Folks, I am in major panic mode. Here's whats going on:
I got a two year old IMAC that has OSX with SNOW LEOPARD on it. a 10.6.4 model. The kid has every so often pressed the power button on the back making it time out and shut down. I guess that has corrupted my Hard Drive somehow. Because what is happening now is that I'll let my comp go to sleep (dark screen) and then come back and wake it up with the mouse. And it will sit there and spin, thinking FOREVER. I cannot force quit the program its thinking about. So I am forced to hold in the power button to force start it. Then instead of the apple logo coming up, it shows a flashing "?" on a folder. I put in the Snow Leopard disc and do a disc utility on it, repairing it. And usually, it will boot back up by me choosing the hard Drive to start up from. But now if it crashes and I have to run the disc utility, the Hard Drive is not showing up. So I keep restarting and trying to run the disc test and hoping for the best. Eventually the Hard Drive just "Shows up" on the options to run disc utility.
So I am at a loss. A guy we talked to says the hard drive is dying. I find that hard to believe because the comp is only two years old, and has a crapload of memory and ram on it. There's not alot of files on it either. So what the hell?
Anyone out there have ANY info for me about this? I'd appreciate it. Especially a walk-through of sorts. HELP ME! FREE SKETCH TO ANYONE THAT CAN HELP ME!!!!!!
T
1 comment:
Well, I'll offer some ideas, but I don't own a Mac at this time, so my thoughts are more "general":
It could be the hard drive, only because they do fail and two years could be possible. Depending on a variety of issues, it could be having trouble. Considering the cost of hard drives, it may be the least expensive option for a fix (and maybe you could end up with a larger hard drive). RAM/memory has no direct relation to the quality or physical function of the hard drive. You could have all the RAM/memory in the world, and your hard drive could still die after a couple years. Does the Mac have a hardware warranty beyond 2yr? Can you get a warranty replacement drive?
The other issue could be a corrupt file in your OS (Leopard). When forcing a shut down or other "unplanned shutdown of application", you risk damaging files. Although you say you are doing a "repair" with your install disc, I've seen those "repairs" not always do the job. Sometimes you end up simply backing up your data, reformatting the hard drive, and reloading the OS from scratch. If you aren't in a position to buy a new hard drive, this may be a "last chance" option to take.
In my experience with computers, reformatting and reloading the OS solves 90% of the problems. There is the occasional hardware issue, but most times I end up finding it being a software issue. Trouble is, you get to reload all your stuff, which can be a headache in itself.
I've frequently said that Macs may not crash as often as Windows machines, but when they do, it's spectacular!!
That's all I know.
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