Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

first apple and totally clueless g5?

T

tsar nate

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 6, 2008
10
0
to cut a long story short i have just got an apple g5 desktop (not brand new) as far as i know its a 2.7gig machine with 2x512 sticks of ddr ram
i havent got a mac keyboard or mouse i have no idea if the pc mouse and keyboard will work

so i turn it on hear the chime and the grey screen comes on and the apple logo, sometimes it follows through and has a rotating icon and goes to the desktop most time it just does nothing but stay on the apple logo

i have no idea of what the problem is and i have a max os x cd that will not boot up if i hold the "c" key down after the chime, also holding "shift" key down after the chime wont let me boot into safe mode

the one time i got onto the desktop it froze after around 3 minutes

is there anything i can so as all the things i have searched for thus far just lead me to more confusion. I am a total novice when it comes to apple computers and any advice or help would be great

if you need any info about what its doings (or not doing in my case) please let me know i will try to give you as much info as i can


all i want is a running computer :confused:
 
Is that a burned OS cd? It definitely sounds like you're going to need to reinstall
 
The Mac will work fine with almost any PC based mouse or keyboard first off.

I do have one question based on your note about the C key not booting to disk, etc-- is the keyboard you are trying to use corded or cordless?
 
they are both corded and i have an install disc i got it to pop up once at the desktop but then the inevitable freeze lol still stuck with this :(
 
well i managed to keep it on for 5 minutes this morning and found out its a dual 2.7gig with 512 of the original ram and the admin name is harry harper i dont know the password so i cant run the install from the desktop and when i restart im back to square one with the apple logo, i might be able to get the password on monday but im sure it will just crash before it gets thru an install

question can i just pop any old sata 150 hdd in there and try a new install on that ?
 
still stuck here guys non of you mac genius' able to solve this problem ?
 
tsar nate said:
well i managed to keep it on for 5 minutes this morning and found out its a dual 2.7gig with 512 of the original ram and the admin name is harry harper i dont know the password so i cant run the install from the desktop and when i restart im back to square one with the apple logo, i might be able to get the password on monday but im sure it will just crash before it gets thru an install

question can i just pop any old sata 150 hdd in there and try a new install on that ?
Click to expand...

don't know if only 512k RAM is any kind of issue here - others might.

Re any old sata hdd - pretty sure thats a yes and of course will let you keep whatever data/apps are on the original boot disk.

Thing is - if you cant boot from the Mac OS DVD - you might have other hardware probs.

I'm assuming the disc is valid for that machine - it might say something on the disc itself to let you know. Mac's usually (always?) come with a Mac OS disc specific to that machine only.

If it's valid then I think there should be some sort of hardware test on the DVD that you can run.

I'd start there before spending time on making another boot disc. Of course if it's not a valid Mac OS disc for that machine then you likely can't create another boot disc from it anyway.

Don't take all of the above as an expert opinion - just someone trying to help :)
 
ok so here it goes i cant boot from cd and get to the setup stage it will select the drive i want to install on and will crash during first stage between 50% and 79 % i have never got further thatn that so when it crashes i leave it on for about 40 mins then turn it off and try again
 
Try running the hardware tests from the CD. It sounds like you might have a bad stick of ram.
 
nope not the ram i put 2 sticking in that were working perfect i am suspicious of the hdd but i dont have a spare to test it


aww im so stuck
 
tsar nate said:
nope not the ram i put 2 sticking in that were working perfect i am suspicious of the hdd but i dont have a spare to test it
Click to expand...

You added all the RAM? Did you put in the right stuff? It's only supposed to work with PC3200 sticks.
 
Could be a dead HD if its crashing on the Select Drive step. Try holding down an Option (alt) key at the startup to select the Install DVD, then when it boots select Reset Password from the Utility (?) menu. After this, reboot and try to launch OS install from within the installed system using your new password.
 
Delameko said:
You added all the RAM? Did you put in the right stuff? It's only supposed to work with PC3200 sticks.
Click to expand...
yes i put a different pair of matching pc3200 ram in lol still the same

eXan said:
Could be a dead HD if its crashing on the Select Drive step. Try holding down an Option (alt) key at the startup to select the Install DVD, then when it boots select Reset Password from the Utility (?) menu. After this, reboot and try to launch OS install from within the installed system using your new password.
Click to expand...

i am leading to think it is but i have no other hard drive to test it

then again would it do this if it thinks its getting to hot i.e. a fault thermostat ?

after 10-15 mins it may crash so maybe its that if so how do i solve it ?
 
ok theres a new thing this time

i removed the clear plastic cover on the inside of the case and put the silver one closed

ran the install disc HEY PRESTO full install, then its asks to reboot..........BOOTS .........blue folder with ? flashes and the goes back to reinstall on disc

so i think i have solved 2 problems

when the clear cover is off the fans spin a little faster and the mac never crashes (over heat?)

the harddrive might be dead as it wont boot from it after a fresh install

any one got a free spare sata hard drive going :D:D:D:apple:
 
SUCCESS its was simple i borrowed a new hard drive and voila its ALIVEEEEEEEEE:apple:

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO POSTED HERE
thats for your support i am now happyly typing this post on my lovely new(ish) WORKING power mac g5


i hope my new mac experence is going to be a good one :D:D:D




P.S. still looking for a free hdd as this one is not mine :D:apple::p
 
tsar nate said:
still stuck here guys non of you mac genius' able to solve this problem ?
Click to expand...

You asked the question at 3:43am in the morning. Sorry I was a sleep.
Not everyone lives in your time zone. Wait about 24 hours for the Earth to rotate before you complain.

Yes the Mac uses plain standard parts. It sounds to me like you have a hardware problem. Maybe bad RAM? You first step should be to erase the disk and re-install everything. If you can't do that then suspect a hardware problem. Take out one RAN stick then swap them. Borrow or buy a know good one.
 
Is that one of the watercooled ones? Maybe its got a slow leak..or its already leaked its fluid out before and its now crashing because its overheating.... Not sure. All I know is that apple should have never made anything watercooled :)
 
it probably isn't the drive, you should be able to boot off a cd. most likely its a corrupt stick of ram. Try using a bootable linux distribution and running the ram test.
 
hm. if it were bad memory wouldn't you hear the 'bad ram tones' before you get to the apple logo? i suppose it's different on a powermac. it definitely seems like you had a bad drive since every time you booted from cd and attempted to install osx it crashed before you added the new one.

sounds like your strapped for cash but when you get a new harddrive, you might want to fill your memory slots up to 4GB. there are good deals on dealram. there's nothing like running osx on 4-8GB!
 
FightTheFuture said:
hm. if it were bad memory wouldn't you hear the 'bad ram tones' before you get to the apple logo? i suppose it's different on a powermac. it definitely seems like you had a bad drive since every time you booted from cd and attempted to install osx it crashed before you added the new one.

sounds like your strapped for cash but when you get a new harddrive, you might want to fill your memory slots up to 4GB. there are good deals on dealram. there's nothing like running osx on 4-8GB!
Click to expand...

DUDES CAN YOU NOT READ ABOVE I FIXED IT WITH A NEW HARD DRIVE ITS FINE :D
 
zachsilvey said:
it probably isn't the drive, you should be able to boot off a cd. most likely its a corrupt stick of ram. Try using a bootable linux distribution and running the ram test.
Click to expand...

Funny thing about computers and buses and things on the bus. A malfunctioning harddrive can do all kinds of things. I have even seen a machine not POST because of one (the controller card on the drive it self was causing the bios POST to crash instead of fail).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back