G5 dual 2.7 GHz. Cannot initial hard drive... HELP Please

Just put a new hard drive into the machine today as a second drive. I now have 2 drives installed.
Drive 1 - Western Digital WDC WD2500JD-41HBC0. 250 Gig. Partitioned as 40 Gig for Apps and 190 Gig for storage. This drive came preinstalled on system
Drive 2 - Western Digital WDC WD2500. 250 Gig
I put the drive into the system and initialized it with no problems.
I was working in Final Cut Pro (4.5) and using the new drive as my capture drive. FCP stopped responding during a capture. When this happens it always fills up whatever room is remaining on the capture drive with a temp file. very annoying actually.
Anyway, I had to restart the system and zapped the PRAM. Now when it finishes booting up, I get told that the new drive that I inserted is not initialized. Problem is, when I go to initialize the drive, I can't. Disk Utility will not let me do anything with the drive at all.
When I open Disk Utility and click on the new drive, at the bottom of the window where the drive info is, I get told that the Total Capacity is 0 bytes
When I attempt to erase the drive, I tell it I want Mac OS Standard, give it a one word name and tell it to begin. I get a message saying 'Disk Erase failed' with the following error.... 'The chosen size is not valid for the chosen file system'
If I try to partition the drive, I get an error message saying that the device is not configured.
I have tried running Disk Utility in Safe mode as well as booting from the install Disk.
How can I get this drive back? I don't care about the info on the drive, I just need the drive itself to work.
G5 dual 2.7 GHz. Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1.5 GB RAM

Sorry I don't have an immediate solution for you, but thought someone should pipe in.
The same thing happened to me years ago on G4 drive installed on an Apple supplied SCSI card. The only way I could get it working was to boot into OS9 format it (probably zeroing out all data). I then reformatted successfully in OSX. HOWEVER... I never stopped having probs with my scsi drives - finally thru out 2 very pricey ones.
The moral of the story: was that the problem was in the bus/software to the drive. This may not have anything to do with your issue.
Obviously you can't boot into 9, but there are 2 possible problems (other than a dead drive or bad cabling) that I'd look into:
1. OWC sent me some instructions with a drive for my G5 about messing with jumpers (based on whether or not drives were set up as master or slaves). You might look these up at OWC (macsales.com).
2. It's possible that the WD drive you have has the same SSC issue discussed on these boards like the Seagate drive -- try a search for Seagate, or just browse all threads relating to HDs.
Good luck - please let us know if you find a solution.

Similar Messages

Weird problem involving my external hard drive - help please!

I recently got a formac mini 120 gb firewire hard drive, which had been working fine with my g4 quicksliver.
i then went to a friends (g5 machine) with my drive and he put some data on it - bought it back to mine and managed to re connect the drive and take the data - no problem - very happy.
I recently gave my drive to another friend using a g5 and when it came back, nothing - i don't get the drive symbol appearing. turned the comp on and off many times and tried re-connecting etc still no drive appearing.
Then i took the drive to my friend with a mac lap top power book. connected there - working fine. Baffling. was happy that my data can still be accessed.
I know it's not the firewire cable because i can get power to the drive - i can see the red light at the fron on.
Can anyone help with this weird problem?
Thanks

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours might be the 10.4.10 Combo update. I have no idea since you did not fill out your specs. fully when you signed in to this site. Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system. This link is for PPC Macs not Intel Macs.
If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good! Also, here is Apple doc.#88338 on getting FireWire to work.
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE

Power Mac G5 dual 2.7's...Hard drive HELP!!

I have a powermac G5, dual 2.7's, and i currently have the stock 400gb drive in it. I do alot of design work and video editing and need a large second drive. My two concerns are the interface and the maximum size.
1) Interface: I know it needs to be SATA (Serial ATA), but does the throughput matter (1.5 vs 3.0gb/s)
2) When i bought the computer, the systems were said to max out at 800 total gigabytes (2x400gb drives). Is this because they didnt have anything bigger to put in them or because the system will not allow more than 800 total gb to be installed internally? I am looking at either a 400 or 500 gb drive, so i need to know if the 500 is even gonna work (since that puts my total storage up to 900gb)?
Thanks

The throughput doesn't matter.
You're right. That was because the largest drives they were shipping were 400 GB. The 500 will work.

Unable to mount external fire-wire hard drive - help, please!

After working the last couple of days to resolve the failure of an internal drive, now one of my external drives (LaCie fire-wire) will not mount. I was using it to back up the bad internal drive, and probably forgot to eject the drive before turning it off; don't know if this really makes any difference, but just in case...
If I use Disk Utility I can see the LaCie drive, but it will not mount.
When I tried to verify the drive got the following message -
Invalid sibling link
The volume LaCie HD needs to be repaired
1 HFS volume checked - volume needs repair
Next I tried to repair the drive, and was told -
Invalid sibling link
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
This is where I stopped. I read another post somewhere in the forums about making a disk image of the drive, but I'm afraid of making things worse by proceeding without knowing what I'm doing. Any ideas on how I can somehow retrieve the data in the LaCie drive?
Once again, thanks in advance for any help!

Hi! Diskwarrior is always better at repairing drive directories which constitute 99% of all drive problems. I run it fairly regularly usually once a month. BUT I always run it at the first sign of weirdness or problems AND every time I have had a power failure or a forced restart or shutdown because those events usually always damage the drive's directory. Often even though the directory is damaged OSX can go ahead and mount it and it will work ok but eventually the damage builds every time one of those events occur and finally there is a failure to mount or boot. Tom

External hard drive connected to my airport extreme will no longer open, when navigating to it in Finder, the Finder window quits and reopens, cannot access hard drive, it is visible in airport utility, since the problem began I have updated firmware

External hard drive connected to my airport extreme will no longer open, when navigating to it in Finder, the Finder window quits and reopens, cannot access hard drive, it is visible in airport utility, since the problem began I have updated firmware on Extreme as well as both of my Airport Expresses. Hard drive is USB connected to Extreme.

Reboot the USB drive.. assuming it is powered.. or unplug and replug a self-powered drive.. (you should not use self-powered drives on AE before the latest model.. always use a powered hub).
Does the drive now appear in finder..
If not reboot both drive and the AE.. it should now appear.
If it doesn't work with direct connection try a powered hub.. that can help.

My hard disk crashed and I cannot find out how to "contact customer service" other than this forum. The website seems to just take me in a circle. I need to de-activate a license but cannot access the software due to a crashed hard drive. Please help.

My hard disk crashed and I cannot find out how to "contact customer service" other than this forum. The website seems to just take me in a circle. I need to de-activate a license but cannot access the software due to a crashed hard drive. Please help.

Hi Anthony ,
Here is the link to connect with Adobe Chat Support.
https://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/kb/connect-chat-support.html
Hope your query gets resolved .
Regards
Sukrit Dhingra

Boot from DVD but cannot find hard drive now

just updated to 10.7.3, then cannot boot from hard drive. I boot from DVD and cannot find hard drive now

Did the 10.7.3 update complete the installation process?
Some updates, when being installed and applied can restart (but not fully start up) the machine a couple of times.
I'd restart your machine and give it a few uninterrupted minutes to see if it boots up normally. Depending on the specs of your iMac, the remapping of app shortcuts etc can take a little while to complete (but not an excessive amount of time).
It is unlikely the update caused your hard drive to fail.
If your iMac doesn't boot up, restart and boot into the recovery partition of Lion by holding down both the cmd & R keys while booting. This will run Lion Recovery which will allow you to repair your Hard Drive, reinstall or install a fresh copy of Lion (network access is required).
If this fails, boot from the recovery DVD and launch Disk Utility from the Tools option in the toolbar and see if your hard drive is listed in Disk Utility. If your hard drive is not listed, there is a hard drive problem and you'll need to speak to Apple Tech Support to arrange a repair.
Hope this helps

I book cannot find hard drive

Dowloaded a upgrade to os X them restarted computer now it cannot find hard drive can anyone help?

Have you tried rebooting from the installer disks that came with your iBook and running Disk Utility?
This should give you some fast feedback as to the state of your hard drive... i.e. can you see the hard drive through Disk Utility?
Let us know what steps you have taken to try to repair so we can give you some specific tips.
Generally this is always good place to start:
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/
This may help with your issue if you've already tried the standard routines:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
iBook 1Ghz + G5 DP1.8GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Cannot find hard drive

I was going to install leopard - failed - now computer cannot find hard drive - I tried to reinstall tiger cannot find hard drive so put disk warrior - finds hard drive says is it an extended adjusts everything - finds hard drive and says it is okay - any brain storms - I do have a back up hard drive hooked up to a very old IMAC to download the info so I can give it away - so I know I can use that to get to the infor on the hard drive in fact I can get to it through disk warrior

Make a clone of your HD then, while things are still good. Do you have a firewire drive or another internal drive you can make a clone to?
If you make a clone, you can then try to install Leopard and if it doesn't work again, reinstall the clone.

What is the best way to recycle 2010 MacBook? Also, it is completely dead and cannot erase hard drive.

What is the best way to recycle old 2010 MacBook? Also, it is completely dead and I cannot erase hard drive.

Depending on where you are located, country, region, etc, you may have options should
you wish to have it professionally restored or repaired to function properly again...
Even an Apple Store with Genius bar could, in several locations, give the product a look
and perhaps be able to diagnose the underlying issues. However that varies with the
degree of failed components and what is really wrong with it. A battery and a new HDD
could be all that's wrong with it. A diagnostic is often free, even on out-of-warranty Mac
at the Apple Store genius bar; an appointment is advised.
However if you only wanted someone to extract the hard disk drive and attach it to
a 'universal USB drive adapter kit' so at to try and access any readable files on it,
that is something that could be done at an Apple Authorized service provider; as
some of them may even have a section of resale products such as this adapter kit.
An example of this kind of kit includes wires, adapter parts, & a separate power supply
so it can be used to run the hard drive's electronics. This is not intended for permanent
use, but works like a set of patch cables to access the bare drive without an enclosure.
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Universal-Drive-Adapter/IF107-108-1
Another kit example says it'd work with almost any HDD or SSD of several build types:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
Companies that specialize in restoring Apple portable computers can give you an estimate
on a repair and the good ones can do that without a fee; they will not start a repair after they
see the computer until you get the estimate, and approve of the repair. If other items are
found to be of interest requiring other work or parts, they will also contact you, again before
continuing. One of these kinds of companies I know about (half a hemisphere away) is in
the eastern US, and worth inquiring of even if you are overseas. wegenermedia.com.
While I have no connection with any of these products or service suggestions, they do have
some variety of good reputation (ifixit.com has DIY repair guides; macsales has parts, etc.)
in standing, among many Mac users across a section of the planet...
Any concerns about the data on the hard disk drive should be able to be answered by a
local Apple independent; they also should have the universal USB drive adapter locally.
Not sure if I answered your inquiry, but there are different ways of approaching this matter.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited

Mac utility cannot repair hard drive

My Mac does not start up. Safe start does not work and utility disk repair, starts then says it cannot repair hard drive. I have everything backed up on carbanite. If I erase the hard drive, how do I reinstall operrating software? I purchased the upgrade online and did not get a disk.

Here's how it's done.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Cannot see hard drives on airport extreme

Recently I cannot see hard drives on the network that are connected through Airport Extreme . The airport Extreme can see the drives, but the network cannot. I have not changed any settings that I know of. Only a reset of my macbook pro running Mavericks allows me to gives me access to the drives. Airport utility 6.3.2

+I will check when I get home. How do I do that?+
Connect the drive directly to a USB port on your Mac.
Then open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
Click on the drive in left hand panel and look for information at the bottom of the window about the disk
Your drive may be formatted as Windows NFTS. If that's the case, you will need to reformat the drive to work at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme. Be sure to copy any data that you need to another drive (maybe twice to be sure) before you do this as the reformat will erase all data on the drive.
When you are ready, click the Erase tab and then select MS-DOS (FAT) as the format so both PCs and Macs will be able to read the files.
Then copy a small test file back over to the FAT drive and plug the drive into the USB port on the AirPort Extreme. Restart everything on your network starting with the modem first, then device attached to the modem, etc.
On you Mac, open Macintosh HD and check to see if your AirPort Extreme icon appears under the SHARED heading on the left side of the window. If so, click the icon and folder will appear to the right representing your drive. Double click this folder to reveal the contents and mount the drive on your desktop. You should see your test file. Make sure it is operable..music plays, video works, etc.
Sorry, I haven't used Windows in 3-4 years and cannot remember how to access drives, but I would start with My Computer and start poking around. You want to verify that your PC can access and play the files as well.
If everything is OK,you can copy all your backup files back onto the USB drive attached to the AirPort Extreme. Keep the extra backup copy handy for awhile, just in case as well.

D-Bracket2: Initializing Hard Drive Controller

Hey guys, maybe you can help me out here?! My motherboard hangs up with D-Bracket 2 showing (1, 2 - red lights and rest green) Initializing Hard Drive Controller. I use Wester Digital HDD and also tried other HDD. However I tried running with just CPU, Video and Memory installed - but same message is displayed. It seems to me that it's not about HDD but HDD Controller on motherboard itself. My oppinion is that my motherboard is broken and I should contact MSI for warranty coverage. Thanks for sharing your knowledge in advance!
Motherboard: KT3 Ultra2 Series
HDD: Western Digital 60GB
PSU: ThermalTake 420 W - Runs fine on other system with even more load
CPU: AMD Athlon 2200+

Western Digital uses a jumperless setting when there is only one drive attached to a channel.
Also, insure the blue end of the cable is inserted into the board, and the black end is attached to the Master drive. The gray connector in the middle is for any slave drives.

Initializing Hard Drive Controller?

Yesterday, the CPU temp spiked up to 60 so I disconnected everything and cleaned fan, cooler, and took of all old thermal grease and put new one. It's silver one. Anyway, I left like that for a night and this morning I tried to connect it but didn't work. I tried erasing all Bios and but nope. So I tired four led thing and it says 2 red top, 2 green bottom. The manual says
Initializing Hard Drive Controller:This will initalize IDE drive and controller. I touched nothing of harddrive or cd-rom, only the fan and cooler. Nothing shows up when I turn it on. Please help~

ok. I took off cpu and back on again, 2 red on top, 2 green on botton. Same. Took Ram off and on again, same thing. Could it be bios problem? It worked flawlessly until I did what I said .

KT3 Ultra2 stuck on Initializing Hard Drive Controller

AMD Athlon 2200
KT3 Ultra 2
Antec 400W
Maxtor 60G
512
I put the machine together and it does not display anything. On the D Bracket it shows 2 red 2 green "Initializing Hard Drive Controller". I have depopulated motherboard all the way down to just one stick of Ram, One hard drive the bare necessities. It still doesnt work. Swapped hard drives, video cards and Ram. Measured voltages for power supply. Rebuilt it twice from ground up. Reset CMOS. Still same thing. It shows the 2 red 2 green as soon as I turn it on, doesnt seem to be running any POST tests.
Any suggestions? :O

I am a 17 year old high school student who has put together a total of 12 machines. There are a couple of issues I would like to address:
1. Every PC I built was based around SOCKETA platform and EVERY board was an MSI.
2. I just finished building two machines around the KT3 Ultra-2 board (I am typing on now), have given the one to my uncle and aunt. NO PROBLEMS. XP2100 512 PC2700 Two 30Gb Maxtors RAID0 Saphire Radeon 9000 Pro 128mb DDR.... No trouble. They went together in about 45 minutes... I have hauled mine (I kept one for me - yippee!!) up to my cabin and back again... never ever failing...
3. I understand everyone's frustration in this issue, for it is DEFINETELY an issue, BUT, MSI I can guarantee is working out the solution and they stand behind their products. I was having trouble with an Nforce based board. Sent it back, got a new one in 4 days... That has been my only trouble MY ONLY TROUBLE. And on top of it, I later learn that it was my fault. I was the one who grounded mysterious pin 9 on the USB header... It was how the case came set up---you know with the front USB ports...
4. I also know that MSI's boards are the most stable I've seen . I've helped other students with home built PC's who use Gigabyte, ASUS, Abit, ECS... and I've seen trouble with all of them.
5. Stick with it. Don't give up. Get your board and if need be your proc. replaced, and move on. This board is worth it. It is so nice. I have had my machine on for two weeks straight. Running XP PRO. Nothing but solid.
6. WHY DOES EVERYONE BLAME EVERYTHING ON THE PSU??? I have used cheap-o 300W generic supplies (granted, I have never owned or set-up a GF4) but plain and simply put, I have not had any stable problems with MSI boards and cheap power supplies. MSI does an excellent job with their power stabilization portion of the board, and design their boards around imperfect voltages. Nothing is perfect. "30 amps", that's rediculous.
Anyway, I hope that I have changed a few minds about MSI and their boards, and that you will take the time to get your problem resolved. If you do, you will do just like me, and return to MSI for all of your computing mainboard needs.
-AlwayzAMD
MAXTOP case - ALLIED 350w ATX
MSI KT3 Ultra2
512Mb PC2700 DDR Ram (Samsung)
AMD Athlon XP 2100
Saphire ATI Radeon 9000 PRO 128mb
Thermaltake VOLCANO 7 HSF
2 92mm Case fans
2 30Gb Maxtors RAID0 (striping - sweeeet!)
Lite-on 16x DVDROM / 48x CDROM
Lite-on 48x24x48 Burner
Idle Temp: 38C
Load Temp: 44C
_____________________________________

G5 dual 2.7 GHz. Cannot initial hard drive... HELP Please

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for