Powerbook G4 is not recognizing external HD

Question

Hi. My computer is dying. I can feel it. It's doing all these weird things it never used to do, like suddenly lapse in to a grey screen where I can do nothing but restart it in order to get it working again. I have about 60 gigs worth of music and pictures that I absolutely must back up. The problem is, some time in the last 6 - 8 months, my computer suddenly stopped recognizing external HD devices. I've tried it with three separate devices now. The first two were loaners but this last one I bought. I know I meet the system requirements, and I can't think of any reason why this would be happening. I've tried 3 different devices, which rules out the problem lying with the devices. My computer used to recognize external HD's just fine. I have no idea why it stopped.
Two things worth mentioning: My battery is dead. Someone stole my battery and replaced it with a dead one, so my laptop is no longer portable. But it shouldn't be an issue of the device not receiving enough power because the computer is plugged in.
The light on the device is not a solid green; it's blinking with orange, and the device keeps making a faint clicking sound.
Any help would be much appreciated. If I can't figure out the problem here I'm going to have to take my computer to the apple store and that's always a hassle.
Thanks

Answer 1

Oh my ....
First, if you have the original OS X disks that came with the system, insert the first one (should say in small print on the label 'AHT Version x.x'), reboot, holding the alt/option key down, and choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted, choose the extended test. If you have either of the TechTool programs, they can do similar testing. Does that point out any hardware issues?
Faint clicking normally suggests a hard drive about to die. You could always download Smart Utility from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.phps to get a readout of your SMART sensors. If you're hard drive is 3-5 years old, it may be on it's way out, and causing issues.
Have you reset the PMU? And while you're at it, might as well reset the PRAM. PMU reset is: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431 and PRAM reset is:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
After that, what the status?