@seanlon: the sound I was talking about was really the ordinary Hard drive sound, not the 'hurry-up-and-save-what-you-can-before-it-dies' clicking and grinding sound that I experienced a few years ago with another computer. I also think a computer with mechanical parts like a HHD and an optical drive can never be completely silent. Maybe a SSD Macbook Air is, I don't know...

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Answer 5

Feb 6, 2009 7:11 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

Actually, it didn't work. You should NEVER run the Disk Utility routines from a version which shipped prior to the OS you have installed. In your case, you should have run only the version of Disk Utility which shipped with the Mac OS X 10.5.x Install or Upgrade DVD.

The reason that you say the extended set of permissions you are required to repair is directly a result of running the earlier release. Disk Utility is typically backward-compatible, not forward-compatible.

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Answer 6

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2009 7:12 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

Grrrrrr....

it did it again.
running dik utility again.

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Answer 7

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2009 7:16 AM in response to Michael Lafferty

Oh thanks, I didn't know that. I tried the old one because my leopard's disk utility didn't see my Hard drive. I'll try it again, maybe it will see it now.

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Answer 8

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2009 8:59 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

Do you think doing a clean install of leopard would help? I'd rather not, but if it has a chance to solve this...

But before I do this, i'm thinking of something just now... I have a full backup of my hard drive in Time Machine. Is it bootable? Then I could verify if my internal drive is faulty or not. Or maybe I would have to make one with Disk Utility or Carbon Copy Cloner.

What do you think?
If the OS runs smoothly from a copy of my boot drive, then my internal disk has gone bad. If it continiues to freeze, it is a software problem. Right?

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Answer 9

Feb 9, 2009 9:58 AM in response to GabLeCrabe

I am also having this problem. I purchased additional ram when i bought the machine originally. i have did a fresh install of leopard. nothing i have done seems to fix this issue.

additionally to this i have horizontal lines going across the screen from time to time. just a few pixels in size, but extending all the way across the screen.

and finally, i purchased the slim keyboard and i am unable to Zap my PRAM, its like the keyboard is not recognized during start up.

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Answer 10

GabLeCrabe Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2009 10:28 AM in response to mgallimore

I upgraded my RAM too. I'll try to put back the one that came from Apple to see if that's the problem. I purchased the new one from a local big box retailer where nobody knows anything about Macs. I am sure I got the right type of RAM, I double-checked all the specs and it has been working without a hitch for more then a year now, but it wasn't 'Apple Certified'. I always tought 'Apple Certified' RAM was just a trick to make you pay more for the exact same thing. Now I'm ready to try anything to get my Mac back to a usable state.

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Answer 11

deficit

Level 1

0 points

Feb 9, 2009 4:29 PM in response to GabLeCrabe

We also have exactly the same problem - iMac started to freeze randomly after approximately 30 mins of work last Saturday. Now it's getting worse as it fails to boot 50% of the time - just shows a folder icon with a question mark. When we tried to boot from CD, the hard drive is not available, so it looks like re-installing OS is not an option...

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