G4 not starting up

My g4 just simply will not start up like it's unplugged (which it is not). What could it be?

Welcome to Mac-Forums, Tears_of_Gods.

To give you adequate help, we need much more info than what you provided.

1 - What is your precise Mac model?

2 - What are your Mac's specs?

3 - Which exact OS version are you using (ex.: not OS X Tiger but 10.4.11)?

4 - Between the time it worked and when it stopped, what did you change? Was it after a software update? Did you add any new peripherals? Did you change anything in your setup or account? Did you hear any sounds worth noting? See any weird behaviour prior?

5 - Have you tried starting up from your restore CD/DVD or from your OS X install disk?

6 - What have you done on your own so far in terms of troubleshooting this situation?

Tears_of_Gods said:

My g4 just simply will not start up like it's unplugged (which it is not). What could it be?

Click to expand...

Could be any number of things.

Bad power cable... bad power supply... fried logic board... etc. etc.

It's a powermac g4 (agp graphics) model m5183. It's probably about 8 years old (at least).

I believe the hard drive is only 20 gigs (with only about 1.5 remaining) and I have 512 mb ram.

I'm running osx 10.4

I turned it on for the first time in a few months today as I only use it for audio recording. After seeing that my internet wasn't working, I tried to restart my system (which I always do because it seems to work) and instead of restarting it simply shut down. When I attempt to turn it on nothing happens whatsoever. The only things I've tried was that I unplugged it and plugged it in again and attempted to turn it on again and that didn't work. I didn't add/update any software/hardware...I just simply tried to turn it on and there are no sounds, lights, or anything out of the ordinary that would be worth noting.

Thanks for your attention.

Ohh, I forgot. I did another power cable and that didn't work either.

So you are still at 10.4.0? Any reason why you did not update to 10.4.11?

So far it could be the PRAM battery, and like DB pointed out, logic board, power supply, etc.

Can your try starting from the OS install media?

I only updated to osx a little more than a year ago. The version I purchased was 10.4
I may have updated, I guess I just don't remember if I did and now I couldn't check it even if I had to.
This is really just my secondary computer that I use for audio recording and almost nothing else.

Does the light at the front (power button) glow up and then fade away

if so its a lithium Ion battery (cheap) or power supply (expensive)

Nothing happens whatsoever. Not that I know from any sort of expertise in the area (that's why I came here) I was kind of assuming that it would be the power supply. My only question on that regard would be that I found a cheap one at a store that's having a liquidation sale but the connector that hooks up to the mother board has 24 pins where my g4 has 22 pins. What's up with that? Do I have to buy from a mac retailer?

Looks like your only hope is to try a different power cable, and then if that gives the same result, a different power point. Not using it through a surge protector that may have failed?

If all negatives, then RIP I guess. Sure not worth expending funds on power supplies etc.