07-17-2009, 01:03 PM

Hi, i have read around forums and seen many users had the following problem yet no-one seems to know how to properly fix it?

I recently got a lend of an apple G4 power mac desktop to be used for recording, was using it for a few hours yesterday and everything was fine, then it randomly froze, tried to force quit but nothing happened, so switched it off at the wall, then the following happened,

- turned it on again, white power button light blinked on for a second then off
- i could still hear the fan was on though, after about 10 seconds, the fans all seemed to start operating at full power, sounded like a hoover
- nothing appeared on screen, i switched it off, unplugged everything, left it overnight
- fired it on this morning and things were the same

Really worried now, anyone have any idea what may have caused this or how it can be amended? You should keep in mind it has been lying unused for the best of 6 years. Although i believe the PRAM battey is fine and i reset the PMU switch to no avail.
Let me know if more specs or whatever are required.

Thanks.

07-17-2009, 03:24 PM

light blinked on for a second then off

That exact symptom happened to my old G4. It was the PRAM Battery, its a very inexpensive part (Radioshack or onlne) so well worth eliminating as the cause.

The G4 is still going strong 2 years later and acts as my back-up server

07-17-2009, 06:18 PM

Yep replace the PRAM battery and reset the PRAM then and see how you go, particularly if the G4 is a MDD model.

When the machine is not connected to power, the PRAM battery tries to keep time, settings etc. up to date but six years is more than the (usual) life of the battery.