Can't get this Mac to boot

[light316]

I had someone give me a G5 iMac (2006) that wouldn't boot. Being unfamiliar with Macs in general I did my research thoroughly. I still have not found a solution. What I am seeing upon booting up is a white screen with a small grey Apple logo. It will stay here until I shut it off.

I did acquire a copy of the 10.4 OS Tiger from a friend yesterday and tried booting up the disk (by pressing "c"), but all I get is the same white screen with an Apple logo in the middle. I have exhausted many resources, but am not sure I am even looking in the right direction. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rambo47]

I had someone give me a G5 iMac (2006) that wouldn't boot. Being unfamiliar with Macs in general I did my research thoroughly. I still have not found a solution. What I am seeing upon booting up is a white screen with a small grey Apple logo. It will stay here until I shut it off.

I did acquire a copy of the 10.4 OS Tiger from a friend yesterday and tried booting up the disk (by pressing "c"), but all I get is the same white screen with an Apple logo in the middle. I have exhausted many resources, but am not sure I am even looking in the right direction. Any help would be appreciated.

Are you sure this particular iMac has a DVD drive? Some only had CD-ROM drives. If this is the case you will need the 10.4 Install CDs instead of the DVD.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2956

 

[light316]

That's a great thought. It never even occurred to me. Is there a way for me to figure that out without taking apart the entire unit?

On second thought.... I remember that when I started the iMac using the option key, I could see the disc in the window on the startup manager and it said "MAC OS X Install Disc" so I assumed that the drive was reading the disc properly?

 

[MacsRgr8]

I think you need a Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) DVD.
This iMac surely has a DVD drive, probably a SuperDrive even.

Try to get hold of Mac OS X 10.5 DVD.

 

[light316]

I'm not sure I can, but does it really make a great difference between 10.4 and 10.5? Obviously you can tell you're talking to a Mac newbie. My concern is that the entire Mac seems non-responsive since it refuses to boot from the hard drive or the CD/DVD in any format.

 

[jaxhunter]

The G5 iMacs were known to have bad capacitors on their logic boards. I had one with exactly those symptoms and it had 2 blown caps. Unfortunately that was at least a $900 repair at the time and now it will be even worse with a shortage of parts. You can try to locate the bad caps, desolder and replace them, but that can be a very complicated process.

As far as software is concerned you need a boot disk with at least OS 10.4.2 on it, preferrably 10.4.3.

 

[light316]

Thanks for the response. I was hoping to have something where I could do the repairs myself, but what you are suggesting seems to make the most sense. It seems that the hard drive and CD/DVD drive are intact and I was starting to suspect the logic board. Obviously considering the cost to replace those parts would be a waste considering that I could get a used one in working condition for much less if I so desired. Thanks so much!