Mac Pro won't restart, and sometimes won't boot up

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Mac Pro dual core, Powerbook G4 1.33
HEY EVERYBODY! This is a weird problem, so I decided to include AUDIO SUPPLEMENTS. I have a Mac Pro Dual-core and the computer runs great, there are no problems except...

WHENEVER I TRY TO RESTART - the finder closes, screen goes black like normal, but before the Apple startup chord, the computer just doesn't do anything and the screen remains black. OH and my superdrive makes THIS NOISE:
http://www.cojumdip.com/files/restart_fail.mp3
Having a disc in there seems to bypass the problem. Unplugging the drive DOESN'T solve the problem. The drive works fine when the computer is on.

So I end up forcing it off or just shutting down. HOWEVER, my computer will sometimes FAIL at booting up. It will make the startup chord, but the fans will keep spinning wildly and nothing will actually happen:
http://www.cojumdip.com/files/startup_fail.mp3

Normally it would sound like this:
http://www.cojumdip.com/files/startup_normal.mp3

Thanks for any help!!!
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Pop Apple Hardware Test in and boot holding down 'C' and run. Could also be a hard drive on the way out. If you can get to Disk Utility what does SMART status report?
 
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cojumdip
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holding down 'C' or 'D' doesn't yield anything. Holding option on boot doesn't show the CD as a boot option.

I've tried both my OS X Panther discs and my Tiger update disc, got nothing on the boot up.

They do show up when I'm in OS X, though. Can I access this hardware test without a DVD?
 
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It says in your MacSpecs that it is a MacPro G5? Do you mean your computer is a PowerMac G5? Mac Pro is the Intel chipset.
 
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cojumdip
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BUMP?

Alright it's been many months, and I've cloned my old apple drive onto a larger WD drive. Still CAN NOT restart. I can only shut down and boot back up.

The "startup fail" problem hasn't happened in a really long time, so I'm good on that.
 
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Same problem!

Hi, did you find a solution?

I have exactly the same problem.

My Mac Pro Quad 2.66 won't restart. It can shut down and boot up fine. Every time I try to restart it, it stalls. Makes those strange clicking noises that seem to be coming from the superdrive bay.

I thought it might be a drive problem. Tried different hard drives with different versions of OS 10.5 on it. Same problem. Thought it might be a memory problem. Tried different types of memory. Problem still there.

I really don't want to haul it to the Apple store but I think I might need too. I think it might it might be the PSU or a fan or something?
 
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Solution!

After reading a thread on the Apple support forum, [/URL]
Apple - Support - Discussions - Restart Woes - What Could Be the Cause? ...

I tried one last test. I installed the orignal Apple ram 2 x 512mb. I can now restart my computer with no clicks and no stalling. It seems the 3rd party Ram I was using was overheating and causing the problem.

Although I have had this RAM installed for a couple of years and no prior problems, it seem it just can't handle the heat anymore.
I now have to send the RAM away for replacement under warranty because 1gb on a mac pro is like going to bed with a beautiful woman who keeps her clothes on. :eek:

I am still curious to know what exactly was clicking, because it wasn't the hard drive.
 
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Well, if you got a kernel panic when booted from the DVD then you've done the hard part - determined that it is most likely a hardware problem. Of course it's a bit confusing that another DVD would boot, but sometimes hardware problems are intermittent.

Before checking hardware, see if it will boot with the Shift key held down (safe mode) or if it will boot with Command-s held down. That might give more information.

(Since you got past the login screen, it still could be a problem with that account. If you are ever able to get logged in, make a new test user account and log into that.)

See if it will boot the Hardware Diagnostic DVD.

The hardware things to check are

- reset the Power Management Unit: remove battery, unplug from power and then hold down the power button for 5-10 seconds

- Connected USB and/or FireWire devices or cards - remove all of them

- RAM: if you added any, remove it and revert to the Apple RAM.
- If only the original RAM is there, remove one of the two DIMMs and try to boot. Swap that DIMM to the other slot if it still crashes. Then try the other DIMM the same way.

- If none of that works, you could try reinstalling the OS but with a hardware problem you may wind up getting stuck halfway through and have no way to check any hardware problems.
 
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We had this problem for over a year - tried a ton of stuff, turned out that the Video Card had a build up of dust over the heat sink that we didn't see when we cleaned it out on the first try.

The cleaning of the video card fixed the following:
- Loud fan noise running almost constantly
- Computer failing to restart
- Start up not always working, taking multiple tries

See Apple Support Forum
Apple - Support - Discussions - Mac Pro Loud Fan Noise ...

See pics of video card
http://tinyurl.com/yjue8k9
 
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Thank you so much for helping me solve my problem!! I took out the latest pair of 3rd party 2 x 2GB RAM and now I can restart my computer and there are no clicking noises. Hated to give up the 4 GB, but the problem was so annoying.
 

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