PowerPC G5 will not boot (from CD, single-user, verbose) - is it dead?

[svman8]

My PowerPC G5 (10.4.11) will not boot. It gets to the grey Apple screen, and then freezes there, no progress dial, and the fan starts racing after a couple of minutes sitting there. Here is what I have tried so far and the results:

-Will not boot normally - freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot from CD (DiskWarrior, 10.4 Install disc OR 10.3 Install disc - which came with the G5, each time it freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot in safe mode - freezes at grey screen
-Will not get into single-user mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Will not get into verbose mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Holding option when starting up allows me to select a drive (hard drive or CD), but then freezes at grey screen when attempting to boot from either drive
-Option-Command-Shift-Delete does nothing when starting up, again freezes at grey screen
-I CAN get into open firmware & eject cd, cannot boot up from there - it freezes at the grey screen with a circle w/a line through it
-Attempted to reset NVRAM from Open Firmware, "reset-nvram" and "set-defaults" both were ok, then it froze after "reset-all"

I have tried everything I could think of and everything I can find - Does anyone have any possible suggestions or ideas for what I can do?

 

[Veldek]

My PowerPC G5 (10.4.11) will not boot. It gets to the grey Apple screen, and then freezes there, no progress dial, and the fan starts racing after a couple of minutes sitting there. Here is what I have tried so far and the results:

-Will not boot normally - freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot from CD (DiskWarrior, 10.4 Install disc OR 10.3 Install disc - which came with the G5, each time it freezes at grey screen
-Will not boot in safe mode - freezes at grey screen
-Will not get into single-user mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Will not get into verbose mode, freezes at "DART-enabled"
-Holding option when starting up allows me to select a drive (hard drive or CD), but then freezes at grey screen when attempting to boot from either drive
-Option-Command-Shift-Delete does nothing when starting up, again freezes at grey screen
-I CAN get into open firmware & eject cd, cannot boot up from there - it freezes at the grey screen with a circle w/a line through it
-Attempted to reset NVRAM from Open Firmware, "reset-nvram" and "set-defaults" both were ok, then it froze after "reset-all"

I have tried everything I could think of and everything I can find - Does anyone have any possible suggestions or ideas for what I can do?

I have the exact same problem. I tried these things so often, that I finally managed to boot 3 times. The first two times, the computer froze after some minutes and wouldn't boot again. But the last time seemed to be successful, until I set the startup volume to the only one there is, because I had a folder symbol shortly before the grey Apple. After that the folder symbol disappeared but it won't boot anymore... again...

I don't understand why setting the startup volume to the one he booted 3 times in a row before resulted in not booting anymore.

I'm now out of ideas and suspect a hardware failure. Any ideas?

I think I might try to reinstall in target mode, but that's the last idea I got. And I don't know if this will help, if it's really a hardware problem.

 

[Veldek]

So I brought it to a technician and he found out that it's either the logic board or the graphics card. He couldn't test these two. I'm now contemplating wether I bring it to another technician who can test those or just get a new iMac...

Well, just wanted to clear that up in case someone else stumbles across this thread.

 

[Veldek]

I chose to try another technician. It's not the graphics card but either the logic board or the processor board(?). As either would cost almost 1.000 €, I will buy a new Mac instead.

Anyone knows when the iMac will be updated...? 😱