IBook Not Detecting Internal Hard Drive

So, this morning my computer started acting slowly, and apps started freezing. I restarted, and to my horror found that it wouldn't boot. It starts, and the screen is gray, but then nothing happens. I have discovered that the problem must be the iBook not detecting the hard drive. I booted into a linux live CD, and found that it could access the HD. Then when I turned my comp off, and went into select boot drive mode by holding option on startup, I found that no hard drives were listed to boot from. I have also tried connecting to my computer via firewire from another computer, and that couldn't detect it either. What is the problem here? I am becoming very nervous all my work is on there. Thanks for the help.

Try booting from the Apple Restore disk and run the Apple Hardware Test that is on that disk. I fear that it may confirm a failure of your hard drive, but you never know until you try.

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M2N78-LA Motherboard BIOS did not detect any Hard Drive

Hi,
I have M2N78-LA Motherboard and the BIOS did not detect ANY hard drive
I tried
1- Replaced the HD with another one. did not work
2- Changed the jumper of HD. did not work
3- Changed the SATA data cable and power cable. did not work.
4- Reset the BIOS by removing the battery and also by positioning the cmos jumber. did not work.
I still all time get no hard drive detected, and some time jam on Detecting storage devices ....
then after hours get no booting device.
Any Idea will be good

M2N78-LA Motherboard BIOS did not detect any Hard Drive, does anyone have an answer to this problem.

Will not recognize internal hard drive

I have a strange problem with a 2009 MacBookPro. It started acting "strange" for the user over the past few months. By "strange" I mean it would freeze, or fail to boot, or sometimes even restart without any reason. Now, it gets even stranger. Tried the standard things, RAM reseat, replace, check for loose connectors etc. It would fail to boot when the hard drive was connected internally. Then it would give a kernal panic and fail to even recognize a hard drive as being installed. Did a PRam reset, SMC reset and even the power off/control key to try to reset the open firmware. No sucess with anything. This is a suystem with an internal battery.
Yet, when using this exact same hard drive on an external USB drive connection, it would boot fine. Next tried it in Terminal mode to boot up another MBP. Failed to boot. When the 2nd MBP was booted from its internal drive and the suspect machine was plugged in as a Firewire (Terminal mode on "strange" computer) an External Firewire Drive appeared on the desktop, then a few seconds later, an identical copy of the first Ext FW drive appeared. This went on with evenbtually six copies of the one single Terminal booted hard drive appearing on the desktop of the second computer. None of the six drives would open or even allow any indiccation of what they contained.
Tried to partition the hard drive when it was put back into the internal slot but it would not unmount and failed to partition. The same thinmg happened when trying to erase it. Connected the hard drive via USB to a Windows 7 machine and used it to erase both the Recovery and Main partitions from the ard drive. Both were erased but the EFI partition could not be erased or cleaned. Put this same hard drive, as an external USB, into a very old XP machine and there the EFI partition was removed when a "Clean" command was sent via command line.
I then took the, now totally erased hard drive, and put it back into the computer as an internal drive and booted the computer from a 10.8 USB stick so I could partition the now empty hard drive. The drive was not even recognized as being present. Did the same thing, but using the USB external connection for that same hard drive. It partitioned and then formatted with 10.8.1 (what was on the USB stick). After the OS was installed, the computer would boot using this newly created OS when connected as an external USB drive. Put the drive back in as the internal drive. Got a Kernal Panic. Forced shutdown and retried. Noi kernal Panic but drive was not even recognized. Pulled the drive from internal and put it back into the external USB and tried booting. System would not recognize the drive as even being present.
I then erased and cleaned the drive in the XP machine again and then, using the USB connection on the second computer reinstalled 10.8 from the USB. When I tried the now newly created software again, the same thing happened as listed above. 2nd machine booted fine on the drive as a USB, "Strange" machine booted fine using the drive as an external USB, Kernal Panicked then would not be recognized in the "Strange" machine.
It appears that when the drive is connected internally. it not only does not have the OS software recognized but will rewrite something in the drive that makes it impossible to be recognized by any Apple. My first thought was that the EFI partition was corrupted somehow so that was why I tried cleaning the EFI partition along with the other two partitions. But even with a new EFI and other partitions, the drive was not useable once it was used to try to boot as an internal drive in the suspect computer.
Now here I am dropping into speculation mode. My guess is that something in the very basic ROM (Pram?) that recognizes a hard drive is in the internal slot and tries to get to the EFI instead fails and in the process it screws up the EFI (or maybe even an address table?) in the hard drive. If it recognizes that there is no internal hard drive, it will happily boot from either a USB stick, a USB connected external hard drive or a Firewire/Terminal mode computer connected to it.
Sounds like a motherboard problem but I am wondering if it is possible to "flash" the very basic ROM that is at the start of the process back to factory default or maybe just replace the chip if it is the same one used as part of the Firmware password protection system.
Anyone have any other ideas or thoughts about possible solutions or at least a way to definitely identify what the problem's cause?

Answer has been found. The internal drive SATA cable was replaced and the system is now working correctly.

24" iMac not recognizing internal hard drive..

end of '07 iMac 24" 2.4GHz
I have been having problems with this iMac since day 1... I'm kind of fed up with it at this point BUT I would like to get it working at least.
PROBLEM: Yesterday I was working on the ol' iMac and I walked away, the computer fell asleep and when I got back to wake it up it seemed a little off. I restarted and thats when the magic happened. I got the question mark of death. Didn't think it was an issue since I've gotten it in the past. Usually I restart again, maybe reset PRAM, and its fine. Orrrr if that doesnt work I use the Snow Leopard disc or Disk Warrior and it'll work fine. Yesterdays problem was more unique.
Disc Utility, Disk Warrior, etc are not even recognizing the internal hard drive at all. Nothing. Like it doesn't even exist. When you try and set the start up disk, it's missing from the list. It doesn't make any noise, nothing. It worked fine 5 minutes before that.
Any ideas? or is it time for the ol' Apple repair shop? Could it be just the drive or something more serious? Luckily I have a time machine and everything should be backed up incase of the worst scenario.
Any help would be great. thanks.

It sounds like the drive has failed, you can try starting it with the install disc it came with and trying to repair the disk. The instructions for doing that are:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install or Restore disc.
2. Restart the computer, then hold the C key during startup.
3. From the Apple menu, choose Disk Utility. Do this in the first screen of the Installer. Don't click 4. Continue. If you click Continue in a Mac OS X Installer version earlier than 10.2, you must restart from CD again.
5. Click the First Aid tab.
6. Click Repair Disk.
7. After repairing the disk, try to start from the Mac OS X hard disk.
If the drive still cannot be seen then make an appointment with an AASP.
Regards,
Roger

Mac not reading internal hard drive, running from external

I have a Macbook Pro, that stopped working on me.
After some tinkering around, I was able to boot up after it crashed, but only by removing the hard drive and accessing it through the USB ports.
Two part question...
A- How do I see if the computer is recognizing the internal hard drive? (I purchased a new one and placed it in the unit)
B- How do I clone the old hard drive, now external, to the new hard drive?
I also was not able to partition the new hard drive yet
thanks!

If the drive mounts through a USB, it should be OK. The cable connecting the HD to the logic board inside the system may be faulty. That service/part runs around $75 and can be had at the Genius Bar. Or find other sources: https://www.google.com/#q=macbook+pro+hard+drive+ribbon+cable&revid=1133110092

MBP mid '09 not reading internal hard drive

I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2009 recently updated to Mountain Lion.
2.53 Ghz
RAM 8 GB
350 GB HHD
Shortly after (updating OS) maybe a day or so, my MBP froze. Applications would not open and programs were frozen. I was unable to force quit opened applications. I hard reset the computer and booted up to the gray screen with a folder and question mark. I ran disk utility to discover that it does not see my hard drive. I don't hear the Hard drive spining either. I bought a new HHD Seagate 4500 RPM 250GB HHD and it didn't read that either when I ran disk utility. So I took the new hard drive and old hard drive and put both in my friend's mid 2010 MBP and both hard drive worked (it read it). So I'm really puzzled after this point. I have also reset the SMC and NVRAM / PRAM with no luck.
So what do you guys think is wrong with my comp? Mother board or the wire to the hard drive, something like that? Thanks for taking your time to read my post. I also took it to genus bar and they said I need a new hard drive and my hard drive failed. Good thing I didn't throw away my hard drive. lol

Update: I think I have found the problem after several hours of reading other fourms. It is the SATA cable that has failed most likely. I will try to obtain a new cable in a few days and update you guys if it fixes the problem. Apparently there are alot of cases of these cables failing in the mid 2009 MBP.

Ibook not booting, replacing hard drive doesn't help

This one's got me stymied. It's my sister's computer (ibook g4 14" 933mhz 150gb hard drive, 640mb ram). Here are the symptoms:
1. Starts up past the apple gray screen to a blue screen.
2. Won't start up from CD either (except hardware test CD)
3. Started in verbose mode, it comes up with a couple of errors (one about applers232 something or other and the other about applepmuuser). If they would be helpful, I can reboot a couple of times to get them better (it boots past the verbose stuff to a bluescreen).
Fixes attempted:
1. Replaced hard drive (reinstalled os x 10.3 via target disk mode from another ibook g4)
2. Ran Hardware test, no problems detected
3. Booted into single user mode, fsck checks out fine (several times)
4. Ran disk utility (via target disk mode) and it comes up clean (not surprisingly)
5. Reset pram
6. Reset nvram

Are you able to boot the iBook with the other Mac utilizing TDM?
If you've not tried that, then that would be my next step. Set up the other Mac for TDM then plug it into the iBook, boot the iBook while holding the option key until you get to the startup mangaer, select the TDM Mac-drive and continue. This will help you determine if the logicboard is shot. If it runs ok with the other Mac in TDM then it most likely is not the logic board, unless its the IDE controller on the board.

Macbook pro not detecting my hard drive

I have been using this 500GB WD Hard disk and it has been working properly. However, it is not being detected today when I plugged it in.
I have tried methods like "automatically fixing errors" at PCs and checked it on Disk Utility, unfortunately it is still not working. I have important files in it and what should I do?
Thanksss x

eww's suggestion may seem a bit rash, but I've found that to be the case also. My WD external's enclosure also fried.
I bought OWC's FW hard drive encloser. You can put in your own drive(s) (I bought Seagate drives from OWC) depending on whether you want a single drive backup, dual or RAID. I bought the OWC Mercury Elite...great enclosure rated top in all my Mac magazines. What's nice about these is, if the drive goes bad you can replace it yourself and not have to get rid of the whole unit (like what happened to my Western Digital FW Ext. drive last time!). OWC's enclosures have Oxford chipsets which are totally Mac friendly. They also work for Windows machines. OWC also backs up their products...no arguing involved.
DALE

P35 motherboard suddenly not detecting IDE hard drive

Hi,
I have a P35 MSI platinum motherboard. E6750 Core 2 duo 2.6HZ cpu, 2 x 1GB DDR2 ram,a standard DVD R/W, a 400GB Hitachi Deskstar HDD, a GTS 8800 graphics card and running Ultimate vista (oem).
She's been running fine for over a year.
Yesterday - I turned her on and although on initial boot up you can see '400GB PATA' , and the MSI loading screen vista won't load and screen is blank.
I put in the vista disk for repair but at the point where it shows your operating system - that space is empty.
So I went into BIOS and the HDD is not being detected at all.
I toggled some of the IDE settings but still no go.
Both my HDD and the DVD R/W are on the iDE ribbon cable. DVD seems to be working fine and, as stated above, HDD has been working fine for a year until yesterday.
Any ideas as to how I can get BIOS to re-discover the HDD? OR any ideas why it isn't being discovered now (after all this time)?
Also - to get everything back up and try to recover some of the data off my IDE HDD I am thinking about buying a SATA HDD, reinstalling windows and working from there. Any reason why this shouldn't work?
Finally - IF that works, I have a number of IDE drives lying around that I'd like to connect up to the MSI p35 - but at the moment the ribbon cable I have only has two connectors (currently used by by DVD R/W and my rebellious IDE HDD). Is it possible to add say 2 more IDE drives? would I need to get a ribbon cable with more connectors? Or is it not possible and IDE cables only come with 2 connectors anyway?
Any help much appreciated - I am not exactly a noob but I have nowhere near the skill levels of some of you guys - really appreciate your thoughts.
Cheers,
TOOTR

Quote
What happened to you might be caused by the case messing up you mobo.
Quote
Different hard drive, see if bios acknowledges the drive is there
Guys, the Drive is properly recognized on BIOS Level...
Quote
It seems to show up in the second screen very briefly - I clearly see '400GB'
Quote
This time F11 worked and I had a boot order choice. I clicked on the IDE HDD (hitachi).
Quote
I can see it is if I try to change the Boot sequence - I can clearly see HItachi and the DVD R/W.
...and no errors are found by the Hitachi Diagnostic Tool...
Quote
Ok - the quick test showed no errors.
Quote
the advanced test found no errors either.
@TOOTR:
Can you hook up the hard drive to a working computer and run chkdsk (Checkdisk) and fixmbr (or a similar tool)? Try to access and backup any important data on the drive before you check its data/partition structure for integrity.

Lightroom does not detect external hard drive

I am a newcomer to Lightroom and I'm trying to move my photos (25,000+) from my laptop to external hard drive. I've already copied the catalog over there (following online video tutorial by David Marx). I thought the way to move the actual photos was to drag and drop them using the left panel within Lightroom. But no matter what I do, Lightroom does not show my external hd (LaCie), so I can't drag/drop. Am I right that this is the way to do it?
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Is your LaCie formatted? Do you see it in your OS?
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If yes, try the following:
In your OS move one folder to your LaCie.
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it is your sata cable if your hard drive boots through the external usb enclosure...
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I had my Ubuntu 14.04 installed in my laptop in a drive named "Notebook hard drive" in addition to a pre-installed Windows 8. Today I set the default BIOS settings in my laptop and when I rebooted it and tried to use Ubuntu by pressing "F9" key and choosing from the BIOS menu I found my "Notbook hard drive" option missing. My Ubuntu drive is still there but I have no way to access it. Is there any way I can get it back to working?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Try disabling secure boot in the BIOS and then restarting the notebook.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

C50-AST2NX2 will not read internal hard drive in external box

Purchased HGST (Hitachi) Deskstar 3.5 in. 3 TB internal drive and put it in a StarTech external drive box (that claims to work for up to 4 TB drives). When I fired it up, computer loaded up the driver just fine, but Windows Explorer does not show the drive. Swapped the internal drive into another StarTech box (which had a Hitachi 500 GB internal drive in it, and worked fine), same problem; swapped USB cables, same problem. Plugged the StarTech box into my old Toshiba L455 Satellite computer, didn't work there either (the 500 GB internal drive worked fine there, also). Thinking the new drive was bad, ordered another; just hooked it up, and - Same Problem! Saw another thread about another drive not being recognized, and that the problem was that the drive was a USB 3.0. Tried in this computer's USB 3.0; still doesn't work. I couldn't determine if the new 3TB was a 3.0 or 2.0 USB. So what do I do now? The other thread mentioned a Y-cable, so could get power from 2 USB ports; which ones-the two 2.0 ports? This is frustrating, and sure could use some help and/or advice. Thanks.
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Wow, 49 people have looked at this, and NO ONE could think of a solution? I'm disappointed.
I had a techie come over, and she figured that it was the chipset on my Toshiba (supposedly a brand-new computer-must have been an older model, though the actual box was new) that was the problem; it was so old, it wouldn't allow any drive higher than 2TB. We tried downloading updates to the chipset; no good. What I'll end up doing is buying a NAS enclosure (bought it yesterday, as a matter of fact, from Newegg, a Synology DS212J enclosure, based on the compatibility of my existing 3TB drive (Synology has a list of compatible drives for it enclosures on its site)), and add the 3TB drive as a network drive. I then purchased a 2TB Hitachi drive off Amazon (again getting a compatible drive from the Synology site) to fill the existing StarTech enclosure. The DS212J is a two-bay enclosure, so I can add another 3 TB drive later on. That should take care of my storage needs for some time to come. Later.

Answer has been found. The internal drive SATA cable was replaced and the system is now working correctly.

IMac 24" 3.06 GHz doesn't detect internal hard drive

Hi Guys,
I'm panicking because my four month old Imac is suddenly refusing to boot up into OSX and I don't understand why.
When I switch it on, I'm faced with a flashing folder and a question mark.
This problem has come completely out of the blue as all I did was switch the machine on and suddenly, it didn't work! I could understand it if I'd been fiddling with something or installing new hardware but no...
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It sounds like you have tried what Apple recommends in this article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
DO NOT OPEN IT UP this will void you warranty!!!
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Regards,
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I have the 15" 2.4 Ghz MacBook pro with the 160GB hard drive. I am already out of room. I was wondering if I can have the apple store put in the 250 GB drive. If I can, would there be a big difference in the 5400 rpm 250GB or the 7200rpm 200GB hard drive?
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So I called Apple Care and a retail apple store. They do NOT do internal hard drive installations. You/we would have to go to an authorized Apple store (non-corporate) to have this done. I guess I will just keep using my portable hard drive.

IBook Not Detecting Internal Hard Drive

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