Help!

Question

Level 1

8 points

Help!

I have an old iMac G5 power pc that I use to store my Appleworks files on. I turned it off four weeks ago when I went on vacation. On returning I tried to start it up but after the hum, the Apple Logo and after the incessant little symbol went around for one minute I got a whirling sound (fan?) and nothing else happened and had to hold down the power button to get it to quit. I've tried all the trouble shooting ideas in the manual and online and nothing works to get it up and running. It was a beautiful piece of equipment. I have a new iMac but it couldn't converse with the old one so I was forced to keep the old one operating. Is it a lost cause or does anyone have any ideas?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Aug 24, 2015 4:52 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,495 points

Aug 24, 2015 5:05 PM in response to Sopdiva

No idea what you've tried, if indeed it's everything we're dead in the water!

Hold alt key at bootup, what shows as boot choices... wait a couple of minutes to choose one.

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.

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Answer 2

Sopdiva Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 24, 2015 8:34 PM in response to BDAqua

Problem not solved. This thread

seems to think it is.

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Answer 3

Sopdiva Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 24, 2015 8:35 PM in response to BDAqua

I appreciate your reply. I've tried a Safe Boot - didn't work; Was going to start it using my original Leopard Disk but all I got (holding down the alt key) was a blue screen showing a lock a small place to write and an arrow pointing to the right. I have no idea what they wanted you to do with all that. The whirling started almost immediately and I had to use the power key to shut it down. I was unable to start it so that I could use the Disk Utility. Maybe I am dead in the water. Time to see a fixit man. Thanks.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

239,495 points

Aug 25, 2015 10:03 AM in response to Sopdiva

The whirring is a safety factor, not to worry on that account.

The lock means it has a Firmware Password set...

Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352

It would block usage of all the startup keys, like C, N, T, D, CMD+s, CMD+Option+p+r, CMD +v, Option boot will show a lock, and Shift, as well as booting from anything but the Hard Drive.

Force Removing Password Protection

1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.

2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).

http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php

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