Powermac G5 randomly freezes

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Powermac G5 randomly freezes

I am a first time buyer of Apple, but I have been working on them at work for sometime. I never had any problems at work so when I saved enough money I decided to go it my own and buy a powermac G5. I bought it back in Nov. 05
I have $5,000 invested in this computer and now it is causing me all kinds of problems.
It randomly freezes. I could be working it at its full capacity or hardly at all and it will lock up. When it freezes the mouse stops moving and the key board stop working. The computer doesn't make a sound. If I have music running the song will skip until I shut it down. A red light behind the grid in the front comes on, and if I wait a few minutes before shuting it down the fans kick into high gear.
After a month or so of batteling these random freezes my computer would not turn on at all. On startup the red light would turn on and no video would ever each the monitor. I finally took it into an Apple certified repair shop, they were able to reset the logic board and preform updates and they gave it back to me, but once again the computer is freezing.
I am taking it back to the repair guys today. Based on other issues I have read I believe it is a power supply issue, or at least I would hope so. The repair guys told me that they are going to replace the power supply and then see what happens.
Is anyone else having problems like this? How do I get things resovled? And how long is it going to be before Apple says 'we screwed up with your computer' and send me a new one?

Posted on May 23, 2006 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

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61,031 points

May 23, 2006 8:39 AM in response to Jack_Burton

Resetting the PMU/SMU is something you can do.

You can also boot into Open Firmware and reset nvram from there.

You might want to test your memory using Memtest.

Definitely run Apple Hardware Test.

Another idea is to backup your data, zero or 7-way write to fully erase and map out bad blocks on your drive(s), best done first before using your drive.

Do the erase, and then do a clean install of just Apple software - and back it up.

I advise putting your data and media files, your whole home directory, on a 2nd drive.

It would seem you must have a "Dual Core G5" or "Quad" but that is just a guess. Also, what have you added and upgraded? more RAM? where and what? disk drive(s)? other 3rd party hardware? And, of course, any 3rd party software.

MacGurus FAQ

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Answer 2

Jack_Burton Author

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May 23, 2006 8:54 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks for a quick reply.

I believe the repair place ran all of those tests when I turned it in the first time but I can make sure when I go back in there this afternoon.

I've been trying to back-up my data ever since I received the computer back from the repair shop but it keeps freezing, so I have nothing backed up.
I really need to be able to backup everything before doing a clean install.

I work in video production so I have a lot of video. I wasn't putting the video on a 2nd drive cause I didn't have one, but now that I do, I plan on doing that from now on.

My computer is a 2GHz Dual Core PowerMac with 2GB of Ram and a 250GB harddrive. I haven't added any addition RAM or internal drives. I do have an external hard drive and an Espon printer that I connect to it through USB, but the problems were occurring before they came into the picture.

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Answer 3

May 23, 2006 9:55 AM in response to Jack_Burton

I know how you feel....I have the exact same issue.

No matter what it is that i am doing on my computer i live with the constant threat of a random crash.

the only thing that is common with the thousands of crashes i have had is that they mostly happen in itunes or websurfing (Except Gmail & The world of warcraft sites) but I have had them happen any where.

The problems you discribe Mirror mine exactly except that my G5 will Always boot back up (only to freeze later on). i have never had that problem with not being able to boot back up.

I have erased my drive and started fresh (i kept my users foulder on a second drive though) The problem got better but since then it has gotten really bad (it crashed 5 times while i was trying to log in)

a few questions before i go:

-do you have World of Warcraft on your computer? (for some reason it never crashes on me when i play, But stared soon after it was installed)

-What kind of mouse do you have?

-Keyboard?

-Is there any pattern at all?

I hope i helped

Regards

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Answer 4

Jack_Burton Author

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May 23, 2006 11:00 AM in response to Atlasthetitan

No, I don't have Warcraft on the computer. I'm using it strictly as a business computer. I don't even have internet on it.
My keyboard is the same as issued when I bought the computer.
It doesn't matter what program I am in for the freeze to happen.
Everything has been updated when I took it into the repair place and it is still freezing.

Have you gone to anyone about your problem?
When did you purchase your computer?

The repair place is replacing my power supply. They are not sure if that is the problem or not. Would you guess your problem is also power supply related?

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

May 23, 2006 11:02 AM in response to Jack_Burton

You should have the AHT to test with that is on one of the original DVDs and can be booted to only by using the OPTION key.

Always better to see for yourself. As for memory, I would doubt that they did any testing or swapping of memory, or ran Memtest.

AHT can boot even when RAM isn't "good enough." But would find RAM that was not acceptable.

Most problems other than shot cpu or logicboard do begin with RAM, which can cause a corrupt file system.

See "Bad Ram" report over on
http://www.macintouch.com

Another place to look is the Console log file and see what kind of entries there are.

Also, when you are able, install Hardware Monitor and watch the various temperature sensors to see if anything is out of normal range.

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Answer 6

Jack_Burton Author

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May 23, 2006 11:31 AM in response to The hatter

Do you think it has nothing to do with the power supply?
cause they are installing a new one.

I looked at the Console log files after the first few times it froze and I shut it down, but there was no entry of the events.

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Answer 7

Jack_Burton Author

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May 24, 2006 6:17 AM in response to Jack_Burton

I told everyone at work the problem with my computer. The engineer here doesn't think it is my power supply. When he was fishing around on the internet he found this site
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/insidewire_the_666chip/

which describes my symptoms to a T.
The problem only happens to Power Mac G5 2GHz bought after June. However my computer doesn't fit in the cereal code range of computers with this problem.

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Answer 8

May 25, 2006 8:57 AM in response to Jack_Burton

My 2.3 Dual Core has same issues.....

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2401768#2401768

Mine is currently running as received from Apple only with the recommended software updates.

To spend this kind of money on a computer and have it perform so poorly out of the box is very disappointing.

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Answer 9

May 25, 2006 9:30 AM in response to TheRodman

Wow! Glad I found all your comments. I feel as if I have the rare cancer too, and we are being orphaned by Big Pharma.

I have those precise crash problems on my 1.6 gig G5. It's the slowest and oldest G5 and has been driving me nuts. Complete random crashes, but my Mac always restarts no problem with the hardware restart.

I tried the hardware test a few times, and it has never been able to finish the test - it always has a 'kernel-panic' and bombs out to Unix-style code which then freezes after a few responses on my part. Very frustrating.

Another common byproduct of the crash is that the Mac goes into 'turbo fan' mode and blows up a storm. The problem here is that I've come home occasionally expecting to find the Mac asleep, and it has crashed and gone into turbo-fan mode (wherein it might actually overheat or burn out the fans.)

I don't think it's a RAM problem. We'd be getting the sick RAM message if it were the RAM.

I lean towards motherboard short (for lack of a better understanding) or power supply problem.

I don't play the Warrior game.

A common attribute I have been noting before most crashes is rapid font or display changes. That is, I will be scrolling down a Safari page, or loading a new jpg image or rapidly resizing a TextEdit page with a font change and a crash occurs. Can anyone else confirm commonality with those pre-crash conditions?

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Answer 10

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

May 25, 2006 10:34 AM in response to writer-prodder

The only way to rule out 98% of RAM problems is with Memtest. And not all errors will be displayed or warn you, or cause kernel panic. Might.

There are some FAQs (MacIntouch is good place) on fonts and conflicts, and how even Classic system folder can cause conflicts and problems.

One reason why a SAFE BOOT is often a good step to take.

Resetting the PMU, booting into Open Firmware screen and resetting nvram is also a good policy.

Zero or 7-way write/erase your drive, ideally BEFORE installing any software or using the drive.

Never trust a system that has had crashes. Hopefully you have older backups that were before the crash.
Instead of an Archive & Install, backup, erase, zero the drive, and do a clean install (a weekend chore I know), and then when you have a stable system, backup the system (burn it to DVD if possible, put it on DMG, copy to another drive - so you have multiple copies).

And yes, the 1.6 has poor PCI bandwidth, limited to 4GB RAM (1.5GB should be minimum).

Every crash should be followed up with running fsck from the single user mode command line (command S on startup).

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Answer 11

May 25, 2006 8:00 PM in response to The hatter

I'm having the same problems, random freezes and KPs with only light websurfing. My PM is only 6 months old. I see several threads here with similar problems with PMs.
As stated before, it is sad that I would have to do a complete HDD erase and re-install of the OS on machine I shelled out over $2K for only 6 months ago because of these problems. I expected better.

My 4 year-old IBM ThinkPad running XP has been more reliable than this Apple.

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Answer 12

May 25, 2006 8:56 PM in response to steven558

If erasing the HD and reinstalling the OS fixes the system, it's probably because you messed something up along the way.

It's conceivable that the hard drive developed some bad sectors... but that also wouldn't be the computer's or the OS's fault. Just luck, and I don't think it's very likely, either.

Does your Mac have non-Apple RAM installed?

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Answer 13

May 25, 2006 11:44 PM in response to writer-prodder

man am i glad that i found you

i have the exeact same year and make of G5 as you do

the other similarity is that my G5 always crashes when there is some screen change or user interaction with my computer.

This problem did not start out of the box, it was only after a few months did it start to crash (when it did start to crash it was only while useing itunes)

The problem got better when panther was installed but soon afterwords it flared up again (this time while doing ANY websurfing).

The G5 will always go into turbo fan if left alone to crash it self ( yup. you dont even need to touch it, it will crash for you!

)

I HAVE "7 way" deleted the hard drive so the problem must be hardware....But wait when i brought the G5 to the repair shop (and we are talken real pros here) they said "we could not find any issue with the hardware, We suggest you re-write the drive..." and here we are.

This problem refuses to go away and i realy have tried to find a solution.

i am in the process of going back to the repair shop and having an "flavourful conversation" about the future steps to take.

I managed to atain a few of the error reports that OSX makes in the case of a crash (it does this very rarely so i only have 2) i will email them apon request....if i can ever open my mail.

Its a god send that it did not crash on me while writing this message.

Regards

PPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) Freezes Constantly

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Answer 14

Jack_Burton Author

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May 26, 2006 10:54 AM in response to Atlasthetitan

I got my computer back from the repair shop.
He tried a few different things that didn't work. He tried replacing my power supply but it still froze.
So what he ended up doing is replacing my processor and it has been on for a long time now without freezing. So it was a processor issue. If you are under warranty you won't have to pay anything. I didn't. I'll update if the problem comes back and replacing the processor was just a temporary fix, but right now it seems to be working great.

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Answer 15

Jack_Burton Author

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May 26, 2006 11:10 AM in response to Jack_Burton

it still is pretty crapy that the processor died like that after only a few months.
Granted, I do work in video production and I am asking a lot of the computer that Microsoft would be suggish at, but it still ***** that it went out so fast.
When I talked to the guy who repaired it he never really gave me a straight answer on how the **** thing got messed up in the first place.

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