Yep, that would have been the "PMU switch"- power management unit switch, my tech tried to walk me through hitting the switch over the phone just before (warning to anyone thinking of attempting this at home- screw-up and the G5's become a new coffee table so be sure you know what you're doing, all plugs out inc phone line). I also removed the extra Gig of RAM in my machine (back to the origional 512) to see if the problem is RAM. It still took three attempts to get the mac on its feet (so you're lucky to be getting this thread at all)- but that's better than the ten boots to get her going yesterday after getting it back from the repairers and 7 failed attempts after work (no success that time) and ten again this morning (with success). I don't think it was the xtra RAM (non-APPLE) causing this issue and the PMU reset has'nt done much to help either. For the rest of the weekend I'm going to try a few different variations (which I will mention at the end) on my configuration to help try narrow down the exact problem (which I'm doing purely to help the tech in his dealings with Apple HQ). The tech reckons the logic/motherboard is to blame, but cannot be sure (quite yet) that it is not one of these issues instead, as follows; video card power supply intermitantly stuffed, potential for pins in DVI slot to be fractionally mis-aligned, potential for DVI-VGA adaptor pin issues, my Mitsubishi CRT sending funky and incorrect signals to VidCard (and causing a small and specific thing to fry-out which would not affect card running a Apple Display for example but making my set-up fail) or the PRAM. I'm assuming that the PMU reset has'nt done much to fix it
What the big issue here is, is that you and I (and I assume Apple policy is fairly standard accross the Western Nations) as consumers have to deal with the repair service of the resellers in accordance with our warranties to get stuff fixed. The re-seller will in turn fix your computer but is bound by a set of rules that in some ways makes it really hard for them to get stuck into the box and replace anything that gets in the way of the 'puter working properly. In short this means that Apple expects perfect diagnosis from the tech for the part to be covered by Apple (this bit gives me the feeling that Apple don't like dealing with anything that costs them) because if by all rights it looks like the vidCard is gone and hence is the problem, and only a new one will show that its not the sole cause of the failure but it turns out to be something other than first anticipated, the reseller has to cop the cost of the first part/parts. There are currently 18 spare new G5 motherboards in my country that could be shipped to my nearest re-seller and answer my tech's central culprit in this problem, but won't order it in untill there is no possible doubt that the part that gets ordered is the right one. This puts all resellers and their service department on a very short leash. I've now discovered that more important than finding a really good tech that knows their stuff, is also finding one that will bend over backwards to go in and bat for you against Apple. I did'nt even buy my mac from this shop, so whats the incentive to offer a service department let alone to walk-ins like me.
To address the advise/findings of you guys, I bought a hardcore Belkin surge arresting powerboard yesterday (NB: APC are not all they are cracked up to be- get the fastest MOV clamping arrestor you can find sub-1 nanosecs is fine with a 1 nanosec response time) before I wrote in, I still have my problem and had a Sparkie install my central splitter for ADSL on Monday and quizzed him on the quality of power supply to my house, and its fine, 2nd, my fans don't run psycho like some of you have experienced (but I'm also too impatient when the system is down to leave it for any long period- so maybe It could happen to mine, but things seem to be pretty settled when its not working, it kicks over and sounds like a boot-up . . . with no screen). 3rdly my studio at home is air-conditioned because I'm in Australia and I guess the weather is a bit like Texas in some ways and ther is heaps of room and cool airflow around the system, 4th Not turning the computer off is the solution I came to as well - but its not really good enough is it? If you do this also disable the hard drive sleep box in energy saver- system preferences 5th I always get the chime, and in frustration often do the apple-option-p-r (preferences reset) two or three times at boot up to try shake the system preferences (and PRAM as well?) to get her going. The funny thing is that after doing the PMU reset today, I don't get the chime anymore, I don't know what this means. Where were you doing "verify disk permissions" (h3o) and what were you trying to achieve because crashing does not seem to be a big issue (yet) for me and it might help if I can make the mac know that I'm running a CRT monitor not a DVI or Apple Display it might be the fix I need (the riddiculous thing is that this huge problem might be that simple to solve). h3o, are you running a CRT or DV?
The other things I'm going to try this weekend is my old (old,old ,old) VGA monitor to see if I can't rule out the Mitsi CRT as the source, and do a 12 hour render in FCP4 of something so I can see how the 'puter handles a long slow task that will provide plenty of opportunity for a intermittant fault in the system to show up. Thats why you might have had 15 successful boots at the dealership. My problem is encapsulated by intermittance and extended sleep/shutdown, so my system worked fine when they sent it to sleep and woke it up multiple times in short succession. I really hope you have it sussed out with the power supply isses and strongly reccomend that you get a surge arrestor for your own piece of mind.
Sorry if this was too longwinded for most of you looking at this, but this little problem has become an exhaustive and involved experience for a guy who just wants to get on and be creative. Will be more brief next time. RC
