Q: Pismo Shutsdown during Start-up
I have a G3 Pismo 500 MHz Powerbook that will not finish the Start-Up process before it, for some unknown reason, Powers off. This even happens when starting up from the optical drive.
This started happening shortly after I replaced the 30 gb HDD (S.M.A.R.T. was reporting eminent failure), with a new Seagate 80 gb HDD. It was up and running for a few weeks before this started happening. Since the System Battery (i.e. PRAM battery) was dead, I thought that maybe this was the problem. So, I replaced it. That didn't help.
Then, I thought that maybe the new HDD was the problem, so, I initialized it with the Mac OS 10.4 installation disk. When I tried to reinstall the OS, it wouldn't complete the installation. So, I removed the HDD and connected it to another computer. Disk Utility and Drive Genius both indicated that there are no problems with the new HDD. With the HDD disconnected from the Powerbook in question, I tried to start-up from the optical drive with a Mac OS X 10.4 disk. The same thing happens. Sometimes it will get all of the way to the language selection screen on the Mac OS installation disk. Then when I try to continue, it powers off. With or without the HDD connected, Sometimes it only gets to the Blue screen which follows the screen with the Apple Logo and the turning gear, then it powers off.
I searched the Apple Support site for assistance and found references to resetting the PRAM and the PMU. Neither of these have helped.
I thought that maybe there was a bad connection in the RAM, so, I took it out and put it back in.
Any ideas of what to look for next?
This started happening shortly after I replaced the 30 gb HDD (S.M.A.R.T. was reporting eminent failure), with a new Seagate 80 gb HDD. It was up and running for a few weeks before this started happening. Since the System Battery (i.e. PRAM battery) was dead, I thought that maybe this was the problem. So, I replaced it. That didn't help.
Then, I thought that maybe the new HDD was the problem, so, I initialized it with the Mac OS 10.4 installation disk. When I tried to reinstall the OS, it wouldn't complete the installation. So, I removed the HDD and connected it to another computer. Disk Utility and Drive Genius both indicated that there are no problems with the new HDD. With the HDD disconnected from the Powerbook in question, I tried to start-up from the optical drive with a Mac OS X 10.4 disk. The same thing happens. Sometimes it will get all of the way to the language selection screen on the Mac OS installation disk. Then when I try to continue, it powers off. With or without the HDD connected, Sometimes it only gets to the Blue screen which follows the screen with the Apple Logo and the turning gear, then it powers off.
I searched the Apple Support site for assistance and found references to resetting the PRAM and the PMU. Neither of these have helped.
I thought that maybe there was a bad connection in the RAM, so, I took it out and put it back in.
Any ideas of what to look for next?
G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Dual 2 GHz PPC G5, 1.5 GB DDR SDRAM, HDD 150 GB
Posted on Mar 30, 2008 5:54 AM
by jpl,Solvedanswer
Rick,
If it was a single beep, that would suggest RAM was undetected; Gauge Pro seems to confirm bad or marginal RAM. Please remember that the POST only runs from a cold start and not through a restart.
Try just the 64MB running in 9.x; run the extended memory test in Gauge Pro. Start up in 9.x with the shift key down (extensions off) so as little RAM as possible is being used; Gauge Pro can only test free memory.
Hopefully you just have a bad 256MB module and not a problem with one of the memory slots. The only way I can think of testing this unknown is to run/test the 64 in both slots. If results are nominal, replace the 256MB...you might consider a 512MB module; with the 64MB, you would have 576MB total.
If it was a single beep, that would suggest RAM was undetected; Gauge Pro seems to confirm bad or marginal RAM. Please remember that the POST only runs from a cold start and not through a restart.
Try just the 64MB running in 9.x; run the extended memory test in Gauge Pro. Start up in 9.x with the shift key down (extensions off) so as little RAM as possible is being used; Gauge Pro can only test free memory.
Hopefully you just have a bad 256MB module and not a problem with one of the memory slots. The only way I can think of testing this unknown is to run/test the 64 in both slots. If results are nominal, replace the 256MB...you might consider a 512MB module; with the 64MB, you would have 576MB total.
Posted on Apr 5, 2008 10:25 PM