I have a problem with a new PowerMac G5 (Single 1.6 with 1.25 GB RAM and the stock 80BG HD). I just got it on eBay the other day, I booted it, registed it, and it worked fine on the 1st boot up. I came back about an hour later and tried to turn it on and it just sat there. The fans ran but the hard-disk didn’t spin like it normally would during bootup and my display said no signal. I turned it off with the power button and rebooted it. After that it booted up just fine and it worked for about 10 minutes until I turned it off. I came back later to make sure the bootup thing wasn’t a fluke and sure enough, it did the same thing. It just sat there with no signs of life other than the running fans. I shut it off with the power button again and rebooted and it booted normally with no problems again. I did this two times since than and it does the same thing every time.
Is this a common problem with the Single G5? Any of you guys have any advice for me?
My 1st guess is that it’s a motherboard issue but I honestly have no idea and if it was I don’t know why it would always work after I shut it off and turned it back on.
On a side note, I just got the machine yesterday and my AirPot card is in the mail so I haven’t gotten a chance to update from 10.4 to 10.4.10 if that means anything.
Anyway, I really need some help here so if you got any ideas I would really appreciate it.
Did it come with install discs? If so, run Apple Hardware Test by inserting the disk, rebooting, and holding down the d key. I'm certain it's a hardware problem.
Did it come with install discs? If so, run Apple Hardware Test by inserting the disk, rebooting, and holding down the d key. I'm certain it's a hardware problem.
Yea, I wanted to do that but I dont have the disks. Any other way of doing it?
Also, this might sound ridiculous but what the heck!... Unplug your Power Mac G5 from the electrical outlet and let it unplugged for about 5 minutes: this will help the capacitors to drain and might help.
You could also try resetting the NVRAM by starting up in Open Firmware. From this Apple Knowledge Base article (the How to troubleshoot a computer with Open Firmware Password enabled section):
Quote:
1. Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
2. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
3. Press Return.
4. When prompted for your password, enter it and press the Return key.
5. It responds OK.
6. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
7. Press Return.
That should clean out more junk from your system. If you were using an Intel-based Mac, you could not use this troubleshooting procedure as Intel-based Macs do not have open firmware.
