Desktop G5 shuts down during startup

Just sold our Desktop G5 to my in-laws. (It has always worked well for us.) Put 10.4 on it and everything has run just fine for a couple months. All of a sudden, it turns off during startup. It tries to restart, probably because I put the settings to restart in case of power outage. It sometimes gets to the desktop, even starts to open some applications as usual. Then other times it turns off during startup, only getting as far as the gray apple startup screen. We have changed everything we can such as different electrical outlet. (grabbing at straws.)
It did have a cd in it but when managed to get it out. This had no effect on the problem.
Also tried resetting SMU, with no effect on problem. Also held down option to get to chose startup disk while the 10.4 cd was in drive, but still does the same thing. Held C down too to force it to cd but did not work....same problem.
Thanks for your help.

I have a Powermac G5-I only have in the computer what was factory installed. The computer is a little over 5 years old. The problem started after I booted up and logged in. My desktop and pointer were frozen. I could not escape and I tried to shut down doing a force quit. No Luck. I eventually had to unplug the computer from the wall. Upon restarting the computer, when it came on, all I got was a gray screen with the Apple logo. After about a minute of this, The internal cooling fans would come on full blast. I also tried booting from the start-up disk (I had to install the disk manually, because the drive would not respond to the key command) with no luck. I have taken it to the Mac store. Their conclusion was it could be the motherboard or the CPU's, but they weren't certain either. Do you think it could be possible that it's not the CPU or Logicboard? The expense for replacing both, almost doesn't make it worth it. Any ideas?

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MacBook Shuts down during startup

My MacBook started acting slow the other day and then today when I started it up, it was in a constant lock up with a spinning pin wheel. No force quit commands or anything would work. So, I restarted it and now after the Grey screen with the Apple logo, the MacBook shuts down. The only thing I can get running is by holding C with the Leopard disc in there.
I tried to run Disk Utility from there but everything failed. I'm assuming I need a new hard drive? Is there anyway to save data from within the Leopard disc bootup? Maybe over a network?
Thanks

Hello,
I am having this very same issue. It shuts down during startup. I can boot into Windows, and using the Leopard startup disc, Disk Utility could not work any magic. I do not have a second Mac or access to one for any backup purposes. I have no idea what else to try, does anyone know something besides backing up through firewire, on how I can either save my computer's data or resurrect the drive? Thank you for your help.

Shuts down during startup

IMac shut down during use. On startup I get a progress bar on white screen then shuts down again. Any thoughts?

Hi Eric
When I put in my system DVD (I'm assuming that's the one with the operating system install) there was no change. I still hear the computer power up, I get the white screen (and now hear the DVD churn), get the Apple logo, get the white bar across the bottom of the screen that shows progress, and then poof, the computer shuts down (with my operating system DVD in it).
Cheers,
Chris

Computer shuts down during startup

Hey everyone,
it shames me a little to ask for help about computers because I am usually ok with doing this stuff myself.
This time, however, I cannot seem to fix the problem indefinitely.I need a laptop for school and cannot afford another so any help would be greatly appreciated!:
I will just point the facts out:
After a few years use (two) it now shuts down during (windows) startup.
I ended up cleaning the Heatsink/fan yet the problem persisted.
The model is a Toshiba Satellite A200-PSAF6A.
I am no longer under warranty.
The school techs cannot help me.
A few oddities that I noticed:
It starts up fine when the power plug isn't plugged in.
It starts up fine with the power plugged in only in safe mode.
Using CCleaner and Defraggler temporarily fixed my problem (for about 5 minutes or so).
I hope that you guys can help me. It's just annoying that I cannot fix this myself..
If any further information is required please just ask and I will reply with as much haste as I can under my current circumstances.
Thanks,
Norak.

Linton wrote:
I have a couple of years old A200 satellite and have the same problem.
During a "cold start" I may get up to the windows login screen and then it shuts down and restarts. (sometimes it doesn't make it to the windows screen and turns off to restart). Then it will start to load windows and the little bar at the bottom will be loading windows and then freeze. I would have to hold the power button down to turn off and restart. Then I start windows normally and it usually works OK, sometimes I have to do this step again, but eventually I get into windows. Then if I shut down and restart it starts up fine, unless I wait for it to cool down.
Since this started happening, I have reinstalled vista 32bit to out of the box condition and updated to the latest bios, to no avail.
Computer has always run hot since new, seems to have very poor cooling. But the fan operates, most of the time on full boar.
Do you think this is a software issue or a component issue, or cold joint.
BTW it will not shutdown at all if I keep the computer in the F12 key settings area,im not sure what this place is called, but you choose to boot from cd here.
Okay, this is weird and I'm not sure if this has anything to do with what I had mentioned earlier. I was having some issues with my DVD drive, it was rattling bad and the spin off time was off causing coasters on almost every blank DVD, so I had the thing sent in for a replacement. They put in a new DVD drive, checked the status of my BIOS (V 4.2 which I had all along) and returned the unit back to me sometime around April 22, 2010 -- ever since the thing was working fine. I'm not sure if the bad drive had caused the unit to work erratically.
Before it was sent in, the issue was of course with the DVD drive, the startup then shutdown problems, plus a whole plethora of other small problems which I didn't bother to mention on my first post. For instance; the illumination lights that controls the media -- sometimes they would not turn off when I shut my computer down. The light stays on even after the computer powers off and I'd have to unplug the AC power cord for the lights to completely shut off.
My initial problems with the laptop was:
Media lights won't go off,
DVD drive rattles very loudly and burns bad media,
Shutdowns during startups,
The screen housing would creak every time when I wanted to adjust the position (this happens when I adjust it slowly).
After they replaced the DVD drive, everything seems to work fine. It's been almost two months now and I haven't had issues with any of the above mentioned problems.
Satellite P305-S8997E | Windows7 Pro 64-bit | Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T8100 2.16GHZ | 4GB DDR2 RAM | 320GB 5400RPM
Dell XPS 17 | corei7 andy Bridge | 8G DDR3 | 1TB x7200 | BD-RE | 1080P

IMac keeps shutting down during startup loading bar under apple sign

My electricity went out and came back on a minute later. When my computer started up again the font was back to original factory setting. I then restarted my computer and every time it would load up it would shutdown. The computer chimes and then reaches a grey screen with an apple sign. Below it is a loading bar. This bar loads about 10% then goes back down and loads from 0%. A couple minutes later it shuts down after staying at 0%. It keeps doing this routine every time I start the computer. I then did a command s and rebooted the computer to factory reset it. The computer still shuts down and has the old habit of reaching 10% and 0% with the loading bar but now after the loading bar is at 0% it then disappears to the Apple sign and a loading circle. It then shuts down again. This iMac was originally 10.6.8. but i believe i updated it to 10.9.4 and was purchased new around 2008. I also tried to put in a CD with Firmware Restoration CD 1.7. but that didnt work. Can anyone help? or has anyone had similar issues?

Hello canwary
Good job on troubleshooting your issue so far. For most issues that deal with your Mac not starting up, consult the article below to see what the issue could be.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/en-us/TS2570
Let me know if this helps,
-Norm G.

Mac Mini shuts down during startup after update

I've got a Late 2009 Mac Mini running Snow Leopard Server. Occasionally, it takes me awhile to restart after updates, so this could be due to the most recent update or possibly the combination of the last two...
I went into my office, saw that there was a Safari update and decided to let it do its thing. When I came back 30 minutes later, my machine was off. I turned my machine back on, got the gray Apple screen with the spinning cog and the progress indicator for the update. A little over 10% through, the progress indicator reset. No biggie, I figured. Second time it got to the same point, it just shut down. Nada. When I restart, it does the same thing.
I've tried resetting PRAM.
I've tried resetting SMC.
I've tried booting in safe mode, but that isn't working at all – just does the same thing as when I (fail to) boot normally.
Everything but one of my screens and my keyboard is disconnected. ****, I even tried booting without either one connected (I just waited to see if it would turn off), and it failed.
Can't think of or find anything else.
Anyone?

Humm.. you'll need to startup from your System Install Disc to test, repair or restore from Time Machine.
Some options for Starting up from your Install Disc include:
1. in an External Optical DVD Drive.
2. from another iMac in Target Disk Mode.
3. from a copy on a Thumb Drive or External HD.
It's to bad that you are using Time Machine on the second HD instead of a clone with Carbon Copy Cloner - Home or SuperDuper! that you could boot from for testing, repairing and/or restoring.
If none of the above helps?
There is one good thing about a Mac Mini, it is much easier to tote into the local Apple Store or AASP than an iMac. see > Apple - Support - iMac - Service FAQ

Mac mini shuts down during startup

Lately my Mac mini running osx lion got really slow and then when I shut it down for the night the next morning I tried to boot it up. It didn't boot up after 2 hours of grey screen and spinning wheel. I tried clearing my NVRAM but nothing happened. After that I tried to repair the disk but it said "cannot repair disk, backup as many files as you can and reformat the disk". After that I tried to reboot again and After about 30 seconds it shut down. During those 30 seconds it was normal except for there was this loading bar at the bottom. I have no Mac osx install disk because when I upgraded I just did it through the app store. Is there any way to backup my files without being able to use my computer?

See if the Mini will boot into Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
If so it shoud appear as a FW drive the other Mac, we can check the system logs on the Mini for clues, or perhaps Repair the Disk if the other Mac is same OSX or newer.

G5 shuts down during startup

I am at a total loss here.
A week ago my G5 started shutting down while it was starting up. If I left it alone for awhile, sometimes it would finish starting up, sometimes not.
I have done the following:
Zapped the PRAM
Reset the SMU
Done a clean install of Leopard
Repaired permissions
Verified the internal hard drive, it appears to be OK.
Tried different wall outlets.
I have no idea what else I can do. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated, I'm at the end of my rope.

Apparently I spoke too soon... the G5 is once again shutting itself down at startup. It will boot to the grey screen with grey apple logo and then shut itself down. I even booted into Verbose Mode and the last thing it said before shutting down was "Matching Service Count = 6".
Earlier today the Apple Hardware Test CD was run. It didn't report any problems.
Earlier this evening when booting off the Leopard install DVD, it was not able to repair the startup disk in Disk Utility. Then I ran Disk Warrior 3.0.3 to repair the disk directory. That ran successfully. Now when running Disk Utility over the Leopard install DVD, it reports that the disk is ok, no repairs needed.
It seems like you have to hit the SMU reset switch every time in order to successfully boot the computer. Could both hard drives that I've been using be failing simultaneously? It's possible but not very likely.
This is getting incredibly frustrating, I'm ready to throw this thing out the window.

24" Imac shuts down during startup, HD replaced

So my iMac (running Mavericks) was running really slow and wouldn't respond often. It got to the point where it was freezing up or getting the spinning wheel all the time. I assume the HD was failing and bought a new one. I originally had a WD SATA 1TB drive in it (original from apple) So I basically ordered the same thing from Amazon. A WD SATA 1TB. I followed all instructions on iFixit for HD replacement. Overall the installation went fine. Not my first time under the hood of one of my Macs. I ran the recovery mode, formatted the new drive and restored from the time machine backup. All going smoothly. Now when it boots I get the gray screen, apple logo, spinning gear then complete shut down. Zapped PRAM, rest SMC. I'm at a total loss what to do next. PLEASE HELP!!

Try to boot up in Safe Mode. Hold down the "Shift" key as soon as you turn on the computer. This will force a check of the directory, turn off extensions and login items and more.
If that doesn't work, I recommend booting from the Mac OS X install disk and using disk utility to check the drive. Slide the install disk in the drive and then restart holding down the "C" key. Keep holding it down until it is booted up. From the menu select "Disk Utility", then highlight the hard drive, then click "Repair Volume".
Lastly, if that doesn't work - go get a copy of DiskWarrior which is known to fix just about any hard drive problem. Everybody should have a copy of this on hand anyway.
Good luck!!

IMac shuts down during startup

My 1.8GHz 20" iMac G5 will shut down soon after I hit the power button. Sometimes I get a grey screen for a few seconds before it shuts down and other times I only see the power light before it shuts down. You can hear things running but I am not sure if it is the fan, hard drive or both.
I took the back off and the first three LED's seem to check out okay. I also reset the PRAM to no avail.
My iMac had been in storage for a while and seemed to boot fine when I first tried. I plugged a portable hard drive into one of the USB jacks on the keyboard and got an error message about USB overcurrent. Before I could even finish reading the message and react to it the machine shut down and hasn't been able to start ever since.
Does anyone have suggestions on a self help fix before I take the machine in to the Apple Store?
Thanks,
Sean

"My iMac had been in storage for a while"
How long? It's possible you may need a new battery?
The CR2032 battery can be purchased/ordered for under $10.00 from: http://mac-batteries.com/
CR2032

Mac shuts down during startup after removal AppleSetupDone in Terminal, can I fix this ? 'touch' didn't help.

Hi, first of all thanks for reading, and I apologize for fooling around in Terminal.
I followed a method to remove applesetupdone in terminal, in order to enter the menu to create a new admin account. I had done this before on a computer that was given to me and it had worked very well. This time it didn't, though. I know I used a different website this time, I'm pretty sure the previous one made use of sudo, this one didn't.
I must have done something wrong. Perhaps when I followed a hint that came up inside terminal that told me to load something, because what I wanted was impossible / read only.
In any case my MacMini (1.83 ghz, Snow Leopard) starts up and shows the grey apple logo and the progress 'wheel', then shuts itself down. It does not mount when I connect it to my macbook with firewire. I can still get into sum / terminal but I don't know what to do. I tried 'touch' to restore applesetupdone but it didn't work.
I would really appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance!

Humm.. you'll need to startup from your System Install Disc to test, repair or restore from Time Machine.
Some options for Starting up from your Install Disc include:
1. in an External Optical DVD Drive.
2. from another iMac in Target Disk Mode.
3. from a copy on a Thumb Drive or External HD.
It's to bad that you are using Time Machine on the second HD instead of a clone with Carbon Copy Cloner - Home or SuperDuper! that you could boot from for testing, repairing and/or restoring.
If none of the above helps?
There is one good thing about a Mac Mini, it is much easier to tote into the local Apple Store or AASP than an iMac. see > Apple - Support - iMac - Service FAQ

IMac G5 shuts down during startup

I have an iMac G5 (purchased in March '05). Now when I turn the power on, it starts booting, shows the grey screen with apple logo and a spinning icon, then it suddenly shuts off, like it lost power. This happens repeatedly and I cannot get the system fully booted.
Down anyone have any ideas of what could be wrong?
thanks
iMac G5

Hello kevinsl:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
Check your computer and see if it falls within the serial number range listed in this Apple article:
http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/
If it does, take your Mac to an Apple store or, alternatively, call Apple care and arrange for repair under the terms listed in the article.
Barry

Dual 2.0 G5: shuts down during startup

hi, my G5 was working perfectly until last night when i was doing several things at once (incl. video editing tasks) and the system hung: i could move the mouse around, but everything else was completely unresponsive. after waiting a while and no change, i performed a hard-shutdown (holding the power button down for several seconds).
now, when i bootup, i hear the chime, the grey apple logo comes up, and after about a minute or so the system just turns off.
i've searched the board and haven't come across any similar postings. anyone have any ideas what might be wrong?
much appreciated!
G5 Dual 2.0, Dell 2405FPW Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I had a similar problem last night as well! I was playing Battlefield 1942 when my G5 Dual 2.0 just switched off! No warning, no messages, nothing, just switched off like the someone had pulled the plug. I pressed the power button and had the same booting problems as richlin71. I booted from my Tiger DVD and ran Disk Utility and it said the disk was ok. I tried to boot from my eDrive (TechTool Pro 4.0.6) which is on a second internal drive and that wouldn't boot either, it would switch off again. Ran the Apple Hardware Tests, it found no problems. I pulled the the plug from the wall, waiting for 30 seconds and tried again, this time it booted and everything is back to normal.... Strange...
G5 Dual 2.0 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Macbook Shuts Down During Video Playback

My computer has begun to shut down unexpectedly when I am watching a movie. I watch about 20-30 mins of a show/movie/other video and my computer will shut down completely, whether it is plugged in or not. My computer is an early 2008 macbook, 4.1, running osx lion. My battery condition is "replace soon" and my fan has gotten quite loud over the past year or so. Any ideas on how I might fix this problem? New Battery? New charger? Internatal cleaning?
Thank you very much to everyone.

Hello,
I am having this very same issue. It shuts down during startup. I can boot into Windows, and using the Leopard startup disc, Disk Utility could not work any magic. I do not have a second Mac or access to one for any backup purposes. I have no idea what else to try, does anyone know something besides backing up through firewire, on how I can either save my computer's data or resurrect the drive? Thank you for your help.

MacBook Will shut down during start up.

Why does my Mac book shut shut down during startup?

What to do if your Mac won’t boot up
First, try resetting your SMC.
Resetting the SMC of an Intel-based portable Mac with a battery you should not remove on your own
Note: This will not delete any data.
The SMC is responsible for controlling various system functions. None of your data will be deleted by resetting the SMC.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter into a power source and then connect it to your Mac if you have not already done so.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift (⇧), Control (⌃), and Option (⌥) keys and the Power Button at the same time.
Release the (left side) Shift (⇧), Control (⌃), and Option (⌥) keys and the Power Button at the same time.
Resetting the SMC of an Intel-based Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini, or Xserve
Note: This will not delete any data.
The SMC is responsible for controlling various system functions. None of your data will be deleted by resetting the SMC.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Unplug the computer’s power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer’s power cord.
Wait five seconds and then press the power button to turn on the computer.
Resetting the SMC of an Intel-based portable Mac with a removable battery
Note: This will not delete any data.
The SMC is responsible for controlling various system functions. None of your data will be deleted by resetting the SMC.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter into a power source and then connect it to your Mac if you have not already done so.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the Power Button for 5 seconds.
Release the Power Button.
Reconnect the battery and the MagSafe power adapter.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Then, try resetting your PRAM.
Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM
Note: This will not delete any data.
The NVRAM/PRAM stores information such as speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and recent kernel panic information (if any). You should reset the NVRAM/PRAM if you experience issues relating to these functions.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Turn on the computer by pressing the Power Button.
On the built-in keyboard, press and hold the Command (⌘), Option (⌥), P, and R keys before the gray screen appears.
Continue to hold down the keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup chime for the second time.
Release the keys on the built-in keyboard.
Then, try repairing the disk using Disk Utility.
Repairing a disk using Disk Utility on the Recovery HD.
Note: This should not delete any information or files from the disk.
Repairing a disk can help solve various file-related issues.
Make sure the computer is powered off before continuing.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Press and hold both the R and Command (⌘) keys on the keyboard until the Recovery partition loads. If this does not work, shut down the computer, press the Power Button to turn on the computer, and then hold in the Alt (⌥) button immediately after you press the power button. Then, select the Recovery HD partition to boot up in the Recovery HD partition.
Select Disk Utility.
Once you are in the Disk Utility app, select the drive from the sidebar on the left.
Then, choose the Repair Disk button on the right.
If the Repair Disk button is grey or unavailable, select Verify Disk and then select Repair Disk.
If this does not solve your issues, you may have no choice but to reformat the drive using Disk Utility.
You should also repair your startup disk’s disk permissions as well.
Repairing a disk’s permissions using Disk Utility on the Recovery HD.
Note: This should not delete any information or files from the disk.
Repairing a disk's permissions can help solve various file-related issues.
Make sure the computer is powered off before continuing.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Press and hold both the R and Command (⌘) keys on the keyboard until the Recovery partition loads. If this does not work, shut down the computer, press the Power Button to turn on the computer, and then hold in the Alt (⌥) button immediately after you press the power button. Then, select the Recovery HD partition to boot up in the Recovery HD partition.
Select Disk Utility.
Once you are in the Disk Utility app, select the drive from the sidebar on the left.
Then, choose the Repair Disk Permissions button on the right.
If this does not solve your issues, continue on and run Apple Hardware Test.
Using Apple Hardware Test to troubleshoot a hardware problem
Your issues might be caused by a hardware problem. Running Apple Hardware Test can help you solve this problem by showing you the faulty hardware.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter into a power source and then connect it to your Mac if you have not already done so.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Press and hold the D key on the keyboard before the grey starting screen appears.
Continue to hold the D key until the loading screen shows up. You should see a globe.
When AHT has loaded, select your Language and then press the Return (↩) key.
Select the Perform Extended Testing checkbox located under the Test button.
Press the T key, select the Test button, or press the Return (↩) key to start running the diagnostics.
Report any issues it shows in a reply.
If Apple Hardware Test does not show any issues, continue on and reinstall OS X.
If Apple Hardware Test does show any issues, report them in a reply.
Reinstall OS X
Note: This will not erase any data on the disk. However, it is highly recommended that you create a backup before continuing.
Reinstalling OS X can solve various problems such as corrupt system files.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter into a power source and then connect it to your Mac if you have not already done so.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Press and hold both the R and Command (⌘) keys on the keyboard until the Recovery partition loads.
Select Reinstall OS X and then choose Continue.
Follow the instructions.
If your computer still does not boot up
If your computer still does not boot up, it may be due to a hardware problem or software conflict.
Make an appointment with an authorized Apple service center or by making an appointment at the Genius Bar by going to this link:
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/
Austin

Desktop G5 shuts down during startup

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