is my iBook dead? what to do?!

sweet-rasmus

right i have an iBook. pretty sure it's 2001. and was running os X 10.4.8.
so, yesterday i was downloading and installing the latest firefox and adobe reader, and used keynote for the first time, when my computer began spluttering it's last breath of life. i had just emptied the waskebasket and am worried there might have been a rescued file in there or perhaps it is nothing to do with what i did!
the computer began making far too many 'thinking' whirring noises... everything got very slow... and well, the noises continued and i could pretty much do nothing on screen as the computer was 'thinking' or processing too much or whatever.
turned it off and on. noises begin on starting up the computer. i was able to get to the desktop screen a few times, trying to attempt to burn my files (i have no back-up and got no where; i kept turning off the machine by hand.) last attempt it spent 20 mins trying to load the loading screen, before login, and it got nowhere and made plenty of noise for it.

i am very sad!!!
people have suggested that 6 years is a good life for a computer...
so, i need help!
is there a chance i can get a professional to retrieve my files? perhaps fix it (though, if money wise, and considering the age of my computer, i may just have to get a new one)?

i have used a company in Dublin before for my previous mac (standard repair on that, with known fault, cost me 400). can anyone recommend me Mac repair places in Co. Dublin?


Any advice whatsoever! and i hope i have posted this in the right forum

from a sad sad mac owner

Ham'nd'egger

The two main repair houses that I know that Apple use for repairs are Mactivate and Typetec. Mactivate are in Ballycoolin while Typetec are in Ballymount, what side of the city are you based? If you are in the city centre, try the Mac Shop on Merrion Square, they are decent in there and should be some help for you.

ZENER

Sounds like the hard drive is faulty. Do you have access to another Mac ? It's possible to mount the iBooks drive on another Mac by booting the iBook into Target Disk mode. This would allow you to recover your files and data from the drive before replacing it.

ZEN

Drummerboy2

Try turning on he computer with the extensions off (hold down shift key while restarting). It will give you a chance to clean up your desktop and any stuff you may have downloaded. Then restart computer normally

Ham'nd'egger

If you can get the iBook to boot up, repair your permissions first up. if you still have your hardware test disc, run it; it should tell you if there is any hard faults in your unit. Then run Target as Zen suggests; after that, your files should be safe.

K.O.Kiki

ZENER wrote:

Sounds like the hard drive is faulty. Do you have access to another Mac ? It's possible to mount the iBooks drive on another Mac by booting the iBook into Target Disk mode. This would allow you to recover your files and data from the drive before replacing it.

ZEN

If this is the case, then it should be possible to install OSX on a Firewire drive & boot the iBook from that.

sweet-rasmus

thankyou for all your replies! as you know, the thought of losing your computer is very traumatic!!! i live in dun laoghaire, but i'm happy to travel about to save my mac. i've used mactivate before, but i wasn't impressed by their attitude... i don't think i have access to another mac, with doesn't help, but i'll check out all of what you guys said. any additional replies/suggestions would be appreciated!

whiterebel

Can you boot it from the System CD/DVD? If so, run Disk First Aid on it from the disk and it may tell you the drive has failed. If it has, the advice to boot from an external Firewire drive or use Target disk mode is something you should do quickly, if you are to have any chance of getting your info off the drive.

sweet-rasmus

i was talking to my brother (a mac person) and he was saying that if you bring your broken computer and a new computer to an apple store (or possibly any computer store) that they can transfer the contents of your old mac to your new one in about an hour. then again, he lives in texas and macs are a lot more popular there than here! anyone know if the apple store would do this? i'm doubtful as to the broken machine working for this, but my bro was convinced. anyhow, i have yet to try your suggestions and i will call into the apple store in town next week.

though, this does involve the hefty purchace of a new / 2nd hand mac

whiterebel

They can do it if the drive is working ok. if your drive has failed they can't do it . Its usually a specialist job, when I worked intech support they spoke about £400STG to recover disks, and that was 4 years ago. Try booting drom disk first and take it from there.

jpfahy

Replacing the HDD looks to be a nightmare:
http://www.faqintosh.com/risorse/en/guides/hw/ibook/g4hd/

I'm in Dalkey, pm me, call over and I'll have a look at it for you, maybe see if I can save your files

sweet-rasmus

oh nice! well, i know computer basics, and have yet to try booting from the disc... i appreciate the offer alot!!!

update:
safe booting doesn't work ('shift' held)
it does boot up in single user mode, but that's beyond me, so i reset ('command' and 's' held).
i can't boot from the disc ('c' held).
good thing is that 'target disc mode' comes up, but i don't have another mac with firewire or such a cable. if you have a mac, jpfahy, i may well need your help!

ZENER

K.O.Kiki wrote:

If this is the case, then it should be possible to install OSX on a Firewire drive & boot the iBook from that.

This is one of the really cool features of the Mac. I recently installed Tiger onto an iMac G3 connected to my G5 Powermac as a target disk - worked a treat. Why ? Because the iMac hadn't got a DVD ROM !

ZEN

sweet-rasmus

alrighty, i had some help from jpfahy; booting from an external harddrive worked, but i couldn't get my files because i had locked or restricted them or something. the 'target disc mode' worked a treat! but the harddrive overheated too soon and i could only retrieve one file that day. i'll try again for the rest soon.

thankyou all for your help