Is this PowerBook G4 worth saving? How?

September 1, 2010 11:24 AM

I have a Mac PowerBook G4 (15” Aluminum, circa 2004) that stopped working. I’m wondering what the problem is, and if it is worth repairing.

The computer stopped working yesterday morning. When I went to boot it up, it stalled on a gray screen for several minutes, then gave me a flashing question mark inside of a folder icon. After starting it from the original 10.3 system disks, the Disk Utility application could find no hard drive whatsoever.

This is a backup computer in our house. I do not store any data on it, and use it only for surfing while watching TV, and connecting to my remote desktop for work. I have no interest in recovering anything that may have been on the drive.

Question 1: Is it safe to assume that the hard drive is completely fried? Is there any way to test this hypothesis without spending any money?

Question 2: What is the cheapest way to get this machine running again? Can I repair it myself for under $100-150? Is it worth it at this point?

posted by slogger to computers & internet (9 answers total)

I put a new hard disk in my G4 PowerBook following the details at iFixit.com. Before the repair the symptoms were just as you describe (mine actually booted from the OS X install disk so I could run disk tests.) It was moderately difficult but do-able if you're inclined. If you do replace the HD, install OS X 10.4 because the G4 gets pretty slow with later OS versions. My PB is now a handy spare machine. The repair (new HD) cost under $100.
posted by anadem at 11:32 AM on September 1, 2010

iFixit is good. your drive is hosed. you might try listening to it - it's under the wrist rest opposite the battery - to see if it's making any weird clicking or whirring/stopping noises. either would mean a physical failure, only fixable by replacement. the fact that Disk Utility can't see it pretty much says it all, though (there is a remote chance it could be the cable or the logic board but it's slim).

make very sure you get the right kind of drive when you buy a new one - your machine can't take anything but a PATA (ATA-6 it's also called; there'll be a 44-pin connector on the end) drive, and it has to be around 9.5mm high. something like this. most new drives are of the new SATA variety and your machine doesn't support that - different cables and connectors and everything.
posted by mrg at 11:49 AM on September 1, 2010

Question 1: Is it safe to assume that the hard drive is completely fried? Is there any way to test this hypothesis without spending any money?

Since you can boot the computer from a set of system discs, you know the computer itself (CPU, logic board) more or less works properly.

From eight years of fixing Macs, I'd bet with 99.5% certainty that the internal hard drive is dead, from the symptoms you report and the diagnosis steps you took.

It's an easy enough repair, you just need the tools, the time, and a replacement drive.

So you would need to spend a little money, certainly you can do this under $60 or so if you have the tools and inclination to DIY. The aforementioned iFixit.com is the go-to place for step-by-step instructions.

I also second the recommendation of running OS X 10.4 if you can get a copy (eBay is a good place for this). It is faster than 10.3 and has most of the useful features that make it most similar to Macs running 10.5 and 10.6.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:50 AM on September 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

Reset the PRAM. It's probably Opt-Apple-P-R on boot. Sometimes that'll kick the laptop in the ass enough to make it re-find a failing drive. If you can't get it to recognize the drive after a few reboots, it's completely hosed, although the rest of the computer is likely fine. If you can get the drive to boot, then get everything off it ASAP.
posted by mikeh at 11:53 AM on September 1, 2010

It might not be the hard drive—it might be the drive controller on the motherboard (or something else, I guess). If you can boot from an external drive, it's probably the hard drive; if not, something else. If you don't have an external drive lying around, perhaps you can borrow one for diagnostic purposes. You can install OS X onto the drive from a functional computer and see if it will boot Mr Unhappy.
posted by adamrice at 11:54 AM on September 1, 2010

Thanks for the answers so far!

A follow-up to Blazecock Pileon's recommendation of installing 10.4. I have a copy of 10.4 that shipped with a MacBook Pro that we own. It even has MacBook Pro printed on the CD label. Can I do a clean install from those disks on the above-mentioned PowerBook G4? Or might there be things on those disks specific to the MacBook Pro?
posted by slogger at 11:57 AM on September 1, 2010

The discs are usually made to work with the model of computer they ship with. The retail discs are the exception to this, which usually work with any model of Mac made around or before the general timeframe in which the retail disc is sold.

That's notwithstanding the difference in processors between the MBP (Intel) and the PowerBook G4 (PowerPC), which required Apple release two disparate builds of the same operating system version until 10.6 went Intel-only.

You can sometimes trick model-specific discs into working on other models, but you can't get past the processor difference.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:04 PM on September 1, 2010

I just ran into something similar with a G4 17". It never got to the blinking folder, so using the directions in iFixit I took it apart and removed the hard drive. While it was apart I pieced enough of it together to try booting an Ubuntu live CD, and wouldn't you know it, it booted (slowly).

I put the existing hard drive into an IDE->USB enclosure I had laying around, and while my Ubuntu PC was able to mount it, folders were inaccessible and the free space was suspiciously the size of the disk.

I took the 40GB IDE drive I'd had in that enclosure, installed it in the PowerBook, and was able to then install OSX onto it after erasing it.

So, depending on how daunted you are by taking apart a laptop (I'm not, having done so for a job for a while, and knowing little tricks like sticking the different screws to labeled strips of tape to keep them organized), but all told it only took me a spare PATA laptop drive and a couple hours.

Now, if you don't have a drive, they're getting harder to find and more expensive, but you can probably find some under $100.
posted by codger at 1:23 PM on October 7, 2010

Also, my PowerBook would not boot from its own DVD drive nor an external one while it still had the (dying) hard drive in it.
posted by codger at 1:25 PM on October 7, 2010