G5 iMac 17 wont boot properly get white screen with cursor only

eltonpiko · Jan 5, 2013

hi i have an imac 17 that wont boot at all tried every command on keyboard on start up nothing work its as if it isnt registering the commands.

the screen stay with with black cubes and can see the cursor but then nothing?

check the photo attachment so you can see what i mean

hope some one can help me out

justperry · Jan 5, 2013

Looks like your GPU has died.

You could try to connect a different wired keyboard and Holding shift when you start up.

Also, try AHT, if you can.

AHT= Apple Hardware Test.

eltonpiko · Jan 5, 2013

gpu

hi thanks for the reply but i dont have another keyboard to test it with.it seems the keyboard is working because i can eject cd via the keyboard key.

when the mac start it shows the apple on the loading screen after it pass that screen, i get a blue screen the it come to this screen.

justperry · Jan 5, 2013

eltonpiko said:
hi thanks for the reply but i dont have another keyboard to test it with.it seems the keyboard is working because i can eject cd via the keyboard key.

when the mac start it shows the apple on the loading screen after it pass that screen, i get a blue screen the it come to this screen.

1. Hold the Shift key to startup in Safe mode, what does it do?

2. Hold Command-V at startup, what do you see on the screen, write down the last line(few lines) or make a picture and post here.

eltonpiko · Jan 5, 2013

no matter what key i press i end up with he same thing. its like im not pressing any key on the keyboard. it should at least run the command when i press the keys. i think i should try to get another usb keyboard to try with it.

eltonpiko · Jan 5, 2013

here are the screens i get when i start the mac

justperry · Jan 5, 2013

eltonpiko said:
no matter what key i press i end up with he same thing. its like im not pressing any key on the keyboard. it should at least run the command when i press the keys. i think i should try to get another usb keyboard to try with it.

Yeah, you should try that first.

Reason, if you press Command-V it should startup in verbose mode yet it does not seem to do this.

eltonpiko · Jan 10, 2013

hi i got another usb keyboard and im able to execute the commands.

when i press shift i got to safe mode and on the login screen the graphic was ok like it suppose to be.

but this mac was sitting down for a while and i forgot the password and couldn't get in to use utility tools.

i couldn't reset password using install disc as i never load the disk i get just a blue screen with a cursor.

so i boot in single user mode and remove the applesetupdone file.so that the mac would boot as first time setup so i can create another user and login.

but now im stuck i cannot get to safemode or anything it just stays on the Gray screen with the loading circle and never go beyond that.

if i use vbos mode it says:
BootCacheControl: could not create temporary playlist file: No such file or directory
BootCacheControl: could not write playlist

any idea?

justperry · Jan 10, 2013

eltonpiko said:
hi i got another usb keyboard and im able to execute the commands.

when i press shift i got to safe mode and on the login screen the graphic was ok like it suppose to be.

but this mac was sitting down for a while and i forgot the password and couldn't get in to use utility tools.

i couldn't reset password using install disc as i never load the disk i get just a blue screen with a cursor.

so i boot in single user mode and remove the applesetupdone file.so that the mac would boot as first time setup so i can create another user and login.

but now im stuck i cannot get to safemode or anything it just stays on the Gray screen with the loading circle and never go beyond that.

if i use vbos mode it says:
BootCacheControl: could not create temporary playlist file: No such file or directory
BootCacheControl: could not write playlist

any idea?

Just a couple of weeks ago someone removed the Applesetopdone file in the same way you did, and she got into the same problem.
You should have used the mv command and move it to another place instead of removing it.

eltonpiko · Jan 10, 2013

hmm so what i my best bet to get around this? cant i put in the disk access the disk from single user mode copy the file from the disk back to it original location?

justperry · Jan 10, 2013

eltonpiko said:
hmm so what i my best bet to get around this? cant i put in the disk access the disk from single user mode copy the file from the disk back to it original location?

If you have a backup yes, the permissions should stay the same.

But, if you have a backup, why don't you startup from that one?

eltonpiko · Jan 10, 2013

i dot not have a backup i have the snow leopard installation disk doesnt it contain the applesetupdone file that ive deleted?

justperry · Jan 10, 2013

eltonpiko said:
i dot not have a backup i have the snow leopard installation disk doesnt it contain the applesetupdone file that ive deleted?

I will check but I don't think so, the file is created as soon as you first log into the newly installed OS X and contains your name, address,email and so forth.

Just checked in Leopard 10.5 Installer disk, it is not there, it also seems not to be in Pkg in the installation folder, opened two main pkg and it's not there.

Why you just don't reinstall with the SL Installer disk over the existing Install, you might check install in place or archive.

If you Install without erasing it should not delete the Home folders AFAIK.

eltonpiko · Jan 10, 2013

i would reinstall if i could but the problem is that it wont boot the disk. if i press c on start up it boot on the disk but i end up with a blue screen with a cursor that all it wont load anything. i dont no if its the graphic card or what but in safe mode the graphic was loading fine so where is the problem i dont know.

is it posible to copy the applesetupdone from another mac and put on a disc and restore it on this mac in S.U.M?

justperry · Jan 10, 2013

eltonpiko said:
i would reinstall if i could but the problem is that it wont boot the disk. if i press c on start up it boot on the disk but i end up with a blue screen with a cursor that all it wont load anything. i dont no if its the graphic card or what but in safe mode the graphic was loading fine so where is the problem i dont know.

is it posible to copy the applesetupdone from another mac and put on a disc and restore it on this mac in S.U.M?

Might be possible, there is other information in the plist file but I don't think that's a problem.

If you have a Firewire cable you might be able to startup the G5 into Target Disk Mode, and copy the file or reinstall.

OLDCODGER · Jan 10, 2013

Er .... If you have the 2004/5 G5 Imac, then Leopard 10.5.8 is the maximum OS it will boot.

eltonpiko · Jan 10, 2013

the imac has mac osx 10.6.8 i checked by sw_vers command in single user mode.

OLDCODGER · Jan 11, 2013

eltonpiko said:
the imac has mac osx 10.6.8 i checked by sw_vers command in single user mode.

Then, could you post what year your Mac was made, please?

justperry · Jan 11, 2013

eltonpiko said:
the imac has mac osx 10.6.8 i checked by sw_vers command in single user mode.

This is your problem, it can NOT run Snow Leopard, the max. on G5 iMac's is 10.5.8.

Edit 1: I should have asked that right away but you said you had GPU problems so ....

Edit 2: To clarify, Snow Leopard can not run on PPC, your CPU is PPC.
If you get your hands on a Leopard disk it will run, btw, they are expensive.

eltonpiko · Jan 21, 2013

hi ive decide to open up the mac to remove info from the hard drive and it has an intel chip inside so i don't think its a g5. so it should be able to load the show leopard disk since its an intel based mac.

G5 iMac 17 wont boot properly get white screen with cursor only

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