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Level 1

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Boot up problems on Power mac G5

I recently bought a second hand powermac G5, and it had a fresh install of os Tiger. When the machine booted up, it asked for a password. I contacted the person I bought the computer from and they had no idea what it was. I ended up using these support pages and somehow wiped the hard drive in Terminal. Ever since then all I get is the picture of a folder with a question mark.

I have a retail disc of Leopard, and I connected my Mac Pro via firewire to install it to the Power mac. It has installed it, and I can boot it up on my Mac Pro, but the actual Power Mac still won't boot up by itself - it still shows the folder and question mark. I've tried everything, including the following:-

- Booting from CD

- Booting from Terminal (can't even get into Terminal on start-up on Power Mac)

- Pressing the option key on start-up (just comes up with a refresh image and arrow pointing right, but noting happens - even with the CD inserted there's no other option)

- Running disc utility via firewire to verify PM hard drive, and it says the drive appears okay.

I've literally tried everything I can think of, but I'm open to any ideas other people may have.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Jun 28, 2012 2:37 PM

28 replies

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 1, 2012 7:10 AM in response to BDAqua

Okay, I've done that. It starts installing and then just freezes at the point when the blue progress bar is over the 'm' in the word time, as in time remaining.

I've just had another go, and it's come up with an error message saying "Install failed. Could not validate the contents of 'BaseSystem' package.

BDAqua

Level 10

239,363 points

Jul 1, 2012 11:34 AM in response to Cartoonboy

Biggest suspect at this point would be flaky RAM, but possibly the optical drive.

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 1, 2012 12:09 PM in response to BDAqua

I've borrowed a friend's MacBook to try the same thing, and it's still freezing at the same point. If it is flaky RAM, what's the minimum that the PPC will run on. Mine has 1.5gb of RAM, with 1gb and 512mb. Is it just a case of taking one of them out?

BDAqua

Level 10

239,363 points

Jul 1, 2012 2:44 PM in response to Cartoonboy

Hmmmm, I didn't know G5s would work without Matched Pairs!???

Could the 512 stick be a half defective 1 GB stick, or PC stacked or Value RAM?

Important:

The required RAM speed is listed on the serial label in your computer as either 333 MHz or 400 MHz.

Use only the speed specified. Slower RAM (for example, PC2100) will not work in this computer.

DDR SDRAM DIMMs must be installed in matched pairs. "Matched" in this context means that the two DIMMs have the same capacity and speed. A valid pair would be two 512 MB PC2700 DIMMs, for example.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2248

Anyway, I think we're onto the problem! 😀

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jul 1, 2012 2:46 PM in response to Cartoonboy

with 1gb and 512mb.

RAM must be installed in sized pairs; 2 of each size, in a G5.

RAM is installed from the inside out in the slots like 4-3-2-1 1-2-3-4 or 2-1 1-2.

Power Mac G5: Memory Specifications and Requirements

Leopard needs a minimum of 512 MB RAM, which would need to be 2x 256 MB DIMMs in a G5.

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jul 1, 2012 2:50 PM in response to BDAqua

I didn't know G5s would work without Matched Pairs!

They work like a moody PC built with bootleg parts........

I think we're onto the problem!

Can't expect a machine that is improperly configured to function correctly.

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 1, 2012 2:52 PM in response to japamac

I had a closer look and I've got one stick of 1gb and two sticks of 256mb, and the two sticks are identical. Do you think that's it then?

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jul 1, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Cartoonboy

Take out the odd DIMM and install a pair in the innermost slots.

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 1, 2012 3:06 PM in response to japamac

There's two sets of slots, one on the top and one on the bottom. Which ones do I put them in?

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jul 1, 2012 3:09 PM in response to Cartoonboy

I said, and the linked RAM document explains, one in each inner-most slot.

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 2, 2012 8:23 AM in response to japamac

Finally... inserted the RAM as you said. Managed to install Leopard, and clicked restart. Now the mac keeps rebooting itself over and over again.

I've reconnected the macbook using Target Mode to run Disc Utility, but when I try to either verify disc permissions or verify disc it says:-

Invalid key length

Volume check failed

Error:- Filesystem verify or repair failed

I don't want to fiddle with anything in case I mess it up!

Cartoonboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 2, 2012 1:10 PM in response to japamac

Fantastic! I went through the steps again of erasing the disc and re-installing Leopard via firewire and it's worked. Thanks so much for your help guys, and I owe you a beer!

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jul 3, 2012 3:48 AM in response to Cartoonboy

😀!!

Boot up problems on Power mac G5