G4 500 Starts In Safe Mode. Help!!!

[BANAT]

Here is my problem. I have a G4 533 and up till 3 weeks ago it worked wonderful for a mail server. I have 1.5gb and a 300gb hard drive which has been working wonderful with no conflicts. When restarting after a software update, I noticed on the start up screen that it restarted in "safe mode". I checked for a stuck shift key and of course they were just fine. I thought it might be a heat problem because the next day I started it back up and it started normally so I ran disk utility to make sure. The next time I started, no matter if it was cool or warm, it went straight to "safe mode" just for grins, I backed up all my information onto an external drive and attempted to re-install the 10.4 disk and it went straight to the black "kernel panic" screen. "OK" I said, so I took out the 300gb hard drive all together, installed a freshly "zeroed out" 120gb hard drive that I had and then tried to start it up and it went straight back to the "kernel panic" screen. Next, I not only unplugged the cord but also took out the battery which only then would it start up alright. So now that is the only way that I can get the machine to start up in anything other than "safe mode". At this point, it is a pain in the ass but so far it is working. Does anyone have any idea what I have overlooked or what is wrong? I would really like to use the box but it is just a pain in the a$$ to do this.

Please help me!!!

Banat

 

[iamcheerful]

Some suggestions ...

Do you have a working external bootable hdd? If so, try starting it with the external to determine if it still goes into Safe Mode. Do ensure that the OS installed in the external is supported on the G4 500/533 system.

You could also swap another keyboard to test.

If you still have all the stock parts, put the machine back to factory settings and test.

 

[BANAT]

External HD & Keyboard Test

IAMCHEERFUL,

I will give it a shot. I have another 533 that I tried also but it did the same thing. I didn't think about switching out the keyboard also.

I did try to install the operating system onto the external HD but unfortunately it wouldn't allow me to do so.

I still want to use it as a mail server if I can get away with it. As you know, it does not need to be incredibly fast to do something as mundane as keep up with mail.

Thank you for the info and I will give that a shot also.

Banat