Power Mac G5 continuously restarts on its own

I have a PMG5 that started restarting continuously on its own. I have ruled out hard drive issues and memory for the following reasons:

  1. Moved RAM to different slots, swapped around, made no differences.
  2. Ran ASD disk in software and firmware modes, everything passed.
  3. Reinstalled Server multiple times, made no differences.
  4. Swapped a replacement HDD that I know works, re-formatted, installed OS, made no differences.
  5. Tried booting from Bay #2 with a cloned OS, made no differences.
  6. Ran Disk Utility and repaired disk, and repair permissions. The permission repair had a lot of unexpected error that were not corrected, hence re-installation of OS.


The PM boots from the Server install disk, as well as the ASD disk. The only condition that occurred simultaneously to this problem starting was a new memory battery after the original one was depleted. I'm completely baffled at this point. I have not tried installing a client version of 10.5 yet. Each time I install a fresh Server, it will restart into the 10.0 OS. Upon updating to 10.5.8 (or which ever the last version was that Software Update downloads from Apple's server), it will download and install, but upon restart it gets to the gray apple on the gray screen with the spinning gray wheel, then restarts on its own... over, and over, and over, etc.


I don't have another memory battery to swap with the new one, but find it difficult to couple the two scenarios together.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G5 Dual 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, 600GB HDD

Posted on Sep 27, 2015 6:13 PM

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6 replies

Sep 27, 2015 7:35 PM in response to AJsApple

Did you try 3 PRAM Resets in a row?


How to reset the SMU/PMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) ...


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436


Earlier G3, G4, G5 models...


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1939

2. There's also the lead-free solder problem for RAM...

If you're sure the RAM is good, try the Hair Dryer trick...


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3061091?answerId=15223603022#15223603022#15223603


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3175959?answerId=15613068022#15613068022#15613068

It can show on any G5, and even many other computers & electronic devices of the period.


http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html


http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-macintosh-g5.html


And see this last one in particular...


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3507385?answerId=16781690022#16781690022


Heat gun better...


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3916312?tstart=0

Sep 29, 2015 4:00 PM in response to BDAqua

Very, very interesting. If I recall, some of the iBooks had a solder issue for which I remember reading about re-flowing. Never knew about the Power Mac G5s, nor did it turn up in the Google results that I did manage to read. I appreciate all the links. I'll try the SMU reset a few times... I only tried once. Whatever it is, it's been more puzzling than any other problem that I have ever had of my Macs.


If, for conversation's sake, it was a RAM-realted issue, be it directly via the cards or indirectly by way of the sockets, would that not affect booting from the optical drive also? That's what puzzles me; the fact that it boots from the ASD disk and the OSX 10.5 install disk without a hitch. But, upon restarting the first time after installing/re-installing the OS, it starts its cyclical restart condition.

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Power Mac G5 continuously restarts on its own

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