i don't want to buy a new computer YET

[alissa]

but holy crap i've done a number on it now. i was having software conflicts so i cleared it off reformatted and installed only protool and my os. (it's a g4 single processor 800mhz). anyway, it was working fine until i FOOLISHLY upgrade my operating system so i could install toast.

DUH.

and now it's not fine. it won't start. AND when i try to boot it with my os install discs it doesn't recognize any hard drives except the firewires.

i still have an 001. and i'm not ready to take the next leap yet. i was just trying to dip my toe in the water. just hang out in the shallow end for a minute.

i'm not ready to dive in the deep end. there's sharks in there. i wrote a song about them. and i still want to play it places.

can my computer be saved?

[buzzaudioguy]

I'd disconnect the firewire drives as well as run the Disc Utility off the install disc if you haven't already. You might not see the internal HD's when you run the install, but you might see them in the Disc Utility and them run some tests, repair or even reformat them. That's the first place I'd look. Anybody else?

[Randy]

That sounds right to me. I had the same issue when I was installing a new hard drive. I loaded the system and the hard drive didn't boot. I had to use the disk utility to reformat and then everything was all right. I think the OS install messed up and caused problems with the disk location info, and it just stopped being recognized.

If there is data you need from the disk, you can try to have disk utility fix the disk. That has worked for me in the past. OS upgrades can be tricky business, and even when you do things right, there can be a hiccup.

[alissa]

that's what i wanna do. the harddrive turns up fine in the hardware test, but my boot disc won't recognize it. it doesn't show up in the window of which drive do you wanna install onto.

what's disc utility? i don't think i have that disc.

[Randy]

When you boot up with the install disk, open up a window and find the Applications folder. Inside that there should be a folder named "Utilities" with an application called "Disk Utility" in it. When you run that you have the option of running a diagnostic or just reformatting. If you reformat, you might want to choose "Zero all Data" or something like that. It takes longer, but it decreases the possibility of corrupted boot files and the such.

[alissa]

i CAN'T boot up using the install disc.

that is my problem unfortunately.

(* paces frenetically in living room *)

[Randy]

Ahh, try turning off your machine, wait a minute, hold down the option key and then hit the start, keeping the option key down until you get a screen that makes you choose a startup disk.

[Randy]

The reason you are booting only from the firewire drives is that one of the FW drives was probably chosen as the default startup disk. When this happens, if you don't have a FW drive with a system on it, you will probably get a folder with a flashing question mark.

If holding down option is still not working, boot using one of the FW drives and go to system preferences and choose "Startup Disk." Then choose the internal drive. If no internal drives register, the system on the FW drive probably has the "Disk Utility" program in its Applications folder. You could try ressurecting the drive from that.

Let us know how this works out.

[alissa]

i took it in. i couldn't do anything with it.

my hard drive failed. but it's FIXABLE. yeah!