My powermac g5 dual 2.0 has "cold starts". In the morning it takes as many as 10 tries before I get a successful start. Pretty much after that if I shut it down it will start the first time for the day. I was thinking maybe a video problem cause sometimes it seems to start and I can eject the tray I just have no screen. I am using an apple cinema screen. It has a flashing light on it that signifies the backlamp is going out however it has done this for years. I thought maybe a ram problem as well so I reset the pram to no avail. Any light? I hate the repeated force quits to get it to start everyday.
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Hard starts on g5
- Thread starter unklebilly
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I believe you're in the right place. Sadly I have nothing else to offer you here. I've never come across a problem like that before. Good luck!
Backup all of your personal data and then do a fresh install. If you have problems, it could be a dying hard drive. Be sure to back up ASAP! Are you using Leopard 10.5? Time Machine is a great backup utility.
There is a guy on the Apple forums who found a way to use a hair dryer to solve a very similar sounding problem.
While lead has been bad for us healthwise, removing it from our electronics has been bad for long term health of these devices.
The guy found a specific place on logicboard that if heated before boot, led to a happy machine.
Basically, the lead free solder isn't as resilient as the old deadly stuff. Before long, thermal changes create a small crack in a solder joint under a chip. Once heated the BGA attached component stays in contact due to expansion from heat.
While lead has been bad for us healthwise, removing it from our electronics has been bad for long term health of these devices.
The guy found a specific place on logicboard that if heated before boot, led to a happy machine.
Basically, the lead free solder isn't as resilient as the old deadly stuff. Before long, thermal changes create a small crack in a solder joint under a chip. Once heated the BGA attached component stays in contact due to expansion from heat.
I have an external with an old os on it. ill give it a try. if it boots normally from that then the dying hd is a great possibility. Otherwise I can solder and have some flux just show me the way!
As long as that external HDD is Firewire then it will boot. Otherwise you can just remove it and install it in the second HDD bay or if it's an IDE drive, you can install it in the optical drive bay if you want it to boot.
Here's a helpful update. Since the tray opens even when it appears it failed to start I performed a test. I set itunes to open automatically when a cd is inserted so if it has started but I just have no screen all I have to do is hit space bar and music should play. So I hit space bar and music played. So now what? Is my cinema screen dying or is it my video card? Or neither? IS there any way to narrow it down more without having another screen or card?
If backlight has failed you can use a flashlight to examine screen.
The image will still be there....just very dark and only partially visible when illuminated by flashlight.
The image will still be there....just very dark and only partially visible when illuminated by flashlight.
I will check that. is this something that can be intermittent? it does work after several tries.