Replacing dead HD...what to do next

All: last week I discovered my aluminum imac had a white screen...after doing the repair disk (from the Disk Utilities) my problem was temporarily solved, only to go back to a white screen later...now when I get to the Disk Utility and attempt to 'repair disk', my HD doesn't show for me to select...i've rebooted numerous times and nothing, my HD isn't recognized.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10624597#10624597
So I am either going to have the Geek Squad replace the HD for a new and better one, or I am going to undertake the task myself...here's my questions...
1. Is there any other test I can run to ensure my HD is faulty...before I replace.
2. Once I replace the HD and boot up the iMac...what are the steps to reinstall Mac OS X...anything I need to do to get the new HD ready?
3. I have a Western Digital external HD I've been using as a back-up, but just in case my movies and pictures didn't get backed-up...is there a way to hook my old HD up via a USB connection to attempt to retrieve any data?
I found some video tutorial that takes you step by step replacing the HD, only the stuff afterwards I'm not too sure of...
Any help would be appreciated.

First I wouldn't let the Geek Squad come within 150 feet of my iMac. If you have AppleCare this would be covered by the AppleCare warranty! If you don't have AppleCare and still need the drive replaced there are additional options, first is take it to an Apple Store and have it repaired there, there are two in Kansas. If that doesn't work for you go here for authorized repair centers. Your last option is to do it yourself which isn't recommended and IS NOT for the faint of heart. If you do decide to do it yourself there is a good guide here.
Regards,
Roger

Similar Messages

So iWeb is dead? what is the next best thing for a beginner?

Hi Guys,
I have my new Mac and i want to build my first website....with iWeb dead, what is the next best web builder for a beginner like me...? I want to creat a blog add the odd photo and link to my twitter page. Thats about it.....any suggestions?
Many thanks
Ian

Are you saying that you have an iWeb blog hosted on a 3rd party ftp server which allows visitors to add comments? That would be a first since the following has always been part of iWeb's Help file:
Features Unavailable When Publishing to a 3rd Party Server:
◼ Password protection
◼ Blog and photo comments
◼ Blog search
◼ Hit counter
The following is a screenshot of iWeb Help on publishing to an ftp server:
Currently if the site is published directly from iWeb to the 3rd party server the RSS feed and slideshow subscription features will work. However, if the site is first published to a folder on the hard drive and then uploaded to the sever with a 3rd party FTP client those two feature will be broken.
OT

Running a Mac G3, having been using a Laserwriter Select 360, but it and two others are now dead. What is the next best or better printer to use?

I am running a desktop beige Mac G3 and have been using a Laserwriter Select 360, but it an two others are now dead.
What is an equal or better printer to use with the Mac?

Hey, BD, I looked at Brothers last night in connection to this questiona and it looks like their newest/current laser print-only units go back to 10.4 but no further.
Brother is the best hope but the OP may need to look for an older model still in stock. For example, for our older Brother HL5250DN, they still show OS9 drivers:
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public/us/us/en/dlf/download_top.html?r eg=us&c=us&lang=en&prod=hl5250dn_all
Gary, web-check for stores that still have older models on teh shelf. You can also look at "newer-but-not-new" and then use the Brother site to check for OS9 drivers.
Founds some of my model on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Brother+HL-5250DN
We paid US$199 for ours new about seven years ago. It's been a real workhorse and trouble-free. Well, except for the time my wife tried to feed it a odd paper stock that was not on the printer's official diet!
A Beige G3 consideration: The Big Beige doesn't come with USB ports. You must add a PCI USB adaptor card, and the ones that worked in the Beige are harder to find today.
However, the Beige has built-in ethernet so if you get a printer with an ethernet connector, you will be in bisiness with neither the expense of an extra adaptor card nor the occasional buttheadedness of USB printing. The "N" in our Brother model designates it as a network printer so it has an ethernet port. Many others do also.

Hard Drive is dead - deciding what to do next

Hi all,
My computer is a 12 inch Powerbook G4. My hard drive is dead.
Here's what happened. Night before last my powerbook was freezing randomly. In retrospect the HDD was making some clicking noises but not consistently. Following morning it freezes one last time. On reboot, it won't finish starting up.
I run Tech Tool and all the HDD scans fail. I use Disk Utility on the Tiger OS CD and it also comes back saying that the HDD has failed. All the repair attempts by these tools fail. I read some articles here in the forum that led me to pay the $5 and download Data Rescue II boot cd file to try and see if I can recover anything. I'm burn the disk image to a cd, but am unable to boot off the disc.
I make an appointment at the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store to basically confirm what I think has happened. They hookup their firewire drive and see that basically there is nothing viewable on the HDD and that it is dead. Since I'm out of warranty, Apple's repair option is to pay around $300 to send it to their repair facility. I'm thinking I may do the replacement myself.
So, my understanding is that the drive that's in there is a 60GB 4200-rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive. My question is can I upgrade to faster, larger capacity drive? How do I know what drive will work?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

If you want size, definitely get the 250GB drive. It is the largest-to-date drive. I remember just "weeks" ago when I recommended this option to some folks, people thought I was fibbing since the previous option for largest drive was 160GB.
They also thought I might have been confusing it with the SATA drive for MacBook and MacBook Pro computers.
If you're looking at speed, then it's the 100GB drive at 7200RPMs. I'm sure eventually, they will come out with a higher capacity for the 7200RPMs, much like the 250GB story.
I debated over that myself, when I decided to tackle upgrading the drive on my other PowerBook, the 15-inch one. Those are easier. I don't think I will ever pop open the 12-inch PowerBook to do any work on it.
250GB gets space. I wanted it, but at the time, didn't have the money. I got a great deal on a Seagate 160GB 5400.3 RPM drive (the ".3" stand for the version drive you get). It was less than retail because of a price match, plus a store credit coupon I had.
So I went for it. Plus, this drive had Seagate's "perpendicular recording" technology that makes it just as fast--so reviews said--as the 100GB 7200RPM drives.
And 5400RPM vs. 7200RPM drives are really nominal in speed difference. It's not noticeable, according to my research. Where it is noticeable is video editing, and intense tasks. Then there's the factor of higher capacity drives with slower speeds, beating out lower capacity drives with higher speeds.
But I don't want to go in to that. I'll be talking all day!

Kin : Dead. Sidekick : Dead. What is the next youth social networking mobile carrier?

Probably Virgin Mobile. They are aggressively marketing unlimited text/data plans for the prepaid market. But they have two huge weaknesses.
1)No Bring Your Own Device. Something many if not all Verizon resellers allow.
2)They only have Sprint native coverage with no roaming.

(OK, 12 days later ...)
That, and I've heard the customer service is horrendous for most prepaid providers, including Virgin. It can take several days to port a phone number, and it can at times be difficult to get through to a CSR when you need help with anything. But I suppose, if you're a first-time cell phone owner, you wouldn't know what you were missing.
But, yeah, Virgin does a good job on marketing to that demographic.

Replaced power supply, G5 still dead - now what?

I recently posted that my wife's G5 2.0 (June 2004) had made a loud pop followed by a burning odor, and the consensus on the forum seemed to be that the power source had died. I just replaced the power source, but when I tried to fire up the computer got no results; no light, no chime, nothing. The one thing that the computer IS doing now that it did not after the "popping" incident is that when I turn on the power strip that the computer plugs into, the computer makes a small clicking sound, like a switch being flipped, that it also made before (but not after) the popping incident.
Before taking everything apart and looking to see where I might have screwed up I'd appreciate any advice as to where I should look first. I thought the disassembly and reassembly went pretty smoothly, so I'm a bit bummed at the lack of a positive result (except for the clicking noise being back).
Probably not relevant, but I was interested to see that the power source I pulled from the computer was made by Lite On, so perhaps it had been replaced before I bought it 4 years ago.

So here's where I am now. I disassembled the computer to the point of pulling the heat sinks so I could see the connections to the power supply, except for the plug that sits under the supply and would require pulling the PS out to check. All connections look good. I also looked at the connections from the "start button" back to the boards, and they looked/felt solid.
I did find the SMU reset button that BDAqua mentioned, and that I hadn't found before. I put the good battery out of my own computer in, pushed the SMU reset button, then plugged in and tried to start. No success; no light or any sound when pushing the startup button.
Any ideas what to try next? Could something else have fried when the power supply went? Or could the original popping noise and burning smell been caused by something else entirely? Do I need to pull the power source to make sure the final connection is good? I sure THOUGHT I plugged it together well.
On the positive side, I've gotten really fast at taking the computer apart....

Instructions on how to fix one preference that never stays changed leads to dead ends. Please help me figure out what to do next.

Every time I look at Options, my setting always reverts to TELL Sites that I do not want to be tracked. Other people told me not to check anything, so it's a little annoying that it is always checked.
I opened troubleshooting, opened my folders, and discovered that I don't have a User.JS file, so the instructions to fix that preference ended without a solution. The next step to check Pref.JS. Here, I got an error:
prefs.js
line 1
char 1
invalid character
code 800a03f6
Microsoft jscript compilation error.
I have no idea what to do next. Thank you.

You need to right-click the prefs.js file and use "Open with" to open the file in a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and you shouldn't double-click the file as that gives you the above posted error message.
Start Firefox in <u>[[Safe Mode|Safe Mode]]</u> to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
*Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
*Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

TS1559 Apple resolution does not work on the 4s. What is my next step?

The Apple resolution for a greyed out WiFi option did not work. Any help on what to try next?

Bryce if you restored as a new phone and that did not correct the problem then you have done as nuch as you reasonably can, You most likely have a hardware problem. If your phone is still under waranty you can apply to have it repaired or replaced - contact Applecare support at 1-800- MYIPHON - if phone is out of warranty they will offer replacement at $199.

Looking for a canon with the same features as SD1100IS. What are the next 3 models after SD1100?

Husband's canon SD1100 was stolen. We're trying to replace it with another but 1100s are not available. What are the next 3 or so models past the SD1100 that would have the comparable features, speed and ease of operation?

Hi A-Mo,
I'm very sorry that your husband's PowerShot SD1100 IS was stolen!
The SD camera line has been replaced by the PowerShot ELPH lineup. These cameras are improved in a number of important ways, such as better zoom lenses, and sensitivity to light for existing light photography.
I recommend that you consider the PowerShot ELPH 310 HS. This camera has an 8x optical zoom lens (vs. 3x for the PowerShot SD1100 IS), has a higher ISO of 3200 (vs. 1600) for low light photography and shoots video in "full" high definition (1920 x 1080 resolution) (vs. 640 x 480).
Please note: none of the cameras in this group of cameras includes the optical viewfinder you had on the PowerShot SD1100 IS,
I hope this is helpful.
Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

MacBook 3x went to service center, still random shutdown, what to do next?

Hi! Mine is week 17, and mainboard already replaced for 3 times. The last one they replaced the battery also.
There is no Apple Center in here, I deliver it to the local authorized Apple service.
I just got my 3rd replacement yesterday, and I noticed from the first place that it got blank gray screen on startup & can't sleep using the Energy Saver. But I waited long enough for the repairement, so I decided to take it home anyway. At home, I did the commandopt+pr and reinstall it back to 10.4.6 using the equiped cd. But still it can't sleep using Energy Saver..
But the blank gray screen problem is gone.
Today I calibrate (since they replaced the battery with brand new one), after the process done (5 hours sleep, zero battery), I plugged the magsafe and I heard looping click sound, and it went random shutdown again!
And it goes shutdown on: yes dev null
I just do the commandopt+pr, and the yes dev null havn't invoked the shutdown. But from my previous shutdown experiences, it will go crazy random shutdown in about 3 days ahead from now.
So what to do next? going to the authorized service again?
I'm sick and tired now.
Also the outer body case is suffers little scratches, and it's getting mucher and mucher everytime I got it back from repairement.
Oh dear God do help me! All I want is for my money back, at least a new replacement for my MacBook.
And they said Apple wouldn't allow it.

Since you're not actually turning it in to Apple for repair, I wonder if the repair shop that's doing the work knows what they're doing. Since you've had the logic board replaced three times, that's pobably not the solution. I had the random shutdowns and verticle lines on the display, and Apple replaced my heatsink and then erased the HD and re-installed to factory settings, 10.4.6. I then migrated my data from my backup HD, updated OS to 10.4.7, and installed the SMC firmware update. No problems since then.
Many other users have had their logic board replaced more than once only to continue having the problems. Some have had logic board replaced once and then no longer have problems. Others have had other parts replaced, such as in my case and have had no problems.
Apparently each MacBook has to be diagnosed individually to find the problem.

My IPhone 4 started buzzing and then went dead. What do I do to fix this problem?

My IPhone 4 started buzzing and then went dead. What do I do to fix this?

This worked, thanks!
Next question: After updating my IPhone 4 to the latest operating system, my contacts app keeps freezing. I have to turn off my phone and restart it to get it to work properly. What can I do to fix this? This also happens with some other apps like the Weather Channel too.

Replaced dead hard drive reinstalled my mac 08 software will not restart for update

replaced dead hard drive reinstalled my mac 08 software will not restart for update

idk im not a computer tech im running on 08 software mac osx 10.5.2 ok now i replaced my hard drive ok now im trying to up date it goes to the agreement I agree and it tells me it has to shut down to download but instead of restarting it goes to download and and download stops half way can u help
what my prob is

I just did an Time Capsule firmware update and now my Time Capsule is dead. What happened?

I just did a Time Capsule firmware update and now my Time Capsule is dead. What happened?

tresbaileys wrote:
it may be important to note that when I put my ear to the box I can still hear the HD spinning (although no lights are lit and it doesn't show in the airport utility). Ideas??
That is very bad.. how old is it??
The Gen4 TC can die this way.. it is not usual but it happens.
Leave it for several hours to cool off. Do a factory reset immediately when you try to restart it.
The Factory Reset.
Power down the TC.
Hold in reset. and keep holding it in. Be Gentle! It is a tiny surface mount switch with a plastic lever.. Attempting to push it out the other side of the TC will not make the switch turn on better.
(I fix TC and have several reset levers bent over and jammed or broken off).
Power on the TC.. remember with the reset held in.. this needs three arms.. a friend or power switch you can get to with your feet..
Keep holding in reset for about 10sec until the front LED flashes rapidly.
Release reset and wait .. the boot will be slow as it deletes previous setting.. only from router side and pulls out the factory defaults. No files are deleted on the hard disk.. but the name of the TC may change.
Tell me exactly what the LEDs do throughout this process.
Both the main one at the front and the LED on the ethernet ports which should all flash during bootup.
If it is less than a year.. of course Apple will replace under warranty.. 2 years in some places.. Europe .. places with stronger consumer laws. If you have applecare on a computer it should still cover the TC.
I kind of doubt you are going to get this going again... but we can try.

My macbook battery will not charge. I have tried unplugging and doing an SMC reset but it did not seem to change. I have yet to try another magsafe charger. The charger has a dim green light while plugged into the computer. What are my next steps?

Hello Everyone,
This is my first time using the forum. My macbook battery will not charge. I have tried unplugging and doing an SMC reset but it did not seem to change. I have yet to try another magsafe charger. The charger has a dim green light while plugged into the computer. What should my next steps be, besides trying a new charger as well as being the most cost effective?
Thanks
-TB

Hi ..
The battery may need replacing.
Check the battery maximum cycle count > Mac notebooks: Determining battery cycle count
And check the adapter > Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters

Problem is with my iPhoto on my Macbook air. I am trying to move my library from my airbag onto my passport drive. I did it and deleted it from the airbag but it simply re appeared possibly from the cloud. Not sure what to do next.

The problem is with my iPhoto on my Macbook air. I am trying to move my library from my airbook onto my passport drive. I did it and deleted it from the airbook but it simply re appeared possibly from the cloud. Not sure what to do next. Sorry I am not a techie.

Sorry - we can not see you
what do you have? Version of iPhoto? Of the OS? How is the passport connected to your Mac? What format is the passport (for the iphoto library it must be Mac OS extended (journaled) )? The iPhoto library is not and can not be on the cloud (maybe later with the Photos Application)
LN

I have no idea what to do next?!

I am posting this here because I have no other ideas of what to do next. I purchased an item in October (a pre order item) and when I got it in December, I noticed it had issues and returned it to the stores. I used $115 in reward certificates to purchase this item. I never received the rewards issued back to my account. I have contacted the RZ Reward Customer Service more than 5 times. Each of those times, they assured me they would send it "to the back office". They themselves were not able to credit my account because it was such a large amount. I realize that. Everyone I have talked to said 3-5 days. I once talked with a nice lady that said my account was not linked and did something that made my points disappear, but then reappear. So that's all good... but still no points. In November, I purchased an item that was not in stock at the store for the 3X points night and my points never tripled like they should have. Each time I have contacted Customer Service about the rewards, I have also mentioned the 3X points issue as well. Today, I talked with a Rep who said she could not find the transaction and would now need to find the receipt. That's all good, cause I still have it (because of no resolution) but, I must ask, Why is this taking so long?! During this duration I have received 500 comp points for my trouble, that's nice... but there is about $125 in points missing from my account... and at some point I want to use them, Maybe not now, tomorrow, or next month... but when there is something I realize that I cannot live one more day without. I hope this helps.... FH

Good morning fathawkeye, and thank you for posting to the forum,
It should generally take between 3 and 6 business days for a certificates point value to repost to a member's My Best Buy™ account following a return or cancellation. Based on the return date, you should have seen 5750 points ($115 in certificates) repost to your account more than a month ago, so I can understand why you might feel frustrated. In my opinion, we should have been able to address the matter during anyone of the phone calls you have made.
With that being said, I would like to go over your My Best Buy™ account with you to ensure it is up-to-date and to also discuss the purchase that may have qualified for 3X bonus points. To accomplish that, I will be sending you a private message. You can check your private messages by logging into the forum and clicking on the envelope icon located at the top of the page.
Warm Regards,
Derek|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
Private Message

Replacing dead HD...what to do next

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for