power mac g5 will not get past grey apple screen

[help me rhonda]

Hi -
When I turn on my computer, the wheel keeps spinning and stops on the grey apple screen. If I leave it there for a few minutes, the fan gets really loud.
I tried pressing Apple, Option, P, R, but it only chimes once.
I also tried holding down shift and restarting.
And I tried holding down option and restarting.
I even tried to take out the memory and put it back in.
Nothing is working.
Any ideas?
I have the startup disks, but I don't know how to put them in the cd drive.
Since the computer won't boot up, I can't open the tray.
Any ideas? Thanks so much!!!!

 

[uberamd]

Try booting while holding Alt (Option) and see if it gives you the boot device list. Also, you can hold F12 on boot to eject the CD drive. Put in the Apple Hardware Diagnostics CD and hold C to boot off of the CD for diagnostics.

 

[help me rhonda]

Thanks for your reply.
Option does not work - the wheel keeps spinning on the apple menu.
Same thing happens when I hold down F12.

 

[uberamd]

Thanks for your reply.
Option does not work - the wheel keeps spinning on the apple menu.
Same thing happens when I hold down F12.

Holding down option should kick in *before* the Apple wheel. If you see the wheel, its too late, power up and immediately hold Option.

 

[help me rhonda]

I already tried that (holding down option before turning it on)
I just tried putting my hard drive into a different G5, and it does the same thing. I guess this means my hard drive has crashed.
Should I buy a new hd and try to re-install the start-up disks?

I probably can't retrieve any info from a crashed hd, right?

 

[uberamd]

I already tried that (holding down option before turning it on)
I just tried putting my hard drive into a different G5, and it does the same thing. I guess this means my hard drive has crashed.
Should I buy a new hd and try to re-install the start-up disks?

I probably can't retrieve any info from a crashed hd, right?

You might be able to retrieve data if you hook it up using a USB to SATA converter. However I still stand by the fact that holding option should bring you to a boot device menu that asks you which boot device you want to use (CD or hard drive), and not to the Apple logo screen.