Does it sound like death is imminent?

Question

My G4 Powerbook has been such a great companion for three-and-a-half years, and I'm single, so bear with me when I call it by its given name: Barry.
Okay, so Barry had basically been a workaholic for the first two-and-a-half years we were together, giving me no cause to worry until he suffered a severe optical drive attack about nine months ago. The good folks at AppleCare performed a transplant, and when they finally released Barry weeks later, they told me they had not only transplanted his optical drive, but some other vital organs, as well. (Hard drive? Logic board? Don't recall.) I was told that Barry was, for all intents and purposes, A New Man. Barry went back to work full-time immediately and seemed to be quite well until a few weeks ago, when I noticed he was having sleep issues. While he had always been one of those perky types who always wake up in a good mood, ready to go, I found myself struggling to rouse him from his slumber and even had to poke him right in his on-off button several times to wake him. One morning in early July, Barry simply fell into a coma and, totally unresponsive, was rushed to the Genius Bar. Unfortunately, he no longer has health insurance, since his AppleCare ran out back in February. After spending close to an hour in the waiting room, we finally got to see the Genius, who performed an emergency operation which was some kind of reset -- PRAM maybe? Barry was now wide awake but, I'm sad to say, his sleep issues have again returned, and he seems to have difficulty remembering names, which is quite distressing; for example, I'll be working on a document called PizzaPie and then, after I open it and type a bit, I'll save it and notice the name has changed to that of another document with a string of numbers and some symbols added; so instead of PIzzaPie it might say ParisTrip56#738291u3. He's also starting humming a bit -- like a mild fan noise -- which is strange for someone who, until this point, did not appear musically inclined (although he remembers over a thousand songs!). So any ideas on what Barry's problem or prognosis could be? What might be the cost of getting him proper treatment (if needed)?
Thank you in advance for your help,
Mrs. Barry Powerbook

Answer 1

Womanhattan:
I would begin with Repair Disk
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel, and report if it says anything but Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
If DU reports errors it cannot repair you will need to use a utility like Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior
Please post back with what you find out.
cornelius
PS: Don't worry too much. I think Barry will be fine