Dual 2.3ghz g5 won't boot.

I bought this power mac G5 dual 2ghz april, 2005 model recently. It was working like a charm until yesterday. Suddenly it froze up for a long period and I eventually had to manually shut it down with the power button. Upon restart, all that happened was that it went to the white screen with the grey apple logo. No progress indicator, just the logo. In the process, there is no HD noise at all, only fans. When I hold the alt key to boot, it shows the Macintosh HD volume but as I proceed it just returns to the logo screen. It won't do the normal safeboot however when I tried the alternate safe boot, it gave me this message and stopped. "Apple Intel CPU Power Management isn't a valid Mach-O (magic is cefaedfe)" This message was repeated several times on the screen. In addition, I have done the standard resets to the pram nvram and the reset on the button on the logic board all with no results. I switched the HD to another PM G5 tower and it booted that machine up with no problems which leaves me to believe my logic board may have gone south. Any suggestions?

Hi meta360, and a warm welcome to the forums!
I switched the HD to another PM G5 tower and it booted that machine up with no problems which leaves me to believe my logic board may have gone south.
It may well verily be, but occasionally running AHT "cures" it...
Boot off your original G5 Install Disk while holding down Option/alt key to select AHT, then run the extended Apple Hardware Test.

Similar Messages

Dual 1.25 G4 won't boot OS X anymore, boots linux and hardware test

Dual 1.25 MDD G4 that I've had for 5 years. 1.25 G RAM, 300 Gb HD.
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I tried Techtool deluxe (from old Applecare) and that won't boot the machine since it too is OS X.
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Thanks,
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Dual 1.25 MDD G4 that I've had for 5 years. 1.25 G RAM, 300 Gb HD.
No hardware changes to this machine for several years. Recently it locked up
and I rebooted it - I get a light gray screen with an Apple logo and nothing else
happens.
I cannot boot OS X from CD/DVD, but I can boot the hardware test and run all the tests (all of them pass). I can also boot from a Linux CD.
I've tried various startup key combinations (cmd-opt-P-R, cmd-opt-N-V, etc.) but
I still cannot boot into OS X from either CD/DVD or from the HD.
I tried Techtool deluxe (from old Applecare) and that won't boot the machine since it too is OS X.
Any ideas on what to try next?
Thanks,
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Need Methods for Testing Hardware -- Dual 2.0 GHz Won't Boot

Have a Dual 2.0GHz Power Mac (M9032LL/A) that won't boot.... I'd like to know how hardware is diagnosed on these machines? I hear the Apple Hardware Test CD isn't that accurate and not really any help and there's no LED lights on the logicboard of these models, so, short of swapping stuff out, how do I tell what's bad? I'm assuming either a processor, the logic board, or maybe the video card are bad and would like to verify what may be wrong.
The computer doesn't boot reliably but once it is on, it works great. When the power button is pressed, there's no chime, but it makes the other usual appropriate noises, such as the fans and hard drive briefly kicking up and back down... then no more progress. The mouse never lights up (it's optical and flashes when the computer starts up normally), no video ever shows, and the computer just sounds like it's sitting idle-- the fans are slightly on, but the hard drive makes no noise. After several minutes, the fans begin to go into overdrive (the wind-tunnel sound) and I just have to shut it off with the power button.
This problem has become increasingly more bothersome over time-- it used to happen only occasionally. Now the computer won't start on its own at all. Booting into open firmware has tricked it into booting, but has become less and less reliable (described below).
+For those that may be able to help further than recommending hardware testing methods, here's specifics on my situation:+
Troubleshooting I've done:
- reset the PMU (can't remember if I've reset the PRAM)
- installed a new power supply
- tried a different monitor and power cord
- installed a new battery
- re-seated video card
- removed the two sticks of third party RAM... when I booted after doing this, the boot got further. This time the computer acted like it was on, but with no video... it responded to the keyboard (volume and eject) and appeared to show up on the network. I checked monitor by plugging it into laptop, and the monitor worked fine, so I assumed the computer's not outputting any video. Force-shut-down and rebooted the computer, but it went back to the same boot problem described above (fans went into overdrive).
In the past I have successfully booted it by booting into open firmware, then typed 'mac-boot' and the computer starts up and works completely fine. It's not flakey, doesn't crash, etc. However, it won't reliably boot into open firmware!
I've also successfully booted into single-user mode. Both in this mode and in open firmware, the fans will go into wind-tunnel mode after about the several minutes as it does when booting via power button alone. However, the command line is still responsive, and a boot command stops the wind-tunnel noise as the computer then boots.
I'd really like to rescue this computer, it's such a speedy, reliable machine that's given me years of excellent performance. If it's time to let it go, I'd like to know for sure, so a way to test the hardware, especially the logicboard and processors, would be nice...
Many thanks for any help,
Selena M.

To those that offered help, thanks, I appreciate it and ended up finding the problem using the most basic hardware test of all-- remove one of the parts on the suspect list, so long as the computer can run with out it, and see what happens, and that resolved my issue!
To those having the same problem-- I found a fix for my machine and it's working great!!! The primary suspects were: logic board, RAM, CPUS or video card. If it was the logic board or a CPU, I'd just call it a parts machine, so tried removing the other parts to see what happened. Still crashed/didn't boot without the third party RAM, and also no difference without the Apple RAM.... but when I removed the video card and hit the power button-- there was that startup chime I hadn't heard in so long!!!!! The machine booted immediately and responded properly to the keyboard's volume and eject buttons. Since I couldn't attach a monitor, I accessed it over the network and it was working fine. I shut down and booted several more times, and it came on every time. So, if those of you that are having the same problems haven't tried this, see if your computer boots without the video card...
*Best of all*, the new video card was free! Apparently the card in my machine has known issues and they'll replace it for free if you send them your old one AND mention this article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=32473. Read through it, and if your video card matches that model number they list, call the phone number they provide. Make sure you mention the article number, which is 32473, so they can reference it and so they won't charge you an over the phone tech support fee (because this is for a recall). They'll look the article up, ask you what you did and so on. Tell them you tried everything the article suggested and that your computer behaves as the article describes, and they'll send a new card.
Also, note that I'd seen this article before when trying to solve my booting issue, but my computer didn't behave exactly like they described, so I just kinda blew it off. But later, while skimming various forums for answers, I read a post from someone with similar booting problem to mine and he offered the above tip and article number. It's a good thing too, as it saved me the cost of a video card! Otherwise, I just would have bought a new one.
Anyways, I hope this can help one of you out that are having similar problems... just remove that video card (if you haven't already) and see if your computer works. If so, get a new one for free from Apple and hopefully you'll have your computer back!
Good luck!

Pwrmac dual 1.25 FW800 Won't Boot, URGENT PLZ HELP

Hi
After playing with the ribbon cables, trying to plug and unplug a HD near the superdrives, in order to format it with disk utility, it didn't work so i gave up and went out.
When I came back the computer won't boot.
Power light comes on for a second, but goes off, no chimes, no boot.
I tried resetting that motherboard button, but it did nothing...( i forgot that that button is called I used to do it on my g3.)
ANY IDEAS?
thanks

HI-
ANY IDEAS?
Did you unplug whatever it was that you plugged in?
In the process, did you disturb any other cables/connections?
Double check all cables, especially the motherboard cable, and the power button board ribbon.
If that doesn't help, unplug the machine, remove the PRAM battery, wait 15-30 minutes, install the battery, plug in the machine, and try again.
I tried resetting that motherboard button, but it did nothing...( i forgot that that button is called I used to do it on my g3.)
That would be the PMU, or CUDA button.

Dual 800 Mhz QuickSilver won't boot

My PowerMac G4 won't boot from any source. At first it wouldn't boot from the hard disks or CD Rom drive, but would boot from an external firewire device such as an ipod. Now it won't even do that. It will boot into firewire target mode. All I get is a blank white square where the Mac icon normally would be during bootup. I tried zapping pram and reseting the PMU without success. Any ideas? Also, it won't even go into openfirmware, just a blank black screen.

Hello! Unhook the hard drive and then see if it will boot to a known good disc such as an install disc or ext drive. If it boots from those sources then the motherboard and powersupply are likely good. If it won't boot from either then the MB or PSU is likely bad. Tom

Dual 1.8 g5 won't boot

last weekend i put my dual 1.8 g5 to sleep, took lunch, and when i came back it wouldn't wake up. i tried swapping out everything - different power cord, monitor, no peripherals, still nothing. also reset the video card, the pmu, and the pram. it has the original ram, hard drive, and video card installed.
after 3 trips to the apple store, the best anyone has been able to do for it is get it to boot from a firewire drive. however i do not have a firewire drive so this trick was of little use to me. right now it doesn't even chime for me, let alone boot. it won't even boot with the option key held down. i've had it 2 years and (of course) was in the middle of a major project when this happened.
not sure if it's worth it to leave it in the hands of the apple store techs. i haven't read many success stories on here ...

here is my update. unfortunately it's bad news.
after a week in the apple store at walnut creek, i received a call saying there was nothing wrong with it. they claimed it booted fine and that it cleared several diagnostic tests. of course i didn't believe it, and rightly too - took it home and had it running for about 15 minutes before it froze and gave me the "you must restart" message. after that, it rebooted once, but then froze on the apple icon during startup. now i simply get a chime but no bootup whatsoever.
my theory was that the hard drive was to blame. but when trying to boot off the tiger dvd, it froze. also was unable to boot off my firewire drive. so probably more likely either the processor or logic board and the apple tests missed it.
called the apple store and the genius had no explanation. at this point the machine is in my closet. perhaps i will take it out later in the year and give it another try. at the moment, i'm swamped and it's taken up too much time already.

G4 Dual 1.43 Ghtz won't boot and disk utility won't repair it

I can't get the Boot Disk Disk Utility to repair the drive on my old G4 Dual 1.43 and desparately need the Documents file and home folders. Any ideas ?

This isn't going to be easy.
Does disk utility try to repair the drive? If it mounts, you could try the software I list below.
You either goint to have to get an external firewire drive & install some mac os on it. Then run some utilities from this drive or you going to have to get the drive out and mount in an external enclosure & run utilities.
There our commercial places that recover data. They will not be cheap.
I do not know what type of drive you have in the machine. So before buying an empty enclosure check.
Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
Perhaps Disk Warrior will be of some help:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
"Data Rescue II is the best data recovery software on the market for recovering files from a problem hard drive. Data Rescue II works when other tools fail. Data Rescue II is also completely safe to use since it does not attempt any risky repairs to the drive while its scanning."
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
-- been accidentally deleted.
-- become unreadable due to media faults.
-- been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1
"TestDisk is a free data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost data storage partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing a partition table)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk
"*Hard drive data recovery and warranty implications*
Hard drives that have become non-functional through normal use, and have had data recovery performed on them by DriveSavers or Ontrack Data Recovery can be returned to Apple for warranty service. This includes products covered by the AppleCare Protection Plan. The cost of any data recovery attempts is not covered by the Apple Limited Warranty."
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3974?viewlocale=en_US
Entering:
mac data recovery
into Google will list some firms who specialize in recovering data. Data recovery isn't cheap.
Examples:
1) Ontrack Data Recovery is the world leader in data recovery services and data recovery software offering the fastest, most convenient and cost-effective solutions to clients who have experienced data loss.
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/
2) Enter the world of DriveSavers Data Recovery…
    * Data Recovery Tools
    * Data Recovery Process
    * Data Recovery Cleanroom
http://www.drivesavers.com/

Dual USB iBook G3 won't boot

I am having this exact problem right now as specified in Auryn's thread (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1552105&tstart=0). My iBook doesn't boot up, it just stays at the grey Apple screen. It's a 600 MHz G3 dual USB iBook with 640 MB ram. It was running Panther 10.3.9.
I tried those steps outlined in this link (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50959) but it didn't work. I even went as far to take out the additional memory I added and still, no hope. It seems like it might be the logic board, ugh, what a hassle. Is there any other way to verify that it could be the logic board?
Oh, and one more thing to add. I did leave the iBook in sleep mode with the power plugged into the wall for about two weeks. Today I just barely started using it and it happened about two hours into use...not sure if that could be a probable cause to the problem, but yeah..
One thing I did notice is that when the grey Apple screen comes on, the centered Apple logo moves slightly down. It's weird, it's almost as if an error message is trying to appear above it or something. Is there anything I can do? Is my only hope left now to take it to an authorized center or trash it?

Are you able to start up in Safe Mode? This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard disk.
If this works you will see your normal desktop. Once completely started up in Safe Mode, try to restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click on the top hard drive icon in the left sidebar and note the S.M.A.R.T. status at the bottom right of the pane. What does it say?
Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar, ("Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). What is the hard drive capacity and how much space remains available on it? Repair permissions on it.
See if you are able to do a little hard drive maintenance to help things out.

Dual 1.8 G5 won't boot, first aid on disk utility failed, and the led blinks three times. I've tried the hairdryer trick but it only works for a short time. Any ideas if I can save it?

I'm starting to feel like there is no hope for my G5. I've updated the os, backed everything up, used the hair dryer and switched out the ram. Still no improvements. I'm just wondering now whether it could be the disk or the logic board.

I guess if it were me I'd try hotter/longer, then never allow it to Sleep except for the Monitor, & set Processor to Highest Energy Saver>Options tab.
If you still want a G5, they've been getting cheaper on eBay & such, here's a 1.8 with bad PSU FOR $85+...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-PowerMac-G5-1-8-GHz-DP-Dual-Processor-Bad-PS-/1107 15492187#ht_794wt_1398
But the 2.3s were the most reliable G5s overall...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-POWERMAC-G5-2-3GHZ-DUAL-CORE-8GB-MEM-500GB-SATA-/3 80363233623
An hour left on this one...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-PowerMac-G5-Dual-Core-2-3Ghz-2GB-250GB-Super-Leopa rd-A1177-/160680216830?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26 itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D380363233623%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4264672915595326464 #ht_6431wt_1165

Dual 1 Ghz G4 Won't Boot

Hi All,
I originally thought this was a Tiger install issue, so I began a post here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=296078&tstart=15
But I've come to realize that there is a larger issue, so I thought I'd move the discussions here to see if anyone else has some ideas.
It all started when I decided to do a reinstall of Tiger. The computer had started giving me error messages at startup, which I could bypass by holding down the escape key during boot. (Does anyone know what that actually does, BTW? It was a shot in the dark.)
First, the computer wouldn't boot from the DVD. It would just hang on the grey screen. Eventually, that was reduced to a kernel panic on boot. A bootable clone firewire drive caused kernel panic.
If I start in Target Mode, I can examine the hard drive just fine from a powerbook.
Yesterday, I reset the firmware and zapped the pram. Immediately after that, the DVD froze on the blue screen instead of the grey screen.
Booting into single user mode gives me this error:
com.apple.driver.KeyLargoATA has no kernel dependency
I should mention that I was able to successfully reinstall the operating system from the powerbook with the desktop in Target Mode. I had one successful start of the computer and operating system. I ran software update which required a restart. After that restart, I was back to square one.
I'm running out of ideas fast here.

Are you using a retail (universal) copy of Tiger
or one that shipped with another Mac (machine
specific), perhaps the powerbook? Feel free to answer
honestly as using a machine specific disk can mean
disaster for the Mac you put it on.
Cheers!
DALE
I bought the computer off ebay and it came with Tiger installed.
When the problems started, I panicked and went out and bought the full retail version of Tiger. It has not booted from that DVD once.
I also own full versions of OS 9, 10.1 and 10.2.
None of those CDs will boot on this machine.

Dual dp 2.5 won't boot

Drat. When I push the power button all I get are steady clicks: tick tock tick tock
This is a Dual processor 2.5 with pci-x slots. There are no hard drives in it. I will pull the video card tomorrow. Naturally, this looks like a power supply problem. It also looks like this is not one covered by the extension. Any chance there is a double blind secret repair for this? I am going to test the rails of course. Any chance this fast clicking could be the front panel switch. The clicks are seeming to come from the front by the button not low and in back.

Actually now that I look at it today, the clicking is right from where the power supply is. The fan also does the classic 1/4 turn. I reset pmu with no love. Pulled the video card:no love. Pulled the drive(which was in there in the top bay actually) no love. reset ps to board plug firmly. Reseated memory etc. all no love. :Bad ps. I am going to test the output though before I order a new one. I think this is the 600 watt. Does anyone have any experience with the 100 dollar new ones on ebay? http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Apple-PowerMac-G5-600W-Power-Supply-Parts-Repair_W0QQite mZ180217313539QQihZ008QQcategoryZ51044QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I would hate to do all the work, risk bending pins etc to put in a cheap knockoff.

2003 G5 won't boot

I have 2003 2GHz dual G5 that now won't boot after installing a new hard drive.
On pressing the power on there is a red flash inside the machine above the switch, a click-click sound, the fans move a fraction, then nothing.
I've replaced the PRAM battery (the old one was completely drained) and reset the PMU, but it still won't boot.
Has anyone any ideas as to what may be wrong? Has the power supply gone kaputt or could it be the logic board?
I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

I have also experienced this problem today. I tried to install the 10.5.1 update, which failed but rebooted the machine anyway. Upon reboot, there was no video and the status light flashed repeatedly. It was not 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 flashes as are documented in the manual.. it never stops. I cannot reset PRAM or access Open Firmware.
I disconnected all third-party peripherals and tried again, to no avail. The machine was running absolutely fine before this reboot.
$4000 says I'm extremely dissatisfied (p-i-s-s-e-d was censored) and will not be purchasing another Mac. My DEC Alpha was dropped off a truck and still works 100%.
PS: When I purchased my G5, I was denied the Apple Care Protection Plan based upon the fact I was in Florida.. not that it would help at this stage in the game.

G5 Desktop tower 2005 new, won't boot up

My G5, 2.3 dual,new May 2005 won't boot up. I have been having problems with starting up for several weeks now. It used to take several tries before booting, but now not at all. It also was having sleep & fans problems too. After pressing the power button the fans make the usual startup sound but, the chime never sounds and monitor shows nothing. Prior to this, I had run the hardware test and results were good,repaired the HD from startup disc, I had repaired permissions, reset pram, reset the cpu, replaced pram battery. All peripherals are disconnected. Could it be the power supply? How do I test the power supply?? Or something else??

Will it still boot from the install DVD? If yes, this should verify the hardware.
Will it boot in Safe Mode? See
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Also, look at *Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck*
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
 Cheers, Tom

Mac Pro Dual Quad Core won't boot OS/X, but plays fine with Linux/Windows

I've got a Mac Pro Dual Quad Core won't boot OS/X, but plays fine with Linux/Windows. I've tried all of the following initial tests as suggested on forums:
-Ram swaps
-Alternating video card in PCIe slots
-Trying alternate video card
-resetting pram and smc
-Multiple tests with memtest86+ over 26hrs and no failed ram
-Multiple tests (8-12 cycles) with apple HW diagnostics and no problems
-Firmware is approved firmware for early 2008 model...no new updates.
Gentoo livecd works fine and I even installed to hard drive and it boots fine with it. In addition to above tests I also ran a linux stress test putting all 8 cores at a load of 22 for 2.5hrs with no problems.
Memtest86+ for 24hrs+ yields no problems.
Where problems occur:
Booting off hard drive, DVD or firewire yields an immediate curtain of death and booting off a new snow leopard DVD dies about 25% into the install.
Looking at error log and a quick dmesg shows "Package 0 didn't get an HPET" and complains about AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext. Google turns up illegal uses of this, so doesn't apply to my use case.
I'm a bit stumped since all was working well until one day it was non-stop curtains of death and can't get them to go away.
A logic board replacement at $1100 is not a feasible option for something that works on linux and windows, but not OS/X, is a bit disappointing and somewhat surprising.
Thanks for your help and advice.
Regards,
Marcos

Someone here once thought they knew EFI and Open Firmware a little, and used some commands from OF library that an Intel EFI Apple system didn't like. New logicboard.
Of course to run or boot OS X and see video you need EFI based card. The presence of some PC cards can block OS X from booting.
The fact you get part way through SL DVD, pull all the drives, put in a new drive and format it from SL DVD.
Most of the things you tried are what are more common with PC hardware. Including where people have tried and failed to install OS X on unsupported hardware.
I suppose it is possible something tried and failed to modify the Mac's firmware.
If you have Windows running, and you have WD drives, WD just posted new Lifeguard utility which is what I use to do a good job of stripping a drive down and recertify it for reuse, works wonders. Maybe same for other makes with vendor utility.

Dual 2.5 cooling issue: Won't boot.

I have a dual 2.5 G5 that I've had since it was new in in july 2004. It's never given me any problems.
Recently it started "gurgling" (it's the best way to describe it). I was worried about the dreaded leaking issue so I tore it apart looking for leaks.
Good news: No leaks. Bad news, it won't boot now.
In the process of assessing the situation I checked the coolant level. To my surprise the system was pressurized quite a bit, even though it was stone cold. I don't understand this. I also get the red LED's on the mother board glowing indicating overheat, the cooling fans run at high velocity, and the computer won't boot.
I am in the process of rebuilding the water pump as a preventative measure, resealing the two O-rings and the diaphragm. Everything seems in working order.
I hope it will boot once I reassemble it, but I'm in a situation where I MUST have it up and running by monday.
Any suggestions?

Hi tarmaque-
It may not be so much about pressure as air in the system. You said yourself that it was pressurized when you disassembled it. That is a huge clue! That fact alone would certainly make me think that there should be pressure.
I think the higher boiling point under pressure is a factor. There isn't much fluid and it must dissipate a lot of heat.
Water cooled engines absolutely are "pressurized"-ever take a radiator cap off of a hot engine? A cooling system must be able to handle pressure as (duh Daddy) liquids expand when hot.
Luck-
-DP

Dual 2.3ghz g5 won't boot.

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