Please help me!! My Power Mac G5 is stuck at the grey apple logo screen and nothing is working!

My computer froze a few weeks ago and I got a grey screen that told me I needed to restart the computer. When I restarted, the computer froze on the grey screen with the apple logo. No pin wheel. Nothing. Eventually the fan begins running at warp speed. I've scoured this discussion board for a solution and I've read every possible thing I can find on the Internet regarding this issue. Nothing is helping. I've tried reseating memory, resetting PRAM, I replaced the PRAM battery, all the standard stuff on the message boards. I can't run a disk, i cant boot from a disk holding down c, but I can hold down the option key to open the hardware test, I've done the extended and short test and passed both.

When I hold the shift+command+v it tells me-

com.apple.driver.appleintelcpupowermanagement isn't a valid Mach-o (magic is cefaedfe)

Error mapping module file com.apple.driver.appleintelcpupowermanagement

Can't map com.apple.driver.appleintelcpupowermanagement in preparation for loading

Can't determine dependencies " "

Can't alloc class " " blah blah blah

I'm pretty sure this is some sort of kernel panic. This computer has been pretty much trouble free in the 8 years I've owned it. I had recently upgraded iLife to iLife 07 before the trouble happened.

I've also been able to get it to boot once or twice since then. I get a message that says" the computer was shut down blah blah do you want to send a report to apple?" I'm able to do some basic stuff like back up some pictures onto my external hard drive and then it will freeze again and the fan will come on. While I had access to the desktop I checked the disk repair permissions and they were all messed up. I tried repairing permissions but I don't think it worked. Also the time and date was messed up which made me think it was a battery thing. Lately I haven't been able to boot at all past the apple screen. I don't have much money but I have to get this fixed!

Some specs--

Power mac g5

CPU @1702037.8 ghz

Boot rom version 5.2.4f1

Memory 8 gb, 400mhz

Pmu/fcu versions:127/6.0.1 f0

Running OSX 10.5.6

Just to be clear this is the power pc from around early 2005, not the intel based g5, not the water cooled one, and not a Mac Pro!

Please help me!!

Power mac g5-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 9:00 PM

26 replies

BDAqua

Level 10

250,511 points

Mar 24, 2013 3:16 PM in response to Bigmacattack1

If you let it cool for an hour, does it boot further?

Is the Install Disc still in it?

Mar 24, 2013 6:09 PM in response to BDAqua

I left the disk in, I can take it out if I need to.

I tried restarting it just now and it started to do the wheel but froze again.

BDAqua

Level 10

250,511 points

Mar 24, 2013 6:21 PM in response to Bigmacattack1

Hmmm, hopefully we get more helpers in here. 🙂

Apr 4, 2013 2:52 AM in response to Bigmacattack1

Hi Bigmacattack1

I have precisely the same issue with an old powermac g5 as yours. I am only up to running the Apple Hardware Test point but it has passed the fast test and looks like it will pass the second. This makes me think it is a problem with the boot blocks. Rather than start up with the install disc again (it wouldn't mount when I tried it) I am going to try starting it in target mode with a laptop and try and repair the discs. I will let you know how it goes.

Good luck

Apr 4, 2013 4:05 AM in response to Bigmacattack1

Hi Again,

Well that didn't work. While both the internal hard discs could be accessed and I could run disk utilities to repair them (no problems reported) I could not repair permissions (greyed out) and it would not reboot beyond the grey screen. So, everything seems fine, except it won't start up!

If I have a brainwave/breakthrough, will post it.

Apr 4, 2013 5:07 AM in response to Bigmacattack1

Well, the thing is up and running. Used the hair dryer trick. For about 5 minutes onto the logic board between the ram slots (not at them) and below the bottom one as well. Got pretty hot but seemed to work, for now. Clearly a logic board issue and this model was plagued by them after a few years of use (already lost one diagonized as that.) Maybe give it another whirl.

good luck

Apr 14, 2013 5:17 PM in response to technobother

Thanks for the update! I will give the hair dryer trick another try...I'm pretty much out of choices.

Apr 14, 2013 5:35 PM in response to BDAqua

So just an updated observation... It let me run from disc today, I haven't turned on the computer in about two weeks and it randomly allowed me to try reinstalling. I made it through the installation and reboot. I was going through the series of questions they ask when you first install, when i got the grey restart screen on the time zone section. I wasn't convinced at first but now I think it's hardware related...I'll try the hairdryer trick again but I'm not sure what else I can do...

Apr 15, 2013 3:57 AM in response to Bigmacattack1

Sorry to hear that. Would bet it is the logic board, these models all die that way and with a variety of symptoms that end in kernel panics or freezes, the forums are full of it. My would boot and go for varying periods but in the end I bit the bullet, retired it and bought a replacement mac pro quad core 2008 from eBay. They are not too dear and much faster. Later models better and v1.1 (2006-08) very cheap but slower and possibly looking to die themselves in a couple of years. Sad when they go...but then you get a new one and, over time, despise the old one. Good luck

Apr 22, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Bigmacattack1

Alright so I will continue to update this so that if someone else going through the same thing stumbles upon this post it may help them....so after the issue with the reinstall it actually made a second administrator account. It was a mess random things were carried over but the majority of programs etc were not. Basically if it was software related I feel there should be no issue now because I am using a relatively clean slate. I was on it and able to open programs and access the external hard drive with no issues for quite some time. Then I tried going onto safari and it froze and forced me to shut down again.

It lets me log on every five or six tries until today. Today when I was going through finder looking for any more files I might need to rescue it froze and I got a crazy crash message I'd never seen typed across the desktop. Haven't been able to log back on since. Here was the crash message...

http://i36.tinypic.com/m9w01d.jpg

Hope the link works ok it would be a lot easier if I could just post the screenshot directly on here....

Aug 15, 2013 4:38 PM in response to BDAqua

Sorry to big you again BD, but I was wondering if this makes any sense to you? I'm computer illiterate. This was what popped up when my computer was crashing. I'm hoping you won't mind taking a look...

http://i36.tinypic.com/m9w01d.jpg

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Please help me!! My Power Mac G5 is stuck at the grey apple logo screen and nothing is working!