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Restart Screen of Death with Leopard 10.5.8

C

cousindupree

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2010
8
0
Vancouver BC
I am running Leopard (Not Snow Leopard) on a 2005 Power PC G5 (Pre-Intel)

I keep getting the gray screen that comes down and tells me to restart my machine in 4 languages.

I have tried PRAM/NVRAM, SMU and Reinstalling the OS but no change. Sometimes this happens 5 times a day. The fans also sound like they are working overtime while the screen is coming down.

Please help, this is getting to be really annoying.

Thank you.
 
It's called a kernel panic, and I assume you're referring to a Power Mac G5 containing the PowerPC processor?

Anyway, based on your troubleshooting, it sounds like some hardware is borked. Have you run Apple Hardware Test from the computer's restore disks?
 
Thanks for responding.

That is correct :)

The only Apple Hardware test i have tried has been with the TechTool Deluxe disk (Micromat) that my machine came with. I looked at a link and it seemed to me this was only available to Snow Leopard users. I wonder if i have to start testing my RAM.
 
Peripherals

Yes i do, at times i have on a Trekstor external drive, A Lacie 500GB and Another Lacie (Never all on at the same time of course) I also have a Logitech mouse and a pair of Logitech speakers. My keyboard is apple.

I was considering (god forbid, because i hate mac mice) that my mouse might be causing problems.

Think i might borrow one off a friend for a test.
 
Restore Disc

Thanks For the input Blue Revolution.

I've only got one disc for Leopard, you're talking about pressing D upon insertion/power up in "Leopard" right ? not "Snow Leopard" ?

Thanks again.
 
Oh those disks..

Man do i feel stupid.. that's what everyone was talking about.

This won't result in the drive being wiped will it ?

Thanks for the knowledge.
 
Well it was interesting to see

But Hardware test found no problems, took 3hrs 47 min 5 secs.

I'll keep troubleshooting..thanks for the help, and any other ideas you might come up with :)
 
I literally just solved this exact problem last week (except on an intel mac). I did, however, have an ram error come up running the hardware test, but it didn't actually come up every time (I probably ran it maybe 4 or 5 times).

Try fiddling with your ram cards as your symptoms are exact to what mine were. I'm not sure how many slots yours has but mine has 2 with 2 1gb cards in.

I swapped them, stared up and got a kernel panic, put the right one in the left slot with the right empty, started up and same, then put what was originally the left card back in the left and it's been running fine since (I also tried both individual cards in the right slot to make sure it was the card and not the slot).

Conversely, you might not have to replace the card(s) at all, if you just take the cards out and give the slot a good blow (always a winner) and re seat the cards it might fix it up.

Worth a go as I was, like you sound, at my whits end trying to figure it out, especially with no hardware error showing up.

Good luck.
 
Intermittent kernel panics can be caused by just about any piece of hardware acting up. I just start with the memory because it doesn't cost more than the computer is worth to fix.
 
Thanks zacl87

I was afraid that it was going to come to that. Should be an adventure. Any precautions/safety tips i should take ?

Thanks again.
 
No worries. I had a look at that link when I was troubleshooting but if yours is the same as what mine was and you're getting consistent continuous panics it makes it hard to do anything.

I think probably the longest I had my system running for was maybe 5 minutes before another kernel panic, long enough to get anything important as I was unsure if I had to erase the disc or not.

As I said, I'm not really familiar with your computer, but apple seem to have made it incredibly easy for people to access their ram. So, I don't really have any suggestions for precautions, you'd be hard pressed to break something.

Also, for reference, you need (well, I did) a 0/0 screwdriver to take off the bracket over the ram (next to the battery), it's only 3 screws and the ram pops out with the hook. It's really nothing to stress about. I'm sure there's a myriad of guides for this around the interwebs.

It only took me 5 minutes to figure out which card was in trouble and I was up and running again! Good luck
 
The Power Mac is a desktop computer. It doesn't have a battery. ;)

No tools are required to add/replace memory in a Power Mac G5. There are instructions on the inside of the case cover.
 
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