Computer won't start, grey screen with Apple logo only. Ideas?

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Computer won't start, grey screen with Apple logo only. Ideas?

Last night my wife's G5 froze. It is a G5 2.0 running OS X 10.4.11. I shut it down (had to use the power button) and tried to restart. No luck, just made it to the grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel. After a few seconds the Apple logo disappeared and a black box took its place, then the wheel stopped spinning. It was late, decided top wait until morning before trying again.

This morning I tried to start up again. This time got a warning(?) in upper left that a Firmtek item had already started. I'm sorry I didn't write this all down at the time, so I don't remember the entire message. Since there is a Firmtek card installed in one of the PCI slots I thought that might be the problem, and I pulled the card, as well as another Adaptec card that was also installed. Tried to start again, got to grey screen with Apple but this time no spinning wheel.

Opened media slot manually and inserted Diskwarrior. Tried to start with Diskwarrior but again only reached grey screen. Let run for ~5 minutes, until fans started to run and were begining to get noisy.

Next I reset the PRAM. No luck, still stuck on grey screen. Tried Diskwarrior again, this time got another message in upper left. Here is most of it -

System Failure : cpu=1; code=60000009 (Invalid pmap)

Lateset crash info for cpu1;

Exception state (sv=0x609bb280)

PC=0x000a4ad0; MSR=0x02003000 followed by more similar strings, then

backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address; 0xfc088891

So what's the diagnosis? I've had various issues with my G5s in the past, but have never had one refuse to boot with Diskwarrior before.

Thanks in advance for any help!

G5 2.0, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Sep 30, 2011 11:06 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

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238,973 points

Sep 30, 2011 11:41 AM in response to tomellis

Whew, could be many things, from RAM, (or RAM slots/solder issue), to CPU #1 being bad, (CPU#1 is actually the second one.

Does it boot into any of these modes?

Target mode...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...

/sbin/fsck -fy

Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.

(Space between fsck AND -fy important).

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

We might get clues with verbose mode...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

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Answer 2

begreen

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Sep 30, 2011 11:55 AM in response to BDAqua

Do you have any suggestions for me?

My computer will not start up either. I have a G5 and the screen gets stuck when I turn it on. All I see is the grey screen with apple logo (no spinning wheel). Not before long, the fan kicks into high gear and it sounds like a jet engine.

I tried command + option + P + R ... it didn't help

I also tried command + option + O + F => then typed in reset-nvram <return> set-defaults <return> reset-all <return> ... it didn't help

Any recommendations?

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Answer 3

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 12:21 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi BD, thanks for answering! I have tried safe boot, and got the grey screen with apple and spinning wheel. Tried single user mode, got black screen with message in upper left, but was not able to enter anything using the keyboard - when I tried nothing happened, no typing appeared on screen. Same result with verbose mode. As I said in my initial message, it will not boot using Diskwarrior. I have not been able to locate my start-up disk to try to boot from that, but if it won't boot in Diskwarrior does that mean it will not boot from any CD/DVD?

I also tried startup while holding the option key. Got a screen showing only one hard drive (main drive with OS, second drive does not have OS installed). Clicked and back to grey with apple and wheel.

Is it worth pulling the main drive and installing another drive that has the OS installed? Or will the computer recognize that drive as the start-up disk?

Again, thanks for your help!

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Answer 4

BDAqua

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238,973 points

Sep 30, 2011 12:22 PM in response to begreen

Hi, try those other modes above and report back, & if your problem starts to differ from the original poster's then it'd be best to start a new question/topic. 🙂

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Answer 5

BDAqua

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Sep 30, 2011 12:25 PM in response to tomellis

but if it won't boot in Diskwarrior does that mean it will not boot from any CD/DVD?

likely, but AHT might still work if you have that.

Or will the computer recognize that drive as the start-up disk?

Option boot should give you a choice, might be worth trying.

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Answer 6

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 12:30 PM in response to BDAqua

What is AHT? Pretty sure i don't have it, but maybe I can find a friend who does.

Going to switch out drives now to see what happens.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

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Sep 30, 2011 12:45 PM in response to tomellis

Boot off your *original* G5 Install Disk while holding down Option/alt key to select AHT, then run the extended Apple Hardware Test.

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Answer 8

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 12:55 PM in response to tomellis

Pulled both drives from G5, replaced with old hard drive from same computer. Frist atytempt gave me a grey screen with a black box. Next tried with "option" and got screen showing drive; when continued back to grey screen with aplle and wheel.

I then hooked up the drive I pulled from the G5 to my iMac using a dock. It was recognized and seemed to work fine, though I did not try to boot the iMac from this drive.

To me, this would eliminate the hard drive as the culprit. The drive I replaced with was pulled from the same computer when I upgraded to a bigger drive. Or is my logic completely off? I freely admit my ignorance! 😝

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Answer 9

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 12:59 PM in response to BDAqua

Still trying to locate my install disk so I can try AHT........

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Answer 10

BDAqua

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Sep 30, 2011 1:07 PM in response to tomellis

To me, this would eliminate the hard drive as the culprit.

Pretty much so, but the real test would be booting from it.

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Answer 11

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 1:19 PM in response to BDAqua

Wrong OS, my other computer is an Intel based iMac. Won't that be incompatible with the drive?

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Answer 12

BDAqua

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Sep 30, 2011 1:48 PM in response to tomellis

Likely, the exception being a Universal 10.5.x install & that Intel Mac came with 10.4 or 10.5., of course you wouldn't want to do any updating of any SW if the Intel one boots from it.

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Answer 13

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 4:13 PM in response to BDAqua

I won't even pretend that I really understand what you just said! 😊

My iMac runs OS X 10.6.8, and the hard drive from the G5 is running 10.4.11. It doesn't sound like that is a compatible combination.

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Answer 14

BDAqua

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Sep 30, 2011 4:32 PM in response to tomellis

Right, not likely.

You might try this also, thanks to old comm guy...

This can be done in open firmware,(boot with cmd+option+O+F held down).

setenv boot-args cpus=1

reset-all

That should have it boot to just one CPU for a test.

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Answer 15

tomellis Author

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Sep 30, 2011 5:31 PM in response to BDAqua

OK , here's what happened. I booted the computer holding the keys listed. I then got a screen that let me type (first time that has happened) and entered the commands. Computer went into restart mode, gave me a grey screen, then a blue screen and actually started!

So what does this tell me? Is the problem fixed (somehow I doubt it) or does this just tell me what the problem likely is?

At least some progress is being made! 🙂

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