Q: G4 Dual 450 - Freezing

Hi BDAqua,

I did open it up and blow it out with a can of compressed air.   There was some dust in there, but was not as much as I expected.

I did try booting up in Smart mode and once it did fully get into Smart Mode, that 2nd image that I posted showed up again, prompting me to forcebly shut down.

I tried again, and I just got the blue screen of death.

At that point i have given up.

I did call Apple, and they informed me that they do not service or do any diagnostics on machines older than 5 years.   So my G4 PowerPC was purchased in 2004, it's 9 years old and they can't help me.

Is there any software that I could use while my G4 is in Target Disk Mode, to try see if it'll work?   

I guess the other option, would be to install a fresh clean version of 10.4.11 on a different hard drive, but i don't have any spare IDE drives. 

Would I be able to install 10.4.11 on a flash USB stick or SD card, to see if that would work via the USB port?

Could something like that be done?

Thanks.

In FWTDM, we could look at the system.log on the G4 & maybe glean some info.

Sorry, but I don't know what FWTDM means, as well as "glean". 

Could you please elaborate.   I'm not as experienced at the majority here in these forums.

Thank you.

I'm in Toronto, so quite a ways away from Seattle, but I greatly appreciate the kind offer.   I'll find some here on craigslist or kijiji.

I do have the Instal cd / dvd that came with 10.4, so i'll just find a new drive to try it on and cross my fingers.

Thanks.

Oh ok, yes I know what Target Disk Mode ie....just didn't catch the meaning behind the letters!  Lol.

Thank you for the clarification though.

Ok, here's a long shot that I was thinking about, as a potential way of me helping to either fix or diagnose my G4.

If i start up my G4 into Target Disk Mode.

Then boot my Macbook Pro (currently running 10.8.3) from the 10.4 install DVD and connect it to the G4.

Then, run the Disk Utility on the G4's main hard drive.

I'd do this, to repair permissions etc.   The reason - Is when i was on the phone with Apple, they said that if you ever do Disk Utility in TDM, that it should be on the same OS, as it might repair permissions incorrectly, as per the newer OS onto the older one...which will in some cases cause the compter in TDM to not start up anymore.  (basically screw it up).

So, i was just curious if anyone has tried this before, and if this would be successful or not.

Also, I have TechTool Pro 6 on my MBP...could i do any diagnostics on the G4 (when in TDM)?    Would this method of trying to decipher the issues on the G4 work, using my MBP?

It didn't.   

So with my G4 in TDM, last night i backed up all the files i needed on that hard drive and erased it, then checked for defragmentation and there was none, so i then proceeded to install Tiger with a fresh install.

This is what happened during the instal...

It completely froze and i had to force a power down.

I'm trying another install again today and this is where i'm at now, and it froze again...

It's stuck on the 10% and when i actually moved my cursor and clicked on the 'skip' button, the beach ball started and hasn't stopped now for at least 5 mins with it rotating.

I think i'll have to do another force shut down.

Any suggestions?   (other than pulling my hair out).

I just performed the Hardware Test (It's version 1.2.5.) both the quick and extended tests.   Everything passed both times.

Quick  Test Results:

Extended Test Results:

Ok thanks for the helpful suggestions BDAqua.

I followed your proceedures to a 'T', and this is what happened just after about 10 seconds of it starting to erase...

I had to do a force shut down again.

Any other suggestions?