BarnacleGrim
Well-known member
I have a 15" PowerBook G4, model number A1095.
It already has the dead memory slot problem, so I put a 1GB stick in the working slot and removed the one in the faulty slot, after which it chimed normally and recognised the 1GB of RAM. But then it started showing signs of HDD failure, finally getting a question mark folder when trying to boot. Disc target mode didn't work, but I managed to transfer a previous backup to a FireWire drive I had laying around, after which it booted normally. So I decided to replace the internal drive with the ATA drive in the FireWire enclosure. I still got the question mark folder, but the old drive works just fine in the FireWire enclosure, so I'm assuming it's the ATA interface, not the HDD itself.
But when I try booting from the FireWire drive with the original hard drive (repaired with DiskWarrior) it freezes before it manages to boot. I can get single user mode for a short time before it freezes, but it seems to freeze independent of kernel extensions and processor load.
I'm thinking of trying with a different RAM stick, but the only solution might be a new logic board, which isn't worth the trouble, especially since the machine is rather worn.
It already has the dead memory slot problem, so I put a 1GB stick in the working slot and removed the one in the faulty slot, after which it chimed normally and recognised the 1GB of RAM. But then it started showing signs of HDD failure, finally getting a question mark folder when trying to boot. Disc target mode didn't work, but I managed to transfer a previous backup to a FireWire drive I had laying around, after which it booted normally. So I decided to replace the internal drive with the ATA drive in the FireWire enclosure. I still got the question mark folder, but the old drive works just fine in the FireWire enclosure, so I'm assuming it's the ATA interface, not the HDD itself.
But when I try booting from the FireWire drive with the original hard drive (repaired with DiskWarrior) it freezes before it manages to boot. I can get single user mode for a short time before it freezes, but it seems to freeze independent of kernel extensions and processor load.
I'm thinking of trying with a different RAM stick, but the only solution might be a new logic board, which isn't worth the trouble, especially since the machine is rather worn.
