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gblunt99

Q: Pismo Meltdown

Yesterday when I came back from lunch I found that my Pismo was shut but running, with the fan working really hard. THe cursor was frozen. Upon Restart it froze again.

I tried to run Applejack in Single User mode. It verified the disk, but it hung while attempting to Repair Permissions. Last message on it was USERS/SHARED/SC INFO does not exist. I left it for over an hour but it didn't budge.

Next startup it got as far as the aqua screen and froze. Half the screen turned to a black scroll with white lettering saying CORRUPT STACK.

Ran Disk Utility and it also verified the disk, and also froze when trying to repair submissions. Upon Restart I got a black rectangle instead of the Login window.

By the way, it kept BOOPING every time I restarted--ie, just before the orchestra hit, a loud BOOP, which I've never heard before.

Tried to Run Onyx, which also verified SMART status. But upon verifying, I got the black rectangle saying "You need to restart..." Upon restart, I was seeing lettering flash that said System Failure.

After many tries, I finally did manage to repair permissions with Onyx, but I could not get it to my user desktop. So, with all the boops and signs I figured I should just let the thing COOL OFF (the fan was still going 90 mph.)

So I left it for a few hours. When I tried it again it started up okay, and even let me open programs and documents. So I put it to sleep and left it overnight--closed, and not running!

Now, this morning I opened it up and I got the "YOu need to restart..." rectangle again.

Please advise: Is this a hard disk issue? (because I believe there's some warranty left on it.) Or is it a motherboard issue? As you see from the model details below, this is one souped-up Pismo. I just love it, and I use it solely for work, but I use it many hours a day (almost entirely in Word, with iTunes playing in the bg.) It has been a personal project of mine to see how long I can keep this onetime superb machine functioning in a useful way. But if it's going to seriously jeopardize my work that's another matter.

I do have an external firewire drive with a backup on it. But it is several months old. I don't want to clone the drive at this point because I'm afriad I will clone the problems (which has happened in the past!). Luckily I have backed up everything that needs backing up.

Any advice much appreciated.

Best,

Giles

PowerBook G4 Pismo 550 Mhz, 100 GB HDD/7200, 1 GB RAM, OS 10.4.11, Mac OS X (10.4.11), PowerBook G4 12" Superdrive w OS 10.4.10

Posted on Sep 8, 2010 4:17 AM

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Q: Pismo Meltdown

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  • by Texas Mac Man,

    Texas Mac Man Texas Mac Man Sep 8, 2010 2:35 PM in response to gblunt99
    Level 8 (46,611 points)
    Sep 8, 2010 2:35 PM in response to gblunt99
    The Corrupt Stack error frequently indicates a RAM problem & the Restart/Kernel Panic is frequently caused by RAM. So you could try removing one of the RAM modules. If you get the same error, reinstall that module & remove the other module. Make sure you have no external device connected to the Pismo.

    Have you tried to boot from the external FW HD?

     Cheers, Tom

  • by gblunt99,

    gblunt99 gblunt99 Sep 11, 2010 7:18 PM in response to Texas Mac Man
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2010 7:18 PM in response to Texas Mac Man
    THanks Tom,

    I opened it up and found I have only one RAM module, a 1 GB from Crucial. I don't have my original or even earlier replacement modules as I gave them away to my sister when I got the Crucial GB. So I reseated everything carefully and put it back together.

    First restart I got the old blue file folder with the flashing question mark. Never got to the apple. Tried to start several times, same thing. So I took it apart again. Made sure everything was seated properly and closed up.

    Now I can't even get the screen to light up. I get a few beeps, then the orchestra hit, but not light on the screen. Tried to restart in single-user mode. Same thing. Tried to start from disk but it won't accept the Tiger disk. (Physically--I guess it doesn't get to the point where it's going to accept any other devices.

    I'm about ready to put a stake through its beloved heart after all these years. Anyone know what I can do? Can I use my G4 via firewire to fix it? Or the external firewire drive?

    Any ideas welcome.

    Thanks,

    Giles
  • by gblunt99,

    gblunt99 gblunt99 Oct 2, 2010 10:27 AM in response to Texas Mac Man
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2010 10:27 AM in response to Texas Mac Man
    Hey Tom,

    Thank you so much for that reply re checking the RAM. This is the second time (the other was with my wife's G4 PowerBook) that defective RAM has caused massive problems that look like the end of the world.

    I took the Pis apart again three times, checked all the connections etc, still nothing. Just some strange boops--even the screen refused to light up. So I took it apart one more time and discovered what I had forgotten: that there is a SECOND RAM module underneath the board. So what I have is two 512 MB modules from Crucial Technology. I took one out and restarted. No Change. I put it back and removed the other. Voila! Works perfectly.

    I can't tell you how happy this makes me. Thanks again!

    Giles
  • by Texas Mac Man,

    Texas Mac Man Texas Mac Man Oct 2, 2010 1:34 PM in response to gblunt99
    Level 8 (46,611 points)
    Oct 2, 2010 1:34 PM in response to gblunt99
    Thanks for the solution. May help another user with the same problem.

     Cheers, Tom
  • by gblunt99,

    gblunt99 gblunt99 Oct 19, 2010 10:05 AM in response to Texas Mac Man
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 19, 2010 10:05 AM in response to Texas Mac Man
    Hey Tom,

    Looks like the problems are not over. The Pismo was working fine--if a little slowly-on the single memory module, while I waited for the new one to arrive. After two weeks, it did freeze once. Then the next day the new memory arrived. I put it in and the machine is back up to 1 GB RAM.

    Worked fine for about ten days. Now, in the past two days, it's freezing on me. Can't move the cursor, can't force quit, nothing. It's done that three times this morning. So just now, I removed the second old module and I'm back to 512 GB RAM on the single, new module.

    I hope this works. But as I had that one-time glitch just before the new memory arrived, I'm kind of expecting trouble. Any thoughts most appreciated.

    Giles