HT2699: FireWire Booting: What Computers Support It and How To

Learn about FireWire Booting: What Computers Support It and How To
Cartoonboy

Q: Boot up problems on Power mac G5

I recently bought a second hand powermac G5, and it had a fresh install of os Tiger. When the machine booted up, it asked for a password. I contacted the person I bought the computer from and they had no idea what it was. I ended up using these support pages and somehow wiped the hard drive in Terminal. Ever since then all I get is the picture of a folder with a question mark.

 

I have a retail disc of Leopard, and I connected my Mac Pro via firewire to install it to the Power mac. It has installed it, and I can boot it up on my Mac Pro, but the actual Power Mac still won't boot up by itself - it still shows the folder and question mark. I've tried everything, including the following:-

 

- Booting from CD

- Booting from Terminal (can't even get into Terminal on start-up on Power Mac)

- Pressing the option key on start-up (just comes up with a refresh image and arrow pointing right, but noting happens - even with the CD inserted there's no other option)

- Running disc utility via firewire to verify PM hard drive, and it says the drive appears okay.

 

 

I've literally tried everything I can think of, but I'm open to any ideas other people may have.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Jun 28, 2012 2:37 PM

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Q: Boot up problems on Power mac G5

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jun 30, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Jun 30, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Cartoonboy

    When Installing, hit CMD+L key lowercase L but typed it that way to eliminate confusion with 1 & I, that may require watch to see what is failing, we may or may not be able to view the Log afterwards.

     

    Another thing we could try, but takes time...

     

       2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)

          *Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*

       3. Click the Erase tab.

       4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.

       5. Select your Mac OS X volume.

       6. Highlight the drive, select Partition Tab, then Format type... MacOS Extended Journalled, select the Security Options button, choose Zero Out Data, Erase... after completion do a new install.

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 1, 2012 7:10 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 7:10 AM in response to BDAqua

    Okay, I've done that. It starts installing and then just freezes at the point when the blue progress bar is over the 'm' in the word time, as in time remaining.

     

    I've just had another go, and it's come up with an error message saying "Install failed. Could not validate the contents of 'BaseSystem' package.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jul 1, 2012 11:34 AM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 11:34 AM in response to Cartoonboy

    Biggest suspect at this point would be flaky RAM, but possibly the optical drive.

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 1, 2012 12:09 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 12:09 PM in response to BDAqua

    I've borrowed a friend's MacBook to try the same thing, and it's still freezing at the same point. If it is flaky RAM, what's the minimum that the PPC will run on. Mine has 1.5gb of RAM, with 1gb and 512mb. Is it just a case of taking one of them out?

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jul 1, 2012 2:44 PM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 2:44 PM in response to Cartoonboy

    Hmmmm, I didn't know G5s would work without Matched Pairs!???

     

    Could the 512 stick be a half defective 1 GB stick, or PC stacked or Value RAM?

     

    Important:

    • The required RAM speed is listed on the serial label in your computer as either 333 MHz or 400 MHz.
    • Use only the speed specified. Slower RAM (for example, PC2100) will not work in this computer.
    • DDR SDRAM DIMMs must be installed in matched pairs. "Matched" in this context means that the two DIMMs have the same capacity and speed. A valid pair would be two 512 MB PC2700 DIMMs, for example.

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2248

     

    Anyway, I think we're onto the problem!

  • by japamac,

    japamac japamac Jul 1, 2012 2:46 PM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 2:46 PM in response to Cartoonboy

    with 1gb and 512mb.

    RAM must be installed in sized pairs; 2 of each size, in a G5.

    RAM is installed from the inside out in the slots like 4-3-2-1 1-2-3-4 or 2-1 1-2.

    Power Mac G5: Memory Specifications and Requirements

     

    Leopard needs a minimum of 512 MB RAM, which would need to be 2x 256 MB DIMMs in a G5.

  • by japamac,

    japamac japamac Jul 1, 2012 2:50 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 2:50 PM in response to BDAqua

    I didn't know G5s would work without Matched Pairs!

    They work like a moody PC built with bootleg parts........

     

    I think we're onto the problem!

    Can't expect a machine that is improperly configured to function correctly.

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 1, 2012 2:52 PM in response to japamac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 2:52 PM in response to japamac

    I had a closer look and I've got one stick of 1gb and two sticks of 256mb, and the two sticks are identical. Do you think that's it then?

  • by japamac,

    japamac japamac Jul 1, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Cartoonboy

    Take out the odd DIMM and install a pair in the innermost slots.

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 1, 2012 3:06 PM in response to japamac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 3:06 PM in response to japamac

    There's two sets of slots, one on the top and one on the bottom. Which ones do I put them in?

  • by japamac,Solvedanswer

    japamac japamac Jul 1, 2012 3:09 PM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Jul 1, 2012 3:09 PM in response to Cartoonboy

    I said, and the linked RAM document explains, one in each inner-most slot.

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 2, 2012 8:23 AM in response to japamac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2012 8:23 AM in response to japamac

    Finally... inserted the RAM as you said. Managed to install Leopard, and clicked restart. Now the mac keeps rebooting itself over and over again.

     

    I've reconnected the macbook using Target Mode to run Disc Utility, but when I try to either verify disc permissions or verify disc it says:-

     

    Invalid key length

    Volume check failed

    Error:- Filesystem verify or repair failed

     

    I don't want to fiddle with anything in case I mess it up!

  • by Cartoonboy,

    Cartoonboy Cartoonboy Jul 2, 2012 1:10 PM in response to japamac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2012 1:10 PM in response to japamac

    Fantastic! I went through the steps again of erasing the disc and re-installing Leopard via firewire and it's worked. Thanks so much for your help guys, and I owe you a beer!

  • by japamac,

    japamac japamac Jul 3, 2012 3:48 AM in response to Cartoonboy
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Jul 3, 2012 3:48 AM in response to Cartoonboy

    !!

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