On 31/01/2011, at 7:33 AM, lynn...@westnet.com.au wrote: > hi > > Before I take ol' trusty - laptop that is - to the cleaners and before > getting a new one - just wanting people's input/suggestions. > > Ol' trusty has had a hard drive replacement just before the original warranty > expired, mid 2008. > > Before Saturday, ol' trusty has been making the weird sounds again, the ones > like ol' trusty is about to die on me. > Then on Saturday, ol' trusty died. When i tried booting her up again, she did > not give me any chime sound, but she did give me a folder icon with a > question mark in it. I tried booting her up a few times. A few times, she did > ask me to select the hard drive to boot up from. I selected the only hard > drive she has and then she freezes on me (blank light blue-grey screen). > > If i take her into the cleaners, would they be able to get stuff off her? I > do have my backup, but its a couple of weeks old and I dont have my emails on > there. > > Would a replacement hard drive do or do i have to replace an all new trusty? > > Ol' trusty's specs: > Bought her mid to late 2007 - July/August if memory serves me correct > 13" white macbook > 80GB hard drive > just updated OS 10.5.x a couple weeks ago > > Please ask if you need more information about ol' trusty. > > Many thanks and regards > Lynn > >
The folder with question mark fundamentally means that the computer cannot find a startup disk. It doesn't necessarily mean that the hard drive is completely dead (just extremely ill!). Try booting from the System Startup disk that came with your computer (You do have one, don't you?!)) and running Disk Utility from it. If it shows that the hard drive is available then you still have hope. Do not attempt to repair the drive without professional help if you're not sure of what you are doing. Certainly, a replacement drive is a viable option, and of course much cheaper than a new computer. It's also easy to do (at least it's not an iBook!). You must at all costs attempt to back up the data on the drive if at all possible before attempting any sort of repair. Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
