Dual 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 only starting up until Apple Logo on cinema display, then fans go wild!

[adamsimpson.design]

Hello everyone,

All of a sudden my PowerPC G5 would not complete startup properly. It gets to the Apple Logo on the cinema display and then freezes. At this point it stops making any further startup sounds and then soon after the fans start spinning faster. I then just shut down with the power button.

I do get the startup chime everytime I power on.


What things have I tried so far with NO RESULTS?

Starting up in safe mode

Resetting NVRAM (or PRAM)

Resetting PMU button

Starting up with the Leopard Mac OS X install disk holding the Option key. The options appear for the startup disk and the Mac OS X install disk, but I can't startup with either of them!

Starting up with the Leopard install disk holding down the C key. Same problem occurs.

Starting up in fsck. The black screen appears with all the white information, but my keyboard and Wacom tablet's power are knocked out immediatly, so I can't type anything!

Starting up in Verbose mode. Same thing happens as with fsck.


Any other information:
The last sentence in Verbose mode says:

MAC Framework successfully initialized

using 16384 buffer headers and 4096 cluster IO buffer headers

DART enabled




Questions that I would like to ask people:

Could this problem simply be down to the lithium battery on the main logic board? Could that battery prevent a full startup if it is worn out?

What does the last sentence in Verbose mode (shown above) indicate?

Is there anything else I could try in this situation?

Thanks in advance for any advice offered!

 

[Fami7455]

Sounds like you might be having the same issue as the OP of this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/g5-constantly-crashing.2192598/

My cinema display's power light stays on even after the G5 is shut down! When the G5 starts up the light goes off! So, the opposite is happening of what should happen!

That's working fine, the LED in the Cinema Display indicates no signal or an incompatible format. It doesn't stay on while the display is powered up.

 

[adamsimpson.design]

Sounds like you might be having the same issue as the OP of this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/g5-constantly-crashing.2192598/

That's working fine, the LED in the Cinema Display indicates no signal or an incompatible format. It doesn't stay on while the display is powered up.

Hi Fami7455,

Thanks for the help. For some reason I always thought the display light stays on when the G5 is on, and goes off when it shuts down. Well, at least that is some goods news then.

I'll check that post out, but it might be a bit beyond me to take out logic boards. Would you say it would be a good thing if I take out the RAM, hard drives and all cards, then refit them?

Thanks,

Adam

 

[z970]

Would you say it would be a good thing if I take out the RAM, hard drives and all cards, then refit them?

You may as well do that to rule them out, just to make sure.

 

[1042686]

If the above doesn't do anything, what about running the Apple Service Diagnostic disk? If you can boot off the ASD disk, you could recalibrate the fans and if there was an issue with a cpu or ram or a sensor etc, it would tell you. My first thought was that a CPU is over heating so the machine freezes and the fans go nutzo to dissipate heat.

The ASD .dmgs are downloadable at the macintoshgarden. I think you need v2.6.3? I am unsure so please correct me if you know this to be incorrect. These machines are old, so if a CPU does throw an error, cleaning and repasting them with some fresh thermal paste/grease makes sense & if you have any mechanical capacity at all, can readily be done. - its not easy, but its not hard either. Best of luck to you!

Hope you fix it

 

[z970]

I think you need v2.6.3? I am unsure so please correct me if you know this to be incorrect.

2.6.3 is for Late 2005s only. I think 2.5.8 will work on all prior models.

 

[Fami7455]

Hi Fami7455,
I'll check that post out, but it might be a bit beyond me to take out logic boards. Would you say it would be a good thing if I take out the RAM, hard drives and all cards, then refit them?

That certainly won't hurt. When fitting them back you can also start from a minimal configuration (two memory sticks and the graphics card) and work your way up card by card to your full config.

As said above, do also try ASD. Just make sure to turn off the machine asap if it freezes.

 

[adamsimpson.design]

If the above doesn't do anything, what about running the Apple Service Diagnostic disk? If you can boot off the ASD disk, you could recalibrate the fans and if there was an issue with a cpu or ram or a sensor etc, it would tell you. My first thought was that a CPU is over heating so the machine freezes and the fans go nutzo to dissipate heat.

The ASD .dmgs are downloadable at the macintoshgarden. I think you need v2.6.3? I am unsure so please correct me if you know this to be incorrect. These machines are old, so if a CPU does throw an error, cleaning and repasting them with some fresh thermal paste/grease makes sense & if you have any mechanical capacity at all, can readily be done. - its not easy, but its not hard either. Best of luck to you!

Hope you fix it

Hello, thanks for your help. If it won't start from the Leopard install disks, why would the Apple Service Diagnostic disk be any different? Regarding the CPU over heating, my problem did actually begin on a day when we had a heat wave here in Norwich, UK.

I would have to order the Apple Service Diagnostic disk as a disk because I don't have a way to put a .dmg onto a disk at the moment.
[doublepost=1565370805][/doublepost]

2.6.3 is for Late 2005s only. I think 2.5.8 will work on all prior models.

Mine is an early 2005 I believe, as the SDRAM that came with it says PC3200, not the late 2005's PC2-4200.

 

[1042686]

That is certainly a fair observation - Just a shot in the dark. Best of luck to you.

 

[adamsimpson.design]

Hello,


Just an update so far:


I powered it on with nothing inside at all, not even a hard drive. It turned on without making the usual chime sound and the white power light began flashing very slowly. I was told by someone that this is normal behaviour and to try inserting one module of RAM at a time. I thought that was a bit odd as Apple do say to insert pairs only.

Anyway, the result of inserting one module at a time is the G5's power light makes 2 fast flashes followed by a pause of about 5 seconds, then another 2 fast flashes and so on.

Does anyone know if this is just a result of inserting one module only or an indication of a worse problem?

Thank you.