PowerPC G5 will not boot (from CD, single-user, verbose...) - is it dead?

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Level 1

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PowerPC G5 will not boot (from CD, single-user, verbose...) - is it dead?

My PowerPC G5 (10.4.11) will not boot. It gets to the grey Apple screen, and then freezes there, no progress dial, and the fan starts racing after a couple of minutes sitting there. Here is what I have tried so far and the results:

-Will not boot normally - freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot from CD (DiskWarrior, 10.4 Install disc OR 10.3 Install disc - which came with the G5, each time it freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot in safe mode - freezes at grey screen
-Will not get into single-user mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Will not get into verbose mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Holding option when starting up allows me to select a drive (hard drive or CD), but then freezes at grey screen when attempting to boot from either drive
-Option-Command-Shift-Delete does nothing when starting up, again freezes at grey screen
-I CAN get into open firmware & eject cd, cannot boot up from there - it freezes at the grey screen with a circle w/a line through it
-Attempted to reset NVRAM from Open Firmware, "reset-nvram" and "set-defaults" both were ok, then it froze after "reset-all"

I have tried everything I could think of and everything I can find - Does anyone have any possible suggestions or ideas for what I can do?

Posted on Jul 31, 2008 1:05 PM

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Answer 1

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Limnos

Level 10

411,223 points

Jul 31, 2008 1:20 PM in response to svman8

My stable of suggestions:

Reset PRAM or whatever the G5 has.

Try a new PRAM battery. It has been known to clear up strange woes.

Post on the G5 hardware forum where more G5 owners might read this.

Remove/unplug any third party hardware and cards in case one of those has gone bad.

Message was edited by: Limnos

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Answer 2

Jul 31, 2008 1:27 PM in response to svman8

Hi

Disconnect the hard drive and remove any additional RAM beyond what came factory fitted. If you have an Airport/Bluetooth card remove that as well. Attempt to boot the G5 from its Installer disk and use the AHT part of it. Hold down the alt key on startup until you see start up disk manager and select from there. See if boots. If it does and the AHT checks out, re-introduce the hard drive, try again. If its OK, re-introduce the AP/BT card, try again. If its OK then you've narrowed it down to the RAM. If you have 2x256MB factory fitted RAM Modules and 2x256MB 3rd party RAM Modules swop them around and run the AHT again. Try different combinations and keep doing this until AHT fails with an error. If none of this works and the G5 is still crashing then try and get hold of a similar AGP graphics card and install that. Try again.

If still no joy you could try re-seating the processors and/or swopping the processors. This is not a trivial thing to do and depending on which G5 you have you may need some specialist Torx (long-handled, magnetic) screw drivers. You'll also need Apple's Service Diagnostic Disk to run the thermal calibration the processors will require if they are re-seated or moved. Unless you have an Apple Tech ID I don't know of any way of get holding of an ASD as far as I know. If after all this its still giving you a problem you are probably looking at a logic board failure.

You may in any case have to go to your nearest Apple Repair Specialist to try the processor swop as the advice suggested may be beyond your means.

Tony

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Answer 3

svman8 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 31, 2008 2:43 PM in response to Antonio Rocco

Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to have to try these tomorrow, (and hopefully it doesn't become a weekend project).

It is an old machine (at least five years), and it has a lot of mileage on it, so I feel (whatever that means) that it could be RAM going bad. There have been no hardware changes in the last three months, so I'm not as inclined to think that's the issue, but I'm going to try it, cause who knows?

I'm also going to try to run an Apple Hardware Test on it tonight, but if I still can't boot from CD's, that will make it much more complicated...

Thanks again for the help, and I'll see where it takes me.

(Any additional suggestions from anyone else are also welcomed with open arms)

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Answer 4

svman8 Author

Level 1

5 points

Aug 1, 2008 12:02 PM in response to svman8

So after all that yesterday, I came in this morning and the G5 booted up completely fine on the first try. I am completely at a loss. But at least I don't have to replace it (for now). DU, DiskWarrior, Hardware Test, here I come.

Thanks again for the help!

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