Hi There,
It sounds a bit like the hard drive is getting physically stuck. The reason being is, I think, after a few tries, the grease in the drive's motor loosens up, and the disk spins freely. It'll work consistently (assuming no other damage exists) as long as it doesn't stop spinning. When it does, the grease cools down and keeps the disk from spinning again; the cycle repeats. I believe this is called "stiction", and I've read that sharply twisting the drive in the same plane as the disk will sometimes free it up.
Perhaps giving that a try will rule out any problem with the computer's electronics?
Here is a question: when the error screen and/or question mark appears, do you hear the hard disk spin? If it's quiet (or clicking softly), then it's sticking. Then try tapping the drive to see if that frees it.
Hopefully, this is a temporary condition (unfortunately, however, the intermittent nature of the problem would seem to suggest otherwise). In an effort to encourage positive thinking, I'd like to share a success story, if I may:
Several years ago, I was given a Power Macintosh 7500, and the original 700 MB drive wouldn't spin up. I took it out and put it aside, figuring it was dead. A couple years later, I came across it again, and forgot why I didn't use it. I plugged it in to a power source, and it didn't spin, like before. Once I whacked it on the top cover, it came right to life after some very loud whirring sounds (perhaps the sound of the bearings being re-lubricated after sitting idle for x years). It still works fine to this day with no sticking whatsoever (yet).
I hope this helps!
c
It sounds a bit like the hard drive is getting physically stuck. The reason being is, I think, after a few tries, the grease in the drive's motor loosens up, and the disk spins freely. It'll work consistently (assuming no other damage exists) as long as it doesn't stop spinning. When it does, the grease cools down and keeps the disk from spinning again; the cycle repeats. I believe this is called "stiction", and I've read that sharply twisting the drive in the same plane as the disk will sometimes free it up.
Perhaps giving that a try will rule out any problem with the computer's electronics?
Here is a question: when the error screen and/or question mark appears, do you hear the hard disk spin? If it's quiet (or clicking softly), then it's sticking. Then try tapping the drive to see if that frees it.
Hopefully, this is a temporary condition (unfortunately, however, the intermittent nature of the problem would seem to suggest otherwise). In an effort to encourage positive thinking, I'd like to share a success story, if I may:
Several years ago, I was given a Power Macintosh 7500, and the original 700 MB drive wouldn't spin up. I took it out and put it aside, figuring it was dead. A couple years later, I came across it again, and forgot why I didn't use it. I plugged it in to a power source, and it didn't spin, like before. Once I whacked it on the top cover, it came right to life after some very loud whirring sounds (perhaps the sound of the bearings being re-lubricated after sitting idle for x years). It still works fine to this day with no sticking whatsoever (yet).
I hope this helps!
c