Troubleshoot G5

[eyoungren]

Need some help troubleshooting my work G5. Came in this morning and it had kernel panicked. Stupidly I didn't look at the error before I rebooted it because it's done this before and so I didn't perceive a problem.

That is until I restarted it.

This is a 1.8Ghz G5, single processor with 4GB of ram, late 2004. PowerMac9,1, M9555LL/A.

It powers on, if I hold down the OPTN key it recognizes the drives. However, it will NOT boot. It goes as far as displaying the dark gray apple logo. No spinning gear, nothing. The same with any boot disk in the drive. If it's left off for a while when you press the power button you get a static crackle sound for a minute or so then it kicks on and fails to boot.

I suspect that it's probably the hard drive controller, but I don't have a lot of experience with this. I do have the original hardward test disk but if it won't boot from the DVD drive I don't know. That disk is still at work so I can't try it yet.

Ultimately, I believe that the logic board is probably toast. If anyone has any other ideas or thoughts, I'm open. Otherwise I will be off to eBay in about a week. For all intents and purposes this is a dead Mac where work is concerned so my boss let me have it. It's going to be replaced by an Intel Mac.

If it is the logic board, is it possible to replace it with one from a faster model, perhaps a dual or so? All of the other parts work fine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nameci]

Have you removed the pheripherals connected to it before booting? I have same issue this morning and it was the isight camera that is csusing it on my quad.

 

[eyoungren]

Have you removed the pheripherals connected to it before booting? I have same issue this morning and it was the isight camera that is csusing it on my quad.

Well, the only thing that could count as a peripheral would have been the USB scanner. I tested it at home with the only thing attached being the keyboard and mouse. Same thing happened.

It's had a bad ram stick in 2006 that caused drive corruption, but it was still bootable. Now it's not. I tried disconnecting one drive at work, same thing.

When I got it home I booted it and it was doing the flashing question mark folder thing because there were no drives. Stuck a Leopard disk in it and it saw it, but of course would not boot. It's not the drives. I stuck the main drive in a case this morning just so I could access the data from my PowerBook so it's definetely hardware related.

I've seen something similar with my old PowerBook. It would boot - to a point. Then each progressive restart it would get less and less far. But each time it saw the drive.

That's what leads me to suspect the logicboard in this case.

One other note. We had a power failure over the weekend. I know this because our server restarted and it only does that when there is a power failure. The G5 was not on an APS, but neither was the G4 next to it, or the PC next to the G4. My coworker's G4 and her PC were also unaffected as was the third PC that sits between us. So, my only guess is a power spike that zapped just the G5.

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah, pretty sure it's the logicboard. I tried pulling the ram sticks in pairs to see if that was maybe the issue, but no go.

All it's doing now is powering up, then hissing and spitting through the main speaker (like static on a radio), then after a while the fans kick in. I now have a black screen, no gray apple.

There is a red light that comes on on the logicboard when power is applied but I don't know if that's normal or not.

In any case, the hissing and spitting is what concerns me because the G5 does not fully power up until that stops and it's not stopping. Don't think it's a power supply issue as there is power.

 

[Nameci]

Yeah, pretty sure it's the logicboard. I tried pulling the ram sticks in pairs to see if that was maybe the issue, but no go.

All it's doing now is powering up, then hissing and spitting through the main speaker (like static on a radio), then after a while the fans kick in. I now have a black screen, no gray apple.

There is a red light that comes on on the logicboard when power is applied but I don't know if that's normal or not.

In any case, the hissing and spitting is what concerns me because the G5 does not fully power up until that stops and it's not stopping. Don't think it's a power supply issue as there is power.

When you turn on, shutdown or sleep the powermac there is a red LED that would turn on momentarily so that is just normal. If the memory is shut then you will not have any output to the monitor.

Does the powermac chimes during boot?

 

[eyoungren]

I don't think so. It goes right from that hissing, spitting sound to just booting to the Apple screen (when it was booting). There might have been a chime then but I don't think I'm hearing it with all that static.

All the ram sticks are back in the proper place and properly seated. But now, no video.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[shoulin333]

try installing OSX to a fresh hard drive? maybe the hard drive just died.

You said it panicked before, maybe the hard drive has been on its way out for a while.

 

[eyoungren]

try installing OSX to a fresh hard drive? maybe the hard drive just died.

You said it panicked before, maybe the hard drive has been on its way out for a while.

It's panicked several times in the past. Always just restarted.

It's not the drives. I have them in external cases attached to my PowerBook so I can get the data off them at need. They are working just fine. I had hoped it would actually be that. I had a spare drive in there just in case the primary drive went down. When the G5 had video it would see the drives, but it wouldn't boot from them. Same with the DVD drive. I put in a Leopard disk last night and the Mac saw it, but wouldn't boot.

Now, of course, I can't get it to stop crackling and POST. It just turns on, hisses and spits and then the fans spin up. No video now.

 

[Goftrey]

Sounds like the old girl's just dying of old-age unfortunately. If it is some sort of logicboard failure (I really can't think of anything else it could be) there's no sense in fixing them up anymore as they've (the singles, especially) depreciated so badly over the past 18 months that you may aswell just go out & by another one - and a dualie at that.

 

[simie]

Have you tried !

Command-Option-O-F to boot into Open Firmware (PPC Only)

reset-nvram (press enter)
reset-all (press enter)

It's panicked several times in the past. Always just restarted.

It's not the drives. I have them in external cases attached to my PowerBook so I can get the data off them at need. They are working just fine. I had hoped it would actually be that. I had a spare drive in there just in case the primary drive went down. When the G5 had video it would see the drives, but it wouldn't boot from them. Same with the DVD drive. I put in a Leopard disk last night and the Mac saw it, but wouldn't boot.

Now, of course, I can't get it to stop crackling and POST. It just turns on, hisses and spits and then the fans spin up. No video now.

 

[eyoungren]

Have you tried !

Command-Option-O-F to boot into Open Firmware (PPC Only)

reset-nvram (press enter)
reset-all (press enter)

No. I got in to OF yesterday when the Mac was still at work, but that was to try and boot from USB. Now with no video, I don't know if I can even get to that. I'll see once I get home.

Frankly, the crackling, spitting, hissing bit through the speaker when I press the power button worries me most.

 

[eyoungren]

Well, logicboard ordered off eBay. $39.99 with $17.33 shipping. Coming from Oakland, so I should see it pretty early next week.

Crossing fingers I was right and it is indeed the logicboard that failed.

[MODS: I AM NOT LINKING TO AN ITEM OR ITEMS I AM SELLING. I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING! I AM SIMPLY LINKING TO AN ITEM I PURCHASED ON EBAY!]

 

[eyoungren]

Well, not bad for a G5. $57 for the logicboard and I have a working Mac. Getting the cover off the processor was the hardest part. There's a plastic rivet you have to pull out and all the guides I looked at covered dual processor G5s. Luckily, I found a manual from a tech firm in Australia that mentioned this.

Not used to working with an X-Acto knife and a screwhook as repair tools!

PowerMac 9,1 (G5) 1.8Ghz, 2-435GB HD, 4GB ram.

The working Mac with the new logicboard and the failed logicboard below.

 

[Goftrey]

Well, not bad for a G5. $57 for the logicboard and I have a working Mac. Getting the cover off the processor was the hardest part. There's a plastic rivet you have to pull out and all the guides I looked at covered dual processor G5s. Luckily, I found a manual from a tech firm in Australia that mentioned this.

Not used to working with an X-Acto knife and a screwhook as repair tools!

PowerMac 9,1 (G5) 1.8Ghz, 2-435GB HD, 4GB ram.

The working Mac with the new logicboard and the failed logicboard below.

Congrats! Glad you could get her up & running again

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah, I was a bit nervous. The picture I saw in the auction looked exactly like my logicboard. Only later after buying did I realize that I had an A1093 and not an A1047, which the auction was for.

I didn't realize that there was an early 1.8Ghz single processor G5 and then a later one (mine). But the logicboard that came was an A1093 and the part numbers were the same. So, very happy.

What's funny is that the NEW (used) logicboard has a serial number that indicates it was born in December 2004 AND made in a factory in the US. That makes that board OLDER than the one it replaced which was early 2005 and made in China.

All in all, when I saw the video light up and the Apple boot logo I was VERY happy!