Powerbook HD is not recognized

My Powerbook G4 will no longer recognize my internal HD. I have swapped in another HD but still doesn't recognize it. I know both these drives work since If I put them in an external enclosure and boot off of it it works and I can install Mac OS X. Is there a way to get this working rather than buying a whole new expensive logic board? Anyone else have this issue and were able to fix it.
Thank you much,

Matt
I want to see if I understand you properly, so correct me if I am wrong.
> I don't think it is the orange cable, cause it worked with my logic board that has bad video RAM
You have installed another logic board into the PowerBook - but still using the original orange data cable. If that is the case, have you tried both drives with both logic boards and were the both drives recognised (or not) when used with the logic board with faulty VRAM?
Finally, both drives work fine when used externally in a FireWire enclosure.
> I will try using Disk Warrior as was suggested in previous posts, but I don't see how Disk Warrior can fix a possible Hardware issue....
I just don't think this is anything DiskWarrior can fix as this does not appear to be a software issue (unless there is something I've overlooked).
15 1.25G/12 1G PBs, Mac minis, iBooks G3/G4, Mac OS X (10.4.3) Cube, TAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

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Powerbook G4 is not recognizing external HD

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

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?

Ipod shuffle (2nd gen.) not recognized by my powerbook (g4)

My new iPod shuffle (2nd gen.) not recognized by my powerbook (g4). Get error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer". It works just fine with my iMac (g4). If iTunes is open the shuffle is just not recognized. Have tried my shuffle on a friend's PowerBook (Intel based) and it works fine. His new shuffle behaves exactly like mine on my powerbook. All other uses with USB ports appear fine - flash drives etc. I did initialize a new flash drive with 128 bit encryption before the 1st attempt to initialize my new shuffle.
Help! Thanks

Does it show in Apple System Profiler's USB tree? Have you tried connecting it (through its dock) to another computer?

Powerbook not recognized on Windows 7 PC

Hi everyone,
I am having trouble finding a driver for my PC to recognize my Powerbook G4 running Tiger OS X. The PC is running a Windows 7, 64bit system.
When I connect the devices using a firewire cable the PC recognizes the new HW, but it cannot find a driver on-line for it. The Powerbook does not pick the PC up. Does anyone have any ideas? I have not tried using USB to USB yet as I don't have a cable.
I am desperate to re-image my Powerbook as it is in desperate need of it, but I cannot do this until I have backed-up the data. One of the reasons I need to re-image it is as the Powerbook is not recognizing any external HD's, making this process even more difficult for me.
The PC and Powerbook connect fine using the wireless connection, but this is painstakingly slow...
Does anyone have a link to a driver I can use on the PC? Or any other ideas of how I can best transfer the data?
I was also looking at some terminal commands to connect to the PC using the IP address of the device, does anyone have any good tricks/commands for this as well?
Cheers,
Flash74

if you are trying to use Mac "target mode", some PCs may not be able to recognise it
you could try to set up FireWire Mac-PC network:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/050106internet.html

Iphone 4s is not recognized by my powerbook

I have updated all software, but iphone and powerbook will not sync as phone is not recognized by powerbook. What do I do to correct situition?

When you say "Powerbook", exactly what model of Mac are you talking about? Is it really a PowerBook G4? What OS are you running?
Matt

Powerbook not recognizing hp printer drivers

so, my powerbook for some reason is not recognizing new HP printer drivers. this has happened twice now with two different printers (both mac-compatible). this is a new thing--i used to use an HP printer quite happily with this laptop.
here's what happens:
i install. installation is successful, hooray. the hp device manager opens, i choose my device (the Deskjet F300, in this case), and i'm ready to go.
i open Word to print a doc. i get an error saying "word cannot print due to a problem with the current printer."
i open my Print Preferences panel and lo and behold, there's no printer in the list. i click the [+] button to add a printer.
my Printer Browser appears. the DJ F300 appears in the list as a USB device (there are no other printers). I select it.
in the subwindow below, i see this:
-printer name: Deskjet F300
-location: home
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i can't proceed until i select a driver. the F300 is not listed among the HP drivers in the dropdown menu, so i click the button that says More Printers.
the AppleTalk browser opens. there are no printers, but after a moment, a dialog box pops up saying a new driver has been detected, and do i want to reload the browser? i click OK to reload the browser.
and nothing happens. the driver still does not appear anywhere.
i have uninstalled and reinstalled the software, both from the CD and by downloading it from HP's site. i have run disk utility, but it didn't help. does anyone have any ideas?
if this is at all related--my computer also doesn't recognize that i've agreed to my iTunes user agreement (i have to re-agree every time i launch iTunes) and it doesn't remember that i want make iPhoto my default (although i click OK every time). it also won't remember changes to my screen saver--all small, annoying things i can live with, but maybe a clue to what's not working?
g4 titanium powerbook Mac OS X (10.4)

Liz, when you download the new drivers from HP's site download them to your desktop, then open HP's folder, and drag the download to this folder it could be located in the Applications folder or the Utility folder, Then and only after you drag it in the HP folder double click it to launch the drivers.
When you use the installer or just plug in the USB it may or maynot print. This will normally give you the folder I speak of in one or more locations. When you go to Hp's site it normally will not download the upates and drivers to that folder and launch them. You have to double click them.
Don

Powerbook not recognizing printer drivers

so, my powerbook for some reason is not recognizing new HP printer drivers. this has happened twice now with two different printers (both mac-compatible). this is a new thing--i used to use an HP printer quite happily with this laptop.
here's what happens:
i install. installation is successful, hooray. the hp device manager opens, i choose my device (the Deskjet F300, in this case), and i'm ready to go.
i open Word to print a doc. i get an error saying "word cannot print due to a problem with the current printer."
i open my Print Preferences panel and lo and behold, there's no printer in the list. i click the [+] button to add a printer.
my Printer Browser appears. the DJ F300 appears in the list as a USB device (there are no other printers). I select it.
in the subwindow below, i see this:
-printer name: Deskjet F300
-location: home
-print using: [dropdown menu of printer drivers]
i can't proceed until i select a driver. the F300 is not listed among the HP drivers in the dropdown menu, so i click the button that says More Printers.
the AppleTalk browser opens. there are no printers, but after a moment, a dialog box pops up saying a new driver has been detected, and do i want to reload the browser? i click OK to reload the browser.
and nothing happens. the driver still does not appear anywhere.
i have uninstalled and reinstalled the software, both from the CD and by downloading it from HP's site. i have run disk utility, but it didn't help. does anyone have any ideas?
if this is at all related--my computer also doesn't recognize that i've agreed to my iTunes user agreement (i have to re-agree every time i launch iTunes) and it doesn't remember that i want make iPhoto my default (although i click OK every time). it also won't remember changes to my screen saver--all small, annoying things i can live with, but maybe a clue to what's not working?

When you click on the blue circle in the upper right with the white magnifying glass, if it isn't indexing, it will just show you a search field with the text Spotlight next to it, and any results from your last search if you had results. If you are able to search for stuff there, usually that means the index is OK. If no search results come up when you search, that means the index needs to be rebuilt. To rebuild the index go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Spotlight and select Privacy. Drag the hard drive icon in there, and then remove it with the minus sign below. Indexing will restart, and will be indicated in the Spotlight menu until it is finished. This may take several hours.

ITunes not recognizing my files after move to new Powerbook

Just moved all my stuff over to my new computer (Powerbook G4) using migration assistant and while everything else seems to be working fine, iTunes is not recognizing the folder with all my songs in it, called "iTunes Music" in my iTunes folder in my Music directory. Any ideas why it's not being seen? I'd hate to import them, since I believe iTunes would be making copies of each song.
Thanks.

Thanks for your response. I'm on iTunes 4.7.1 on a new Powerbook G4 running OS 10.4. I was using a Powerbook G4 rental with OS 10.4.2 that I'm about to return. It's in the process of being zero'd out so I can't check the iTunes version but I think it was running iTunes 4.9, now that I think about it. I guess it was my mistake to think a brand new Powerbook would be running software more recent that a rental.
I didn't do any replacing of the music folder, since I used an automated "mover" program that ran when I first started this machine called "Migration Assistant" or something like that that did an amazing job of moving everything over from the rental to this new one. It was just like I was on the rental--my desktop, applications, dock, and everything else was set up the way it was before, with the exception, it seems, of iTunes.
iTunes started as if it were opening for the first time and looks that way. None of my songs show up, though they're in my user folder in Music > iTunes> iTunes Music, each album in a separate folder inside, including the albums I bought through iTunes. Still, no playlists or songs show within my iTunes application, nor does the "purchased music" category show up at all (typical, I guess, when it doesn't think you've yet purchased anything).
Also in my iTunes folder is:
- a file called iTunes 4 Music Library
- a file called iTunes Library
- a file called iTunes Library.xml
- a folder called Previous iTunes Libraries which contain an iTunes 3 Music Library and and iTunes 4 Music Library. Both of these are documents, not folders.
I'm hoping there's a way to trick iTunes into seeing this stuff, maybe moving everything out, upgrading and then moving them back in some way? Thanks for the help! Have a kids birthday party in a few hours and hoping to use my iTunes to make some playlists and maybe buy some more songs.
By the way, I have an iPod that I synched to the rental recently. Might be missing some playlists but all the music is on that, too.
Thanks!
Bob

My 1st gen Ipod is not recognized by Itunes 9 (connected by firewire)... is there thomething to do ??

Hello,
everything is said in the tilte. The ipod (the one like a white brick) is seen by my powerbook (shown on the desktop), and it is recharged, but it's invisible in the last version of Itunes.
thank's for your help

See:
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
I would start with
Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7
iTunes for Windows: Device Sync Tests
Have you tried on another computer to help determine if you have a computer or iPod problem?
The iPod Classic uses different drivers than the Nano

Striped RAID not recognized by Macbook Pro

I have a pair of external firewire 250GB drives that I had configured into a striped RAID set on my Powerbook Titanium. I recently purchased a Macbook Pro. When I plug the drives into the new machine, they are not recognized and the array (and I use the term loosely since it only refers to a pair of drives!) will not mount. When I launch DIsk Utility, the drives appear in the list and are offline. I cannot find a way to bring the thing online.
When I created the RAID, I used Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. The disk set still works fine on my Powerbook and checks out fine with Disk Utility on that machine.
Does anybody have any suggestions on how to use my striped set on my new machine?

Hi, P. J.
Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you, but — seeing as how your question has gone unanswered — I thought I'd offer the following hypothesis: I suspect it may have something to do with the different partitioning schemes used by PPC and Intel-based Macs.
Theoretically, "Any Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.4 and later can mount GPT-partitioned disks," per "Technical Note TN2166, "Secrets of the GPT." However, the RAID you created on your PPC-based Mac used the APM (Apple Partition Map) scheme.
Perhaps all the bugs haven't been worked out, esp. concerning RAID. For example, there is a known issue that some Intel-based Macs cannot boot from RAID volumes.
You may want to try your question on the MacBook Pro Discussion to see if others with your same Mac have had better luck. I'd also suggest providing more details (manufacturer, make, model, etc.) of the FireWire drives you've used in the RAID. If both are from the same manufacturer, then you might also want to check with the manufacturer to see if they've had similar reports.
One option, albeit a good bit of work, would be to backup the contents of the RAID to another drive, then recreate the RAID on your Intel-based Mac, restore the data, and see if that works on both your PPC- and Intel-based Macs.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Maxtor One touch2 not recognized by Snow leopard

My maxtor one touch 2 is not recognized at all by snow leopard, it shows as connected in "about this mac"-"more info"-"USB" but thats where it ends. The drive worked very well in Tiger but seems to have been dumped as soon as I changed OS. Does anyone have an easy solution to this problem, I am no techno guru and need to have exact instructions. Please help

I'm having exactly the same problem with 2 of my Maxtor drives which I am connecting via Firewire.
They're recognised fine by my G4 Powerbook (that's running Tiger), but nothing is there on my iMac (runnning Snow Leopard).
They don't show in Disk Utility, nor in System Profiler.
Reading around in other places, there seems to be an awful lot of people having problems with drives being recognised in the last couple of months - does anyone know if this is something to do with an Apple update?
If it is, Snow Leopard has been more hassle than it's worth.
Any help at all would be much appreciated...
tim

Superdrive 845C not recognized by my Pb G4 Al

I recently upgraded from a combo drive (CW-8124-C) to a superdrive (UJ-845C). The new drive is absolutely not recognized by my Powerbook. Electrically the superdrive works well (spining noise), but it is not detected by the laptop. The "System Info" Application under "Hardware" / "Disk Burning" stays with the message "no hardware detected..." (*). I've run patchburn also, and it does not detect any drive.
(* Note: all system messages below are translated from French, they may be slightly different from US messages )
It's very probable that it comes from my Powerbook : I've tried two different UJ-845C drives thanks to http://www.iFixit.com and had the same failure. I eventually mounted back my old DVD reader, and it is recognized by the "System Info" app.
What can I do to have my superdrive recognized by my laptop? Thanks

Hey Sig,
what you say is very interesting because I could not find any table that lists compatibilities between Powerbook models and UJ model numbers. If you have any info regarding UJ-845? vs. UJ-846, I'll be very happy to create such a table.
My problem is still unsolved, and the best guess I've had so far are :
1) either it is undocumented incompatibility between Pb Alu15' Hi-Res and UJ-845C
2) or it is a hardware problem with my internal ribbon cable, which I'm suspicious about since my other drive is perfectly recognized
thanks for your answer, and sorry for seing it so late.

Superdrive 845C not recognized by my Pb G4 Ti

I recently upgraded from a combo drive (CW-8124-C) to a superdrive (UJ-845C). The new drive is absolutely not recognized by my Powerbook. Electrically the superdrive works well (spining noise), but it is not detected by the laptop. The "System Info" Application under "Hardware" / "Disk Burning" stays with the message "no hardware detected..." (*)
(* Note: all system messages below are translated from French, they may be slightly different from US messages )
It's very probable that it comes from my Powerbook : I've tried two different UJ-845C drives thanks to [www.iFixit.com] and had the same failure. I eventually mounted back my old DVD reader, and it is recognized by the "System Info" app.
What can I do to have my superdrive recognized by my laptop? Thanks
Message was edited by: harrysz

Still unresolved, but I moved the topic to the right forum : http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1168741&tstart=0

SONY HDR XR150 - Camcorder is not recognized by iMOVIE

Dear all:
_I own the Sony HDR XR150 camcorder and cannot get my MAC to recognize that my camcorder is connected._
I have a Mac laptop Powerbook G4 and am running OS X version 10.4.11. I have iMOVIE 6.03 (267.2).
When I am in iMOVIE the camcorder is not recognized. :[
It states "No camcorder attached" even when I have small Firewire cable running from camcorder to larger firewire cable plugged into MAC. My footage on camcorder is on hard drive. I have no idea if the footage was taped in a certain format and I mention this because there are lots of formats written about in this forum - I just assumed everything was recorderd in HD. I simply hit record on camcorder to tape footage. When connected, I click on a button on camcorder for USB connect that uses the Internal Hard Drive (where my footage is). However, my camcorder is not recognized on iMOVIE.
I am worried that the problem is I do not have an Intel based Mac. The software that came with Sony camcorder called PMB (Picture Motion Browser - only works with Windows.)
This is what I dug up online.
Tapeless Camcorder Support
iMovie '09 works with many tapeless camcorders that record to flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or DVD media. These devices use a USB 2.0 cable and include camcorders using MPEG-2 (standard definition), MPEG-4, AVCHD, and H.264 formats. If you use the AVCHD format you will need a Mac with an Intel-based Core Duo processor or better.
Due to the wide range of media types, and the different ways manufacturers store video on these media types, not all tapeless camcorders are compatible with iMovie '09.
NTSC Camcorders
PAL Camcorders
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3290
*CAN ANYONE CLUE ME IN AS TO HOW TO GET MY SONY CAMCORDER TO BE RECOGNIZED IN IMOVIE?*

My friend just wrote this to me as a possible solution...
It doesn't surprise me that AVCHD is only supported on Intel machines. Apple tends to stop updating older products/software in favor of their newer lines. To their credit, high compression HD codecs are processor intensive, and older hardware would have a hard time with it.
The camera may have some alternate options for video file type... Check the manual or help docs. Unfortunately, that could mean SD recording rather than HD.
I DON'T KNOW IF MY FRIEND'S INFORMATION MIGHT HELP SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME EVEN BETTER IDEAS AS A SUGGESTION. AVCHD is a high-def video format that allows HD camcorders and some digital cameras to record video at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080. SOUNDS LIKE MY FRIEND IS SAYING IF I DON'T RECORD IN HD ON MY SONY CAMCORDER MAYBE MY IMOVIE WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH IT. BUT MY IMOVIE DOES NOT EVEN RECOGNIZE MY CAMCORDER... SO I DON;T THINK HIS SUGGESTION WILL WORK...
SUGGESTIONS?

External hard drive not recognized... help please.

okay, well here is the story:
my iBook G4 had its stock 30gb hard drive in it and it was running extremely low on space. so i figured i didn't want to carry around an external hard drive, therefore i would buy an internal hard drive an install it. so i purchased a new 2.5" 80gb hard drive and called up the local apple store. they told me that although it was under warranty, that it did not cover hard drive installation. so i looked it up online and found step by step instructions to install the hard drive. so after lots of hard work and many screws, i installed the new hard drive successfully... but i still had this perfect 30gb hard drive. i thought maybe to save a few bucks i could turn it into a usb external hard drive. i found an enclosure for the hard drive and a usb 2.0 cable and plugged it into my ibook. it was recognized and everything. i put some files on the external hard drive and transferred it to another mac. this is where the trouble started. i plugged the hard drive into a PowerMac G4, and it was not recognized... so i tried it on a different mac. this time on a PowerBook G4, but no luck. this issue has been troubling me for a few weeks. but then i tried it on a similar iBook G4... and it was recognized. but i don't know why it was only recognized only on the iBook G4 (not the same iBook G4 it was pulled out of) and no other macs.
does anybody have any ideas what we can do to get this hard drive to be recognized by other macs?
any of even the smallest ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
tyler
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I can walk you through formatting the hard drive:
1. Hook it up to an iBook that recognizes it.
2. Go into your Applications folder, then scroll down to Utilities. Open Utilities and scroll down a bit and you should see Disk Utility. Double-click.
3. On the left side you should see your internal hard drive and your external one. Each hard drive will have a sub-catagory with the partition indented.
4. Your external hard drive will probably be the second catagory. Click it.
5. In the center-top you should see the tabs First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, and Restore. Click the Erase tab.
6. You should see Volume Format: and then a drop down menu, and Name: and a text box. Type in the name you want the external hard drive to be named.
7. In the drop down menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
8. Then, simply click Erase, watch the progress and it should be good to go!!
Hope I helped you out. Oh, and it might be the enclosure...and also what OS's? Since it's USB it is probably using a USB Mass Storage driver. Mac-wise, if formatting doesn't help, I would get a FireWire enclosure because FireWire is much faster than just USB 2.0. Oh, thats nother thing...Is the enclosure Hi-Speed USB? If it isn't, I would definitely get a FireWire one...If it is, the PowerMac G4 doesn't have Hi-Speed so you're not taking full advantage..Just some insight
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3) 512 MB Ram, CD-RW Combo Drive, 40 Gig HD, bought in October of 2005...
Message was edited by: Hilary_Rose

Powerbook HD is not recognized

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