Bad hard drive

Does anyone know how to reformat a drive when you can't start from the CD

[titangf]

Hey guys,

Got a weird problem. One of our G4s running OS X just went nutts. Hopefully someone here can help.

The G4 starts up and goes through the motions (initial screen with OS X in a white box and status bar, but it never makes it to the log in screen. It goes to a blue screen that blinks every couple of minutes. I have tried re-installing the system, but I can't get it to start from the CD. I even tested the OS X CD on another machine, no prob. Tried Dirve 10 and OS 9 CDs. No good either.

Does anyone know how to format a hard drive without being able to start up from a CD?

[eboda]

Sounds like a bad system file...

Re installing is a bit extreme at this point.

Try the following:

1.) I experienced this in OS X .1.4 and this worked for me. I zapped the PRAM. So Zap Pram - At start up hold down Shift+Command+P+R all at the same time. Let the Mac chime 3 times.. 2 is enough - I do 3 as required in old mac os days.

2.) Start-up in OS 9 if you have it installed on your system. Run Norton Unitilities.

3.) Can't reach OS 9? Or OS X start-up - Try Starting up and holding down: Command+Option+Shift+Delete. This will will force the Mac to find the start-up folder (OS 9 or X )

I will keep searching my OS X Bible I just purchased. Make more postings as I find them.

eboda

[eboda]

I have seen others complain of your problem on Mac Fixit [macfixit.com]

Try searching there - I know there is a fix. Again re installing for a simple bug seems a little extreme.

Also try: Mac Addict Forums [macaddict.com] Go to forum "MacOS X: Tricks & Troubleshooting"

Great resource also!
eboda

[stlouislouis]

Hi,

I'm not a Mac person (saw this in recent post), but a couple of thoughts I'll share.

I think OS X is FreeBSD under the hood. Is there a way to boot into single user mode and fix things? Also, can you set the machine to boot from floppy or CD-ROM before hard drive in the BIOS?

I'm a PC person...and hope something in the above is helpful.

Best wishes,

Louis

[Macguru]

Hi titangf,

Of course, you held down the "C" key while trying to boot from some OS 9 CD, right?

>>to boot from floppy

stlouislouis, Macs comes 'sans' floppy drive since the introduction of the iMac.

[bodine]

titangf: Can you give me more info? Newness of G4 (dual 500, single 833, etc). And, the CD you are using (off the shelf OS 9/X, or borrowed from friend, or borrowed from one that came with an iMac, and the age of the Drive X CD).

Basically, you will have to boot from a CD, or install a generic OS 9 folder on a FireWire drive and try booting from it (i.e, if you have the most current firmware installed).