Whats wrong with my mac :(? Wont turn on.

[Archaeopteryx]

Well, ive hit a bit of a dilema, my mac wont turn on any more! Its a Powermac G6 dual 2ghz.. Ive had it for a year and a month now, its never had any significant problems.. nothing more then a crashed program.. But now it wont turn on!

Here is what happened:

I had it set up in my office and its been working fine. Today I was rearangeing stuff in here so I moved it to a diffrent location. I set it up turn it on and it boots up normally... I get called away so I set it to the log in screen so no one will mess with it. I get back and I notice on the very top of the log in it says "Error code (some number I think it started with a 6)" so I figure.. it crashed or something.. I hold down the power button since the system is frozen and turn it off.. I wait a second or two and turn it back on. It boots up fine again..

I start working and what I suppose is the equivalent of the BSOD for mac comes up and says for me to hold down power to reboot... I didnt have anything running I was navigating folders in the OS when it happened... So I do that.. and when I try to boot it.. Nothing happens. The light turns on in front.. the fans start running.. but thats it... So I say.. well maybe its taking a while.. I give it a sec. I get called away... when I come back its still hasnt started and I notice the fans are running incredibly fast and loud. I hold down the power to turn it off and i give it a sec... then reboot.

This time the light in front doesnt turn on at all and it wont boot up.. stays frozen there for some time.. If i leave it the fans will run fast again after a while...

What ive tried.... Ive tried moving it back to its old location.. I figured maybe the new plug didnt have enough voltage to run the mac. I did a feeble open it and clean the dust out.. since maybe it was overheating.. RIght now im in the process of "just letting it sit for a few hours" , wich belive it or not has worked in my past fixing of Pc's

I am just really worried since its such an expensive computer. Please, any one who can help, give me a hand will ya?

 

[mklos]

How did you get a G6?


Well it sounds like something internally failed. It doesn't sound like you hear the Mac chime when you press the power button. If you have extra RAM in it, then take it out and see if it boots.

If you can get it to work long enough, I'd through the Apple Hardware Test CD in, but it doesn't sound like you'll get far enough for the CD to do its thing.

If its not the RAM then its probably either a processor, or the logic board (motherboard) that has failed on you. If thats the case, then I REALLY hope you spent the $249 and bought AppleCare for it. If not, then as you can see that $249 was well worth it as without it, you're talking some serious money to get it fixed. I'd say anywhere from $500 on up depending on what the issue is. If you have the AppleCare Extended Warranty then everything will be free. All Macs only come with a 1 yr limited warranty, and 90 days telephone support.

If you have an Apple Retail Store near by then I'd drop it off and see what they think. They just might take a very quick look at it for free and let you decide if you want to spend the money to get it fixed.

 

[Archaeopteryx]

mklos, thanks for responding so quickly, yes I meant G5 sorry. Ok I have an update, after letting it sit for a while it now boots again... The first time as soon as the log in screen came up it gave me a pop up that said (this is a quote)

"*** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (-1) beyond bounds (1)"

It only gave me the ok option so I hit it... I typed in like 4 chars of the password and it froze... I rebooted.. and I was able to go to the desktop... It told me the clock was set wrong and might cause errors.. I oked and fixed the time.. Tried to fix permissions and it got half way through when it froze again...

Now I am wondering, should I kep trying to fiddle with it? Will trying to fix it perhapse break it further? Any more ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated...

1 more thing, wich one is the apple hardware cd? The one with the OS on it? thats about the only CD I think I have...

 

[Mechcozmo]

Hold Command+Option+P+R
That resets the PRAM. Common fix.

Also, press the CUDA button. Like motherboard restart. ONLY PRESS IT ONCE! OR ELSE!

Do each one of those things in succession BTW...

Use only known good RAM.

The Hardware Test CD says so on it.

 

[Sun Baked]

You have to hit the switch on your G6, it's right below the belt.

---

Have you run fsck or disk first aid since it started working again?

 

[astrochess]

Only one CD?

Are you sure that you have only one CD?
I have a G5, and it came with 3 CD's:
Power Mac G5 Additional Software & Apple Hardware Test (CD-ROM)
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X Install Disc 1 (DVD-ROM)
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X Install Disc 2 (DVD-ROM)

I'd try using the first disk listed here, and if that doesn't detect anything, I'd try using Firewire target disk mode (1. Connect the G5 to another Mac w/Firewire using a 6-pin to 6-pin,a 9-pin to 6-pin, or a 9-pin to 9-pin cable. 2. Start up second Mac normally. 3. Start up G5 while holding T, and the G5 HD will appear on the the second Mac's Desktop) to backup your data. Then, I would start up the G5 using the install disc (#1). If reinstalling doesn't work, erase the hard drive first by repartitioning it (use the Installer menu), and then reinstall.

 

[Converted2Truth]

yeah, boot the G5 into target disk mode, pull all your data off, and reinstall the OS. You could try an 'archive and reinstall' preserving users first though. But I think that's redundant. Clean installs are always much better.