Cannot startup from nor initialize hard drive

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Level 1

47 points

Cannot startup from nor initialize hard drive

I have an iMac that I keep around for running older graphics and web building software that I cannot afford to replace, and to run a Classic application occasionally. It worked fine until a few weeks ago.

Hardware:

17" G5 iMac (iSight) 1.9 GHZ (2005)

1.5 GB RAM

10.4.11 (prior to attempt to erase drive, see below)

It froze while viewing and copying multimedia (Quicktime) files (it was running OS X). After attempts to restart, recover, repair, etc., I eventually erased the drive, or so I thought, using Disk Utility (via Firewire Disk Mode and my Macbook Pro). Then I tried to reinstall from the backup, minus unneeded document files. I was unsuccessful, though I didn't note the alert message (I think it was the same as those I'm getting now, copied below). I am just now getting back to attempting the reinstall again. First, I used Disk Utility (from Macbook Pro; iMac in FW disk mode again) to verify and repair the iMac. I get these results:

Checking file system

Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.

Disk Utility stopped repairing “disk1s2”

Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.

But Disk Utility will not reformat the disk. Neither will Drive Genius III.

Carbon Copy Cloner states that 52 GB are in use on the iMac, though no files are visible in finder.

Since CCC says there are files on the drive, I attempted to boot from the iMac's hard drive:

I get the grey screen with a flashing ? for over a minute

Then it finds the internal HD; that is, I see the grey screen with the apple logo and spinning wheel. This lasts until I turn off the power (ten minutes or so; blue screen never appears).

If I boot from an external backup clone (selected via option key at startup):

grey screen for a normal time (very short; much less than a minute)

then the blue screen and login window

I select user and log in

the desktop never appears; ten minutes later, still nothing

To me, this suggests a problem other than (or as well as) a bad hard drive.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks, as always

Leonard

Posted on Jul 5, 2014 8:44 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

83,047 points

Jul 9, 2014 4:28 AM in response to Leonard B.

At least you have a clone. If the machine is unable to see the clone, you may need to replace the PRAM battery for it to see the clone, or you may need to use data recovery software on the clone itself!

Drive Genius may not always be the best data recovery software. I like Prosoft Data Rescue. Here are some options:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1689

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Answer 2

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Jul 9, 2014 5:03 AM in response to a brody

Good morning. Thanks for the recovery and PRAM battery ideas.

To replace the battery, I'll have to take it to Tekserve, since it's too old for Apple to deal with, and it's so hard to work on this machine (it's an iSight iMac). That certainly will be a very pricey repair.

In fact, I do have Data Rescue and have used it successfully with problematic drives in the past. I was only using Drive Genius to try to repair the internal drive, since Disk Utility said it could not do so.

The machine does see the clone, though. It will boot from it (I select it when holding down the Option key), but after the grey screen disappears, it goes to a blue screen (my desktop color choice), but the desktop icons and menubar never appear.

I'm guessing that the internal drive is somehow damaged. But I can't figure out how that would prevent booting from the clone, since that always worked in the past. Maybe I'll try to run a repair cycle on that drive, too. Can't hurt.

I'll report back if anything interesting happens (or maybe if it doesn't).

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Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

12,957 points

Jul 10, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Leonard B.

Replacing the battery was a popular thing to do in the day. I have run my imac g3 600 with a bad battery for years. If your machine tries to boot at all you can get by with a bad battery. I'd replace the hd.

You could get a new machine and run 10.6 in a virtual machine. Look at parrallels or Oracle's virtual box. 10.6 has ppc emulation, so you may be able to run your old programs. I do not think classic works through.

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