PowerMac G5 keeps crashing

Question

PowerMac G5 keeps crashing

I found a similar topic that was archived and unanswered so I'll start it again to see if I can get some help here.

Problem: At random times in my work flow my Mac will freeze up and a screen will come up with the alert to restart my computer in three different languages.

I have tried the solution of removing the memory that I installed about six months ago and it worked well for about six hours. Then this morning while I was working again it did the same thing to me. Any help would be much appreciated. I'm just about to the point where I take the whole thing in to a specialist in Phoenix.

Mac G5, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jan 3, 2007 10:33 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 3, 2007 11:01 AM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

Have you tried running the Apple Hardware Test? It should be on the first of your original install discs that came with the computer. Restart with the disc in the drive, and hold down the option key until you see a list of devices (can be several minutes). One of those will be the Apple Hardware Test. Run the extended test and see if it reports any errors. It can take quite a while depending on how much RAM you have.

Also, you could post the latest crash log and we can see if there's any clues there. You'll find it as part of panic.log, which is in /Library/Logs/.

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Jan 3, 2007 11:31 AM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

Bad RAM can result in garbage being written to disk and creating software, directory, or plain OS problems, or only a file or pref or two.

Once rectified, time to do a complete check-out or fresh install.

Memtest, Rember, Applejack all give you means for testing your RAM - AHT may not - but some bit soft memory errors are actually normal, about 4 per GB of RAM installed. ECC helps catch most of those unless there is a multi-bit flip.

Heat of RAM, cpu and case can contribute to errors.

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Answer 3

Jan 3, 2007 1:01 PM in response to The hatter

I'm running my AHT right now. its been about 40 min and its still running the memory test.

Now, to do a check-out or fresh install what do I do, erase everything from the computer?

I'll try to find out what the panic files are and post them when I get the results of my AHT. Thanks again.

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Answer 4

Jan 3, 2007 1:40 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

If I recall correctly, AHT will take about 1/2 hour - 3/4 hour for every GB of RAM you have installed. I think it took mine about 4-5 hours to run that test with 8.5 GB of RAM.

You can read the panic.log with the Console application, located in /Applications/Utilities. There's a button to "Show logs" which will show all the log files on the computer in a sidebar on the left. The panic.log is in /Library/Logs/

Let's try to exhaust other possibilities such as RAM or other hardware before you do an archive and install. That's more of a last resort, in my opinion.

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Answer 5

Jan 3, 2007 1:42 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

I finished my AHT and it came up with nothing. I then restarted and in about five minutes it did the same thing. Now what? Do I go and get some software that will test my memory?

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Answer 6

Jan 3, 2007 1:44 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

Memtest is a more thorough RAM checker than Apple's Hardware Test is, but it only checks RAM which is why I recommended the AHT to start - if there were a motherboard problem or the like, the AHT might detect that.

You can download memtest for a nominal fee at http://www.memtestosx.org

You can also get a somewhat older version of memtest by installing AppleJack. You'll need to do a custom install I believe to install memtest.

Any luck with the panic.log?

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Answer 7

Jan 3, 2007 2:40 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

Sorry, I just got my computer back up. I haven't gone to the panic log yet but I will soon. I noticed that my battery backup was not charged up and its alarm was on silent. I did a self test on it and the light went off. I'm wondering if that was my problem. I'll post that panic log in a few minutes.

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Answer 8

Jan 3, 2007 2:46 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

Here is the panic log:

Wed Jan 3 15:32:16 2007

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 1): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x000000003DAF034E PC=0x0000000000C3084C
Latest crash info for cpu 1:
Exception state (sv=0x30369C80)
PC=0x00C3084C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x3DAF034E; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00C30834; R1=0x1A273C60; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000 0x00C1B8E4 0x00281008 0x0007B320 0x00021668 0x0001BCE8 0x0001C0F0 0x00094318
0x2F503177
backtrace terminated - frame not mapped or invalid: 0xBFFFD690

Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(3.4.2)@0xc13000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.4)@0x3af000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.3.5)@0x4f4000
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(3.4.2)@0x52a000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.3.5)@0x514000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x30369C80)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x302D4780)
PC=0x900078B8; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0x01885E08; DSISR=0x0A000000; LR=0x90007438; R1=0xBFFFD690; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 7.9.0:
Wed Mar 30 20:11:17 PST 2005; root:xnu/xnu-517.12.7.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC

panic(cpu 1): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 1:
Backtrace:
0x00083498 0x0008397C 0x0001EDA4 0x00090C38 0x0009402C
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x30369C80)
PC=0x00C3084C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x3DAF034E; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00C30834; R1=0x1A273C60; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000 0x00C1B8E4 0x00281008 0x0007B320 0x00021668 0x0001BCE8 0x0001C0F0 0x00094318
0x2F503177
backtrace terminated - frame not mapped or invalid: 0xBFFFD690

Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(3.4.2)@0xc13000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.4)@0x3af000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.3.5)@0x4f4000
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(3.4.2)@0x52a000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.3.5)@0x514000
Exception state (sv=0x302D4780)
PC=0x900078B8; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0x0180
*******

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Answer 9

Jan 3, 2007 2:58 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

Well it wasn't the battery backup, my computer just crashed again. It stays on approximatley 5 to 20 mins at a time.

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Answer 10

Jan 3, 2007 3:01 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

That log points to your nVidia video card causing the panic. The driver software is crashing, specifically.

What software are you using when you tend to get the panics?

A little more info on the computer would be helpful as well, either in the post or preferably in your profile.

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Answer 11

Jan 3, 2007 3:22 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

Its any software. Even if there are no apps open it still crashes.

Here's a little more info on my computer:

Dual 2 GHz Power PC G5
1.5 GB DDR SDRAM (before I pulled my memory out I had 4.5 GB)
500 GB SATA Raid
Under the PCI/AGP Cards it says GeForce FX 5200-display.
I'm not sure how much more info you need. Let me know and I'll find out. Thanks for all of your help so far.

By the way, does that mean that I need a new video card? or can I just delete the driver and install a new one?

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Answer 12

Jan 3, 2007 3:28 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

It could be the video card, but it's hard to know for sure. It'd be great if you had an extra card that you could swap in to see if it fixes the problem.

The drivers are installed as part of the operating system, so it's not really going to be something that you can delete and reinstall.

I'd suggest running memtest/AppleJack and seeing if they report or are able to fix the problems.

A reinstall of the operating system might solve it, but that can be very time consuming to put everything back the way it was, so if you have a spare hard drive around, I'd install on that and see if the problem goes away. Perhaps some of the earlier kernel panics have messed up the drivers.

Also, your signature shows that you're on OS X 10.3.9, is this still correct? I'm not sure if the nVidia drivers in OS X 10.4.x are any more reliable or not.

Perhaps the specialist you were considering taking it to would be willing to either loan you a new video card (maybe with a deposit) or could do some more thorough tests.

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Answer 13

Jan 3, 2007 3:38 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

I do have another tower here in the office that is a PowerMac G5 and should have the same video card. Can I swap that one out to see if it works over here? If so do you have any tips to finding and removing the card?

I also have been wating to install Tiger on this machine because of some projects that I have been doing in FCP. Should I go ahead and try to install that as well?

Thanks again. I'm leaving the office soon so if I don't respond right away I will in the morning.

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Answer 14

Jan 3, 2007 3:46 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

Provided that the other G5 uses AGP graphics (i.e., is not a "Late 2005" G5), you should be able to swap the card. The following PDF explains (with pictures!) how to do it: http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/pdf/g5/073-0808.pdf

As I'm sure you're aware, most people would recommend not upgrading the operating system or the software you use in the middle of a project, since a system that was running perfectly may suddenly become unstable or have other issues. Of course, yours isn't running perfectly, but I'd still prefer that you install on a separate disk if you're going to do this. And, keep backup copies of whatever project files you're working on.

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Answer 15

p&t

Level 1

20 points

Jan 3, 2007 4:43 PM in response to PapaSnowSmurf

I have the same problem with my g5 tower. Except i think my kernal panic was something different. It didn't say nvidea, Do you think mine could be caused from the same thing. If I put my computer in target disk mode then it will run as long as i need it to. or when i was doing the aht it ran until i shut down the computer. I went to install the orignal software and the computer and the computer wont last thru the setting up of the hard drive. Any help would be greatly apperciated.

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