Cannot boot iMac G5. Freezes on startup.
Hi! I'm having a huge problem with my iMac G5 powerPC.
I've bought it secondhand about two years ago. Upon checking the serial code I found out my computer was produced mid- 2005. The previous owner installed a newer OS X version, which I assume was Leopard.
About a week ago my computer started shutting down at random. After startup it would work for about 5 - 15 minutes before losing power again. It wouldn't feel hot and I could power it up again right away.
This went on for about two days, and now I'm completely stuck. When I press the powerbutton now, it usually freezes at the white Apple logo with the spinning gear underneath it. Unlike the many posts I've read about this, my spinning gear doesn't freeze, but just keeps on spinning forever... The longest I've let it sit like that is for about an hour. However, sometimes it passes this stage and freezes on a blue screen with the cursor in the left top-corner.
I've started it in single-user mode and used fsck. It made a lot of noise and displayed "***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****", but right after that it shuts down again... I've tried this three times now.
Resetting NVRAM / PRAM didn't fix it. Resetting open firmware didn't fix it.
It won't start in safe mode either.
I doubt it's the powersupply, since it can run for hours if I don't touch it, and I've tried multiple outlets.
I've heard of reinstalling OS X while keeping my data, but I suppose that's impossible for me for I didn't get an install disk when I bought it.
I'm at loss! Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Lillian
iMac, iOS 5.0.1