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Level 1

135 points

Serious Startup Problems

I shut down my iMac G5 for about 28 hours and encountered serious problems when I tried to restart it this morning. It took several attempts before I got the iMac up and running. During the first couple of attempts the screen was fuzzy and jumpy. Once the screen just turned light gray and the fans ran at full speed.

After the first or second unsuccessful attempt I pressed and held the power button until I got a high pitched startup sound and a flashing power button but I still encountered problems.

During one attempt I turned off my external firewire drive before I pressed the power button but I encountered problems again.

Finally I unplugged the power cord and left it unplugged for a minute or so. After that I pressed the power button and successfully started up.

Aside from this I have been experiencing a series of kernel panics. Each kernel panic has occurred after the iMac has been in the sleep mode for several hours. A Hardware Test disclosed no problems. Repairing the disk permissions did not solve the problems. I reinstalled Tiger and that did not stop the kernel panics. I have removed my virus protection software and that didn't solve the kernel panic problems.

Several contacts with Apple Service & Support have been unfruitful. Before I call them again I would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions that other might have to share.

Posted on May 15, 2005 3:13 PM

25 replies

pjskel

Level 2

420 points

May 16, 2005 1:05 PM in response to Sabine Kaneko

Ah, fonts and OS 9 and fonts showing their uglier side!
Can't help of the cf# front as I ahve my own ALN93 version - whatever the **** that is/was.
As it's not doing me any harm, I don't overly worry about it......too much!

May 16, 2005 3:32 PM in response to pjskel

Whatever the "document" is I dragged it out to see if any software is affected by that, or if it recreates itself. I am glad, that it may not be an apple created file..

Meanwhile,

I have gotten to start up normally, but....now it seems every time the computer sleeps, and is woken up, it brings me the strange screen with the diagonal dotted lines and will completely stop responding.
As I have to disconnect all USB etc to run Techtool (or this ends up the same way) I did a safe boot and checked with the installed techtool. AHA! and now it says the USB is bad, and I may have to reinstall.
When I run techtool from the CD, since everything is disconnected, all tests pass!
So, here I may have another issue... there are only 2 additional USB's, the printer and an external HD on the Belkin Hub. I suspect it may be the Hub. Will check and report of progress.

Robbo

Level 1

36 points

May 16, 2005 3:48 PM in response to Sabine Kaneko

That "CHIP ERROR" message is a pretty good clue that your midplane is failing.

If you open the back of the computer, you'll probably notice that some of the electrolytic capacitors on the mainboard (the things that look like little tin cans) will have swelling and/or leakage of a light brown material on the top surface.

Check out the thread "Serious Hardware Problem" in the Displays section of the forum - Jeffrey Orange, "iMac G5 Screen - Serious hardware problem", 12:07am Jan 7, 2005 CDT

The trouble starts intermittently, then eventually proceeds to major video failure and sometimes kernel panics.

Boot from the Apple Hardware Test disc that is included with your iMac. Run the test. You'll probably get an error during the video test section. Between this error and the bulging capacitors, you can tell for sure that your midplane is going bad.

May 16, 2005 4:43 PM in response to Robbo

Oh boy... I will check out the link you posted, and will try the Hardware Test..
...but I only bought this imac in January....

safe boot always seem to work still. Doing hardware test, thank you never even thought of checking.
Quich Test result all passed.
I will do extended now..be back

May 16, 2005 7:41 PM in response to Albert Cooper

Albert, thank you. My hardware test was still fine, however reading the posts of your link, I opened the back and found the oozing & bulging, and immediatelty took it in. The tech said that I would have also had on-site care, so AppleCare is really good to buy.

Thanks for saving me waste more time on this 🙂
I just hope Apple figures out a solution quick.

DAD

Level 1

94 points

May 16, 2005 8:26 PM in response to Albert Cooper

I started having fuzzy screen problems like you describe when powering up my computer after being off (or asleep) for a long time. I turned out to be failing Caps on the CPU board. Check out this thread
Jeffrey Orange, "iMac G5 Screen - Serious hardware problem", 12:07am Jan 7, 2005 CDT
Your problem might be the same.
DAD

Albert Cooper Author

Level 1

135 points

May 29, 2005 1:53 PM in response to Albert Cooper

Apparently my kernel panics and startup problems were due to a faulty midplane. Last Monday I took my iMac to the Apple Store at Orlando and they replaced the midplane. Since then I have successfully updated to Mac OS X 10.4.1 and have run a series of Advanced Tests and maintenance procedures with TechTool Pro 4.0.4. All is well and I am again enjoying the full and fantastic performance of my iMac G5.

May 29, 2005 6:36 PM in response to Albert Cooper

You are lucky, to have you mac back. I took mine in on 5/16 and it is still awaiting, what I was told, is a logicboard....:(

Aug 16, 2005 10:09 AM in response to Albert Cooper

I have recently purchased a used imac os 8.6. I want to use the computer for my children to play educational games. I am very unfamiliar with these as I have a PC. It has the super disk drive and for some reason I cannot get the thing to start up. I did not have this problem yesterday when I loaded a few games. I have no idea how to trouble shoot this as I am not familiar with the navigation of the computer. If I do a restore, it will work until I start to load more software. Help!

Aug 16, 2005 11:01 AM in response to Michelle Sheffield

Michelle, welcome to the discussions, but your post is in the G5 iMac forum and will not get the attention it deserves. Post it over in the G3 iMac forum here and you will be sure to get help.

Serious Startup Problems