iBook G4: noisy disk drive, grey screen: HELP!

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Level 1

14 points

iBook G4: noisy disk drive, grey screen: HELP!

Yesterday the disk drive started to make noises sounding like it needs a squirt of oil..... a screeeeeeeing sound, not too loud. So out came my back up drive, but before I could download the drive, the screen froze up. With no response, I tried reset and then hit the off button, waited ten minutes and turned it back on. Got a grey screen with a folder in the middle, with the Mac face alternating with a question mark. Tried turning off and on several times but no joy. Is there a safe mode I could use to at least get to a download page? It sounds like a new PowerPC drive will be needed, does anyone know about the availability of such drives? Thanks!

G4 iMac flat panel, G4 iBook 12", G3 Wallstreet (OSX 10.2), Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 11, 2013 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 11, 2013 5:03 PM in response to bob.c

Hello,

From what you have said, this would seem like a failed hard drive to me.

Have you tried resetting the PMU? If so and it still happens, then your going to need to replace the drive.

You can get a replacement hard drive for an iBook almost anywhere. They are the standard ATA laptop hard and any size would work fine in your iBook. The original size would have been about 40GB.

They can be obtained from any good Computer shop and does not have to be specific to Apple.

Toshiba, WD, Seagate or any other make is suffice, provided it's 2.5" Internal IDE (ATA).

Instructions on how to fit a replacement hard drive can be found here:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iBook+G4+12-Inch+800+MHz-1.2+GHz+Hard+Drive+Replacem ent/166/1

Best of luck.

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Answer 2

bob.c Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 11, 2013 10:10 PM in response to Knucklesmac

Thanks, Knucklesmac, for the quick reply. I did try the PMU reset and several tries at safe mode but nothing seems to happen other than the grey screen. I guess the hard drive replacement process is the path to follow. One question: is there a way to save all the data (bookmarks, stuff in memory, Keychain, etc) after replacing the drive? I have done the drive replacement job before, on a Wallstreet G3 but did't care about the contents of the drive. This is a different case, though; I guess that having the job done at the local Apple Store is the only way to save the contents. Thanks for the info; I will update after the work is done.

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Answer 3

bob.c Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 16, 2013 6:31 PM in response to bob.c

Knucklesmac:

Well, it looks like the iBook is on the shelf for a while, waiting for a replacement hard drivee. I took it to a Mac shop and they said that the disk head was probably broken, needing a new disk. He had a used G4 Powerbook cheap so I bought it; now I am back on line and working. Now I will replace the drive myself, just for the fun of it. If I get the old disk out, they can try to salvage any data on the drive. Done that before with a G3 Wallstreet.

Fortunately I did get a seagate portable drive and have regularly backed up the iBook, but now I gotta figure out what to do with the data in the Seagate. Guess I will read up on backup and see if I can this to work. I had all kinds of files, folders on the desktop and important bookmarked websites in Safari. Thanks again.

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