G5 power light flashing 3 times. Now, nothing.

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Level 3

828 points

G5 power light flashing 3 times. Now, nothing.

I came into work this morning to find my Power Mac G5 frozen on the the desktop with fans blasting. I have it set to start-up before I arrive at work. I re-started, it chimed and it made it to the white screen before freezing. I unplugged the power cord for a while then tried restarting again. Things spool up but then I the power light just flashes 3 times, pauses and then repeats. I checked the database and that is the code for incompatible memory. I unplugged all of perpherals and removed all of the memory, blasted everything with canned air and just for kicks tried powering up. This time the power indicator flashed once.

I pressed the SMU button, re-seated the memory and restarted. This time I got the chime and a steady power indicator but just a black screen. I know that it sometimes takes a while for things to get going again but after 10 minutes the screen is still black and the fans are ramped up to full. Persistent, I powered off and tried restarting again. Again the time but this time the white screen with the grey Apple logo came up. But that is where it stopped. At this point I figured I better see if I could get some further assistance from the good folks here.

The power light is no longer blinking 3 times, but I'm guessing I may have at least one memory card that died on me. Would you suggest removing two at a time and trying to power on again to see if that solves the problem? Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

~ Kort

24" 2.4 GHz iMac(10.5.8) MacMini(10.4.11) 2GHz G5(10.4.11) Airport Ext. (n), Mac OS X (10.5.8), 23" Cinema Display, Epson 836XL scanner, Epson R1800 Printer

Posted on Sep 26, 2012 7:41 AM

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Answer 1

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 26, 2012 8:55 AM in response to Kort

Update: It does appear that it was the memory. I finally got things to work after removing some of the RAM. IT appears both some Kingston sticks and OWC sticks went bad. It looks like have a good excuse to upgrade my memory now! 🙂

Unfortunately this also means I have to get back to work... 😟

Good to know that the flashing power indicator wasn't lying.

------------

I'll keep this open until I'm sure I've got things well in hand.

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,079 points

Sep 26, 2012 9:00 AM in response to Kort

For future reference:

Power-On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 1 - http://support.apple.com/kb/TA43884

Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2 - http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n58442

The power on self-test resides in the ROM of the computer. This test runs whenever the computer is turned on after being fully shut down (the power-on self-test does not run if the computer is only restarted).

If a fault is detected during the test, you will not hear a normal startup chime. Instead, the system will beep as explained below. If you experience one of these beeps, you may call your Apple Authorized Service Provider for additional troubleshooting assistance.

1 beep = no RAM installed
2 beeps = incompatible RAM types
3 beeps = no good banks
4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)
5 beeps = processor is not usable

In addition to the beeps, on some computers the power LED will flash a corresponding number of times plus one. The LED will repeat the sequence after approximately a 5-second pause. The tones are only played once.

You can also run Apple Hardware test from your original installer disc. Sometimes with RAM it is just easier to pull units and test them individually.

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Answer 3

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 27, 2012 6:52 AM in response to Limnos

Thank you Limnos, but that did not help my current situation. There are no beeps.

After getting my G5 to work yesterday, I came in the morning to find it locked up on the white Apple screen with fans blasting. The 3 2GB sets of RAM arrived from OWC and I installed them, removing all of the old RAM. When I restarted, the power light flashed 3 times again. I removed a bank of RAM at a time with no luck until I was at the inner bank, and restarted. The chime sounded, and startup began, but then it froze on the Apple screen again.

I got things working yesterday so I don't think this is a HD issue. It looks more like the motherboard is going or some soldering is not what it was. Any ideas?

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Answer 4

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 27, 2012 7:20 AM in response to Kort

Okay, we're back to the 3 flashing lights from the power button.

It will not restart with the new memory.

Any ideas?!?

😢

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Answer 5

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 27, 2012 9:16 AM in response to Kort

I'm pretty much at my wits-end here folks.

Anyone have any helpful suggestions that I might try, or is it time for taking it in for either repair or recycling?

😕

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Sep 27, 2012 10:20 AM in response to Kort

If you're sure the RAM is good, try the Hair Dryer trick...

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13240047#13240047

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3061091?answerId=15223603022#15223603022#15223603

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2620983?answerId=15499912022#15499912022#15499912

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3175959?answerId=15613068022#15613068022#15613068

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3270112

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3287993?answerId=16053892022#16053892022#16053892

No power light at all...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3692775?tstart=0

It can show on any G5, and even many other computers & electronic devices of the period.

http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-macintosh-g5.html

And see this last one in particular...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3507385?answerId=16781690022#16781690022

Heat gun better...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3916312?tstart=0

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Answer 7

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 27, 2012 10:28 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks BD. I'll check out your links and see if anything works.

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Answer 8

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 27, 2012 2:34 PM in response to BDAqua

QUESTION - use the hair dryer with the RAM installed or not?

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Sep 27, 2012 2:51 PM in response to Kort

I've seen both done, but ideally you want the board to get to 350-400°F. near the center of the slots.

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Answer 10

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 28, 2012 6:43 AM in response to BDAqua

Do you have a direct link to a post that describes how to use a heat gun or hair dryer?

After a few attempts to get my Mac booted up this moring I held down the power button for a while after starting. There was one long tone then nothing. I let the power button up and then it started flashing 3 times again. Thoughts?

EDIT: Forgot to bring the hair dryer in. Doh!

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Answer 11

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Sep 28, 2012 10:25 AM in response to Kort

Boy, I didn't keep any of the links I've read on it, sorry.

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Answer 12

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Sep 28, 2012 11:27 AM in response to BDAqua

No worries BD.

I'm back up and running on my G5. The heat gun fix seemed to do the trick, at least for now. I took out the memory when I used it and heated up the board between the memory slots (and briefly over them) for about 5 minutes. The board was very hot to the touch after I was finished. If there were micro-fractures in the solder I hope this took care of them, though I guess I'll know more when I come in after the weekend. I could leave my G5 running to keep it warm, but hate to do that. I suppose letting it cool down for a couple of days will be the better test and I'll update everyone come Monday. Meanwhile, the new 5GBs of RAM is SPEEDY! It is almost like a new computer, I'm luvin it!

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Answer 13

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Oct 1, 2012 10:59 AM in response to BDAqua

UPDATE

After being off for the weekend, I came into work Monday to find my G5 booted up this morning and working fine. No problems as yet. I can't speak to the longevity of this solution, but is appears to be a valid fix for those wanted to try and do it yourself. I used a heat gun carefully to repair what I assume were microfractures that occured over time and use due to heating and cooling of the MOBO, but some people may not feel comfortable doing that themselves. It saved me having to get a new MOBO or new computer and any repair fees though so I would recommend it. If startup issue resurfaces, I'll be sure and post it here.

Thanks again for your help BDAqua!

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Answer 14

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Oct 1, 2012 11:51 AM in response to Kort

Great news, good work, thanks for the report & good luck Kort! 🙂

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Answer 15

Kort Author

Level 3

828 points

Oct 3, 2012 7:37 AM in response to BDAqua

UPDATE 2

Some unfortunate news. I experienced the same problem again this morning. Fortunately I got my computer working again after several restarts. I may have to take the heat gun to it again. It is clear to me that it is some sort of solder microfracture problem since when the computer is warmed up, it works. I am not sure how to do a proper fix however. It appears I under-did it last time but I don't want to overheat it and damage the board or memory.

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