g4 won't start, hard driving running fast

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Level 1

8 points

g4 won't start, hard driving running fast

help, I have a....

G5 Single Processor 1.6Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.6), RAM 1.25 that i don't use. recently i need to find some old document store on it, so i tried to start it and i hear the start up ping and the the hard drive starts to turn on and then it keeps getting louder and louder but on screen nothing happens. on one attempt i got a message that i've never seen before, which send i need to restart the computer.

this message was not in your typical dialog box. it was written in large letters across the monitor in very large letters and it was in English, French and some other language. so as per instructs, i started again and have tried numerous times. i've tried the pram thing, didn't work. any suggestions would be greatly appreciate. thanks in advance for your help.

Posted on May 18, 2016 10:29 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 18, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Rioxxx

Hold the shift key at startup… does that do any better?

Hold alt key or option key at bootup, does that show boot choices?

Was it unplugged from power for a long period of time?

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Answer 2

May 18, 2016 1:24 PM in response to Rioxxx

did you try to change the RAM memory or another hard drive ?

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Answer 3

Jun 2, 2016 1:09 PM in response to Rioxxx

Is it in a gray box? (example below) Try hooking it up to a apple display port (adp port, example below). If you don't have a compatible monitor use a VGA to ADP port adapter (VGA to DVI might work, it's just harder to get in). You can probably find one at your local computer center or wholesale superstore (Radioshack, Costco, Microcenter).

Pictures below:

Kernel Panic

ADP

VGA (female) to DVI (male)

Garret Stand

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Answer 4

Wdavery

Level 1

15 points

Jun 17, 2016 8:58 AM in response to Rioxxx

If you just need documents off of the hard drive, you could start up in Target Disk Mode by holding the T key during boot. That will allow you to connect another Mac via FireWire and have access to the drive and thus the document you need.

I've found that Target Disk Mode works during almost any errors or problems that the computer may have.

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