Powermac G5 not Booting up.

[YnneK]

Hi All, I'm new here, and a first time Mac use, so I hope this goes to the right place? I got hold of a Powermac G5 from an auction and got it up and running by re-seating all the boards etc, and it was loaded with stuff from a DJ. Everything worked fine until I messed up by going to the Disk Utilities and clicked on Repair or something, but I clicked cancel halfway through, as it was working fine anyway. But now it won't boot up, i just get the start chime then the "Apple Logo " screen. Pressing the Option key shows just the Hard Drive with an X on it, which I assume means "faulty"? Nothing seems to work or show for a USB or DVD drive.( would that be because it has the wrong "Boot Image"? ) Open Firmware works, but I've tried the Boot ud:3,\\:tbxi route but that doesn't do anything, I've tried a few of the commands I've found, but the text shown doesn't mean much to me. The start up screen is just the Apple Logo, which sometimes goes to the "Prohibited" logo when I've typed in some command. I'm convinced I've corrupted the Hard Drive boot system, I've tried pressing the Option + R key but nothing happens. Do I need to have the correct ISO image burnt onto a DVD or USB? If so do you know where I can get one to try, and then repair my hard drive? Any help would be gratefully received, Kenny

 

[AphoticD]

Hi All, I'm new here, and a first time Mac use, so I hope this goes to the right place? I got hold of a Powermac G5 from an auction and got it up and running by re-seating all the boards etc, and it was loaded with stuff from a DJ. Everything worked fine until I messed up by going to the Disk Utilities and clicked on Repair or something, but I clicked cancel halfway through, as it was working fine anyway. But now it won't boot up, i just get the start chime then the "Apple Logo " screen. Pressing the Option key shows just the Hard Drive with an X on it, which I assume means "faulty"? Nothing seems to work or show for a USB or DVD drive.( would that be because it has the wrong "Boot Image"? ) Open Firmware works, but I've tried the Boot ud:3,\\:tbxi route but that doesn't do anything, I've tried a few of the commands I've found, but the text shown doesn't mean much to me. The start up screen is just the Apple Logo, which sometimes goes to the "Prohibited" logo when I've typed in some command. I'm convinced I've corrupted the Hard Drive boot system, I've tried pressing the Option + R key but nothing happens. Do I need to have the correct ISO image burnt onto a DVD or USB? If so do you know where I can get one to try, and then repair my hard drive? Any help would be gratefully received, Kenny

You might be able to try running the disk repair again from single user mode.

Hold Command-S after the chime. You should see it go straight into a command line interface.

At the prompt enter: /sbin/fsck -fy

Once fsck has finished running you can try to continue the boot process with: exit

 

[YnneK]

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately there was no prompt, so unable to type anything in.
Would that command work in "Open Firmware" though?
One thing I've checked tonight is the CMOS or On board battery, which is flat as a pancake, but I don't think that's the problem as it's probably been like that for ages as it only has about 20mV when tested.
Is it possible to make a drive in Windows, but using the HFS format, or ExFat that the G5 would boot up to?
Or possibly Ubuntu Disk, if i get get the system to read the drive?
( I know I shouldn't have messed with it while it was running O'k )-:' )

 

[Dronecatcher]

I know I shouldn't have messed with it while it was running O'k

It's worth whilst you're in Open Firmware resetting NVRAM in case of corrupted settings:

reset-nvram
reset-all

Also see here for clues the power LED on the front panel might indicate:

About the Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) diagnostic LEDs

Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers have six or seven built-in diagnostic LEDs on the main logic board that can help Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) troubleshoot certain issues. These LEDs are located to the left of the top bank of DIMM connectors (where your computer's RAM is installed):

support.apple.com

Lastly you can get an ISO from here and burn Tiger to disk:

Mac OS X for PPC (Mac OS 10) - Macintosh Garden

Mac OS X Internal Edition - (Download #1) Mac OS X Public Beta System clock must be set before May 2001. Mac OS X Cheetah 10.0 - (Download #2 - #5) 10.0?

macintoshgarden.org

Using disk utility from the installer should either let you repair the HDD or confirm it's died.

 

[YnneK]

Hi,
Thanks for the support, but nothing so far has worked.
I've tried using Transmac, ( In windows ) to burn USB & DVD but when holding down the "Alt" button ( Windows keyboard) the only thing shown is the hard drive symbol with the X on it. No USB 0r DVD symbol.
By removing the drive and putting it in a Docking Station I can read the files on the Hard Drive.
Maybe I'm not burning the boot disc correctly, but I've tried Tiger, Lion & Panther OS all to no avail.
I've cloned the disk, in case it was faulty, but I guess that still takes the problem with it?
The Power On light isn't blinking or anything, so i assume all's well there.
I've tried lot's of key combinations, i.e. Command Space, Command R Command+P+R+Alt (Option) etc etc, but nothing seems to do anything.
I'm trying to find someone with original OS disc that I can borrow, just to see if that works, but struggling as most have windows.
I'm not giving up on it yet, but I guess it's going to end up on Ebay eventually.
I would still like to solve this problem.....
[automerge]1574280032[/automerge]
Just a thought, but my System Clock is showing something around 1970, I've tried to alter it but could only do it by stepping through the months,so it means around 40years worth of months.
Can I set the date using Open Firmware ?

 

[Dronecatcher]

Just a thought, but my System Clock is showing something around 1970, I've tried to alter it but could only do it by stepping through the months,so it means around 40years worth of months.
Can I set the date using Open Firmware ?

Have up you removed that flat PRAM battery (cause of realtime clock being off) - sometimes that can cause other issues.
The date can be set by typing it in (after set date automatically is unticked.)

 

[YnneK]

Have up you removed that flat PRAM battery (cause of realtime clock being off) - sometimes that can cause other issues.
The date can be set by typing it in (after set date automatically is unticked.)

The Battery was flat, so I've replaced it.

 

[Dronecatcher]

The Battery was flat, so I've replaced it.

I've bought replacement batteries that turned out to flat already.

 

[iluvmacs99]

I volunteer at our local computer recycling thrift store and just last week, I was tasked in refurbishing a number of PowerMac G5s that were destined to be recycled, but because the industry collapsed, we decided to refurb them as vintage. Everyone of them experienced the same problems as you are facing now. Here was what I managed to get most of them going with the help of a AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider) Apple certified tech as he is also a lead volunteer on Apple tech..

Try this below.. This has something to do with the corrupted PRAM stuck at seeing a specific drive that's no longer bootable. You have to reset it to default and repair it via the Tiger installer disc.

First, you need to access Open Firmware.

Zap the PRAM process the proper way
Apple+option+O+F
at the prompt
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

Machine will then reboot

As soon as the machine reboot, (if you have a 2 button mouse), hold the left button and this will force eject the CD tray.

Leave the machine on for awhile.

If you have a Windows PC, you need to use a software called Power ISO which can create an ISO bootable CD. You want the Tiger 4 set CD installer disc in ISO master format and you want to burn them on blank CDs not a dual layer DVD, though I think single layer DVD (4.7Gb should be ok since the PMG5 has a DVD drive). Since our store have master CDs as well as duplicate CDs of the Tiger, we didn't have to make them. Just as a reminder that our copies are on CDs; not DVDs. We find them that some Macs have difficulty booting off a DVD copy. I also have my own Tiger CD sets as well as the Leopard DVD sets and they work on the PM G5s. All you need to do is burn the first Tiger CD 1 which is bootable.

Insert the Tiger CD 1 into the machine and then it will boot into the installer, from where you can fix your hard drive issues. After that, it will boot normally.

We tried this method on 2 PM G5 that were suffering the exact identical issue as you are facing now and both worked afterwards. We did have to wipe the data on those drives. The PRAM batts in those G5s are flat dead.

Hope this helps..

 

[RVE_ITSystems]

thanks fellas! Replacing the battery and doing the OF nvram reset solved this issue on my PMG5 Quad!