G4 MDD won't start up from a shutdown...

If I shutdown the MDD G4 from the Shutdown menu, it shuts down normally. However, if I push the button to start it again, it won't start up. No light, nothing. I have to pull the plug, plug it back in, then the power button will start it up.
Battery is good. I have reset the PMU, the PRAM. No change. Any thoughts anyone?

Can't say how to go about repairing it.
Replacement sources are:
We Love Macs
eBay
Part not listed, but contact Mac Pro
Check with LEM (Low End Mac Swap)
Just to add, the three most likely sources of the trouble are, the 3.6v battery, power supply, and the power button panel. Power panel reports are almost as common as power supply problem reports.
Good Luck!

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G4 won't start unless from a restart or pmu reset

my G4 won't start unless from a restart or, if the computer has been shut down, I have to reset the pmu - with inside button or by removing battery.
Can anyone think of why this happens? What goes on with a shut down that doesn't with a restart? With the problem, nothing happens after the chime and I must hard shut-down, unplug and reset pmu, then it's fine.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.
Henry

well, I can't find anything wrong with it. maybe my logic board is shot. i guess i'll take it in to tek serve or an apple store and see if they can figure it out.
thanks for the suggestions, tom.
henry

My ibook g4 won't start anymor from the harddisk. so I tried to reinstall the system from the orginial system cd. Doesn't work. It says the system cd is damaged. What should I do?

my ibook g4 won't start anymor from the harddisk. so I tried to reinstall the system from the orginial system cd. Doesn't work. It says the system cd is damaged. What should I do?

I would question that error message if the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD doesn't work, either.
What error message(s) did you get with the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD? Is the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD the full retail install DVD, an upgrade DVD, or a DVD that came with another Mac?

G4 MDD won't start up after new memory and DVD drive Install

After watching an online video demonstration on how to add RAM and install a new DVD drive in a G4, I decided it was something I could do myself. It all seemed to go well, but after I put it back together and plugged it back in, the light comes on when I press on the power button, but the computer won't start up.
I'm running 10.4.? and I just installed an extra 512 MB RAM and a Samsung DVD+R in the lower drive slot. I also looked at some other posts/threads and decided to reset the PMU button. -No change after that.
I'm trying to get this computer in working order to pass onto my mom when I visit her next week.
Any suggestions?

I have had some of the same problems that you have experienced. I have a dual 1.25 g PowerMac w/ 2 g of ram, the Superdrive, and 4 separate drives. My main boot drive was a 160 GB WD Caviar. I also had a 160 Maxtor and (2) 120 GB WD caviares (the 120s were raided for video. The 160 WD started giving me some problems so I decided to replace it with a 500 GB WD Caviar Blue. I installed it in the machine and initialized it. I left the jumper on the drive in the cable select position. I tried to backup using Carbon Cloner and kept getting and error on one file. I re-initialed the drive to make sure it was wiped clean. I then started to back up the old drive file by file. I kept getting messages saying the drive was full. THat wasn't true as there wasn't anything on it. After several attempts to move files, I decided to put the machine back together without the new drive.
Now the real fun begins. I had trouble with the machine booting. I zapped the PRAM and did everything I could think of to get it to boot. It wouldn't so I figured it was something I did. I let the machine sit for a day or two to give me some time to calm down. I read some articles in this support section as well as some articles on several sites I could find. The machine would not only not boot but it would not even beep. I opened the machine up and tried to clean out some of the dust in it. hen I removed the battery and let it sit for a few hours. Then I held the PMMU button on the motherboard in for a long 5 seconds. I put the battery back and waited an hour or so. I tried to start the machine and got nothing. It doesn't beep but the monitor lights up as it thinks the machine is on. I've all but given up on the machine.
Now I know this is long but I have another problem. I took out the 160 GB WD boot drive and used one of the external devices called an Ultradock v4 to connect the drive to my G4 Powerbook. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to back my 160 WD boot Drive to an external 750 gb Maxtor drive that is partitioned into 3 drives. I backed up the 160 WD Boot drive to it. I didn't pay attention to how much space was used on one of the partitions. I then backed up the Maxtor to the 500 gb WD Caviar Blue. The original WD 160 gb drive took up about 197 gb on the Maxtor which in turn took about the same space on the new WD 500 gb Caviar blue. I am at a loss as to why more space is taken up by backing up from a 160 gb drive to a roughly 225 gb partition when it was less than 160 used originally.
Any ideas?

Won't start up from 'Install Disc'

I ran Disk Utilities because my iMac's fan kept running. Disk Utilities said I had HD problems and needed to start up from the Install Disc. I have tried holding down 'D' and tried changing the start up disk settings, even starting up pressing C and as a final go... Command-Option-P-R..... still not starting up on the install dvd. All I get is a white screen and the DVD clicks for a bit and then gives up.
I just can't seem to get past that white screen!
Please give me a hint!
P.S. I have even tried different install DVD's!

I am having very similar problems.
iMac has worked fine for 3 years. Today, it suddenly froze while I was on the web. I had to force it down by holding down the button on the back. When I tried to start, it would just sit on the Apple icon + progress icon. Or it would get to the blue screen and then just freeze at the blue screen. No system at all.
I was able to restart in safe mode once. Things seemed to be working fine. But the second I started Safari, the progress icon came up (the one for my mouse), would never go away, and I couldn't do anything. Had to once again shut down by holding down the button on the back.
After that, it will not restart in safe mode (hangs at the apple icon or never even gets to the apple icon). It will not restart from the Install disc. Same thing, just hangs at the apple icon.
We don't use this machine for anything except browsing the web. No big programs. No games. No movies. Nada. It's so frustrating to have this problem.

Windows 7 Won't Start Up from Boot Camp

I got a new 21.5" iMac and set up a boot camp partition for a Windows 7 64-bit installation. It worked. I installed the latest boot camp drivers into the Windows 7, which was wonderful because it fixed the display to match my iMac's specs. Then I installed the latest Parallels 5 and had it recognize that Windows 7 system, and have been using it without problem. But I tried this evening to use boot camp to start up the Windows 7 system by itself and although I got a choice of Mac OS or Windows via the option-startup process, and selected the Windows startup, Windows 7 won't start up that way. I just get a black screen with a blinking white horizontal line in the upper-left corner. I keep waiting but it never gets past this. Tried turning it off and starting again, still no luck. Booted back into Mac side and Parallels VM of the installation still works.
Any help appreciated. I should still be able to boot into Windows 7 straight using boot camp, no?

I should add that I just installed 8GB of RAM to the 4GB the iMac came with. Possibly now that the total machine has a 12GB of RAM the Windows 7 system is confused and can't start up?

Won't start up from 10.5 DVD after Leopard install to add Admin user

I have just installed Leopard (10.5) on my G4. Now, I cannot upgrade to 10.5.1 or make any changes because I am now just an ordinary user without any Administrator privileges. I try to start up from the 10.5 DVD but it asks for Administrator password (of which there is none). I am totally locked out of my own machine because of this Leopard (cool name--useless software, very upset about it). What now?

Chris:
I just had the same issue on my son's MacBook. As long as you have a wired keyboard, the following will work.
1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and the "s" key for single-user mode.
4. Type mount -uw / (then press the Return Key) wait for next line to appear with # root/
(there is a space between t and - and another space between w and /)
5. Then Type "passwd" (without quotation marks then press the Return Key)
6. Enter new password (this will be for the root user account) (watch your fingers when you type because it doesn't show what you are typing, then hit the Return Key after you type it.
It will prompt you to retype the new password again, so retype it again and then hit the Return Key) wait for next line to appear...
7. Then Type "reboot" (without the quotes and hit the Return Key)
after the computer restarts and comes up with the login window....
8. Login with any of your usernames just to get the desktop up.
9. After desktop comes up choose System Preferences, then choose accounts. Unlock if you have to and using the username: root ..... and the password you just setup in the single user mode You now should be able to make users including your existing user account an admin.
After you log back in under your real account, it is advisable to deactivate the root user account. To do this,
1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
2. From the Go menu, choose Utilities.
3. Open Directory Utility.
4. Click the lock in the Directory Utility window if you need to unlock the utility.
5. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
6. Choose Disable Root User from the Edit menu.
Hope this helps.
David

Need help. Mac won't start up from HDD

My problem is: I went to system preferences, chose network startup from the Startup menu. My mac rebooted itself and tried to connect from a network drive. After it didn't find any network drive I force restarted it. When it booted up again it was the flashing question mark folder on the start-up gray screen. I followed everyone i knows advice to try to start it up from the start-up disk.
I also tried holding Apple-s. I held down the command button, option button, and control button for a least 45 seconds each. Nothing has worked.
I am 100% positive that it is because the computer will not start up from the Internal Hard drive, Which i am also 100% possitive is not broken or corrupt. I can use all the advice and solutions you guys will give me.
Thank You,
Brody6786
p.s. the following keys don't work on my keyboard:
both shifts, z, a, q, 1, f1, delete.
I have an external keyboard but it seems it doesn't turn on until the gray screen appears.

HI,
When it booted up again it was the flashing question mark folder on the start-up gray screen.
That can mean several things. One, your Mac can't find a System Folder to boot from. Or two, the hard drive is failing or failed.
Go here: A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Help!!!! My iMac G5 won't start up from internal HD!!!!!!

Yesterday my mac froze. I shut it down using the power button, but when I tried to restart it, it just stuck on the revolving gear wheel. Eventually I started up from the install disc and ran disc utility - the internal drive appears to be mounted OK, and I ran permissions repair, then disc repair and everything appears OK. Having, just the day before, performed a new Carbon Copy Clone onto my external drive, I started up from the cloned drive and it works OK, but still I can't start up from the internal drive. Six months ago I had the internal drive and the logic board replaced under AppleCare as the internal drive wasn't mounting - now, however, it appears to be mounting, but I still can't start up from it
Is this a logic board problem, even though it runs OK from the cloned external drive?

Hi Barry,
I tried restoring from the clone with SuperDuper, but the computer froze just before it finished - with a message (in several languages) which said I should restart my computer. Of course I couldn't, so I shut it down. Eventually I started up from the install disc and did a restore from Time Machine - it said the restore was successful and to restart, but when I tried I was back to the same problem, the spinning gear wheel for ever! I'm currently running from my clone. For some reason the computer doesn't want to start from the internal drive, even though it's mounted and appears OK.
I guess there must be a problem with the logic board, although the computer is running OK from the clone. I'm really despondent!
Tim

IMessage won't start conversation from Mac

Hey everyone,
Iv'e been looking for a solution online for this problem iv'e been having, but i couldn't find answers anywhere.
The problem is that for some reason, i can't start a conversation from my mac when trying to send new messages. when i send those messages from my iphone it works, and then i can continue the conversation from my mac.
also, iv'e noticed that it takes a lot of time for messages to "sync" itself with my conversations that i started on my iphone. is there any way to "refresh" imessage (like on mail for example...)???
i verified that my accounts on both devices are the same, that i have the same settings, but still, nothing works.
anyone is having the same problems?? anyone has a solution...?
Thanks,
Tal.

Hi,
So, in Messages main window you have New Message at the top left.
You are entering your Contacts Name in the "To" field or using the Blue + icon > Contacts and selecting the contact.
The name is turning Blue ?
The Text entry field at the bottom also reads iMessage ?
If the name is not Blue then carefully click the downward arrow head at the end of the name.
Select the active iMessage option (highlighted with blue Speech bubble)
Does the name go Blue now ?
I tried testing with my iMessage Account logged out and the setting in the General Section set to Allow IMs and iMessages to "Wake" the app but this did not start the iMessage account when iMessaging from the iPhone
It was only a one off test with the app open but the account logged out which seemed closest to what you describe.
9:26 PM Thursday; February 14, 2013
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Power Mac G4 MDD Won't Start Up

Hello all...
I have an MDD which I've had for about a year now...
It booted up this morning no problem...we put it to sleep. Some time later someone went to use the computer and it was off! We tried booting up but got the dreaded fading power button.
We've tried pulling it and plugging it back in...resetting the PMU....turning it on using a keyboard (yeah those old ones) and monitor...nothing seems to be working.
One time when we tried the monitor the light on the monitor (power light) stayed on but nothing happened.
The fans don't start, the drive doesn't spin.
Anyone got any suggestions?

Is the PRAM battery good?
I would check it first. When mine went, I had no response from my Mac at all; just a light on my power button; absolutely no boot at all.
Check out things in Texas Mac Man's Battery, PRAM, PMU tutorial on the subject. His tutorial is a little dated (don't believe it even mentions G5's) but the info in it, except SMU not being included, still applies.Good Luck! DALE

IBook G4 won't start up from DVD

Greetings everyone,
Thanks in advance for any help that you are able to provide. My problem is as follows:
Last week I was working on my iBook when out of nowhere the screen started flashing between black and the screen. At this point the computer froze and there was nothing I could do to get out of it. There were no new programs installed and no new ram or other hardware onboard. I had to do a hard restart to get out of this.
After the hard restart my mac wouldn't start all the way back up. Upon start up it would chime, go to the grey apple screen, the gear thing would turn and then it would go to a blue screen and sit.
Sometimes if it sits long enough at this point the screen will begin to flash between all green, pink, grey, blue and black, but nothing becomes of this.
I have done the following:
1. multiple hard restarts with the same results
2. held down "shift" while starting with the same results
3. ran the diagnostics cd. I was able to boot from this cd
by holding down the "c" key. I ran the express and exten-
ded tests and nothing came back as a hardware issue.
4. booted into single user mode.
a. attempted to "re-boot" from inside SUM
b. attempted to remound the hdd
no results with either attempt
5. held down "control" "option" "shift" "delete" upon start
up and was told that I have a "kernel panic"
6. unplugged the power and battery and attempted to restart
with the same above results.
7. reset the pr-ram
8. reset the power management chip
At this point I decided to reinstall the whole system as I have everything backed up on my external hdd. I purchased the computer second hand (no problems in the 2 years of ownership) so it had 10.3 dvd's but came loaded with 10.4
By holding down "c" with the 10.3 dvd's in the drive it would not boot.
I went to the Apple Store today and told the dude at the genious bar all of the above. He stated that I needed a "raw version" of 10.4 to launch from. He said that holding down the "c" key with the new dvd in the drive would work. I purchased the 130.00 program, came home, attempted the start up/install and have had the exact same results as above.
Any thoughts? If I send it in to Apple to have it fixed the guy at the apple store figured I was looking at around 300 bucks. quite honestly I'm not willing to afford that price when I'm actually looking to upgrade my machine later this year. Maybe it will have to come to that, but I hope not.
Thanks again,
Rob
iBook G4 1.0 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8) Apple installed 512 RAM

I took my iBook to the Apple Store and found out there was a recall of some type on it. They took it back and replaced way more parts than they needed to, buffed out the case, new keyboard, new RAM (wasn't even Apple RAM), new HDD, new cable that went to the screen, new super drive, new track pad. Got it back and everything worked great. Thanks Apple!

9500 just won't start up from CD

I have an old 9500/132 with a 500Mhz G3 processor, ATA card, USB cards and 368Mb of memory. I started to clean the machine up with Tech Tool so I could send the machine to one of my sons. It took absolutely forever to optimize the HDD that contains OS9.1 (two other HDDs are blank). Afterwards the machine didn't want to start, so I inserted the OS disk to reinstall the system. The machine froze partially through the reinstall and refused to start again, giving an error message (sorry, I didn't write it down and now can't remember). So I unplugged the HDD and tried to install OS9.1 on the 2Gb SCSI drive. There was no G3 card software loaded and the machine didn't want to load the OS. So I replaced the G3 Sonnet processor with the original 132 processor, removed the USB cards and the ATA card. Now the machine is essentially in its stock conifguration.
But I still can't get the OS to load. The machine will start and get the Mac happy face and go no further. I have to force restart and then it gets past the happy face to the welcome screen and stops. Another forced restart and it gets a little further in the start-up process and quits. After numerous restarts I can get to the install screen and even get through the agreements, but after clicking start to install 9.1 the machine quits, just freezes. I've even tried installing OS8.5, but with no success.
I've pulled every bit of memory, re-installed some of it, moved it from slot to slot, cleaned all the connectors, reset the CUDA switch probably 12 times and nothing seems to make any difference. I've had the mother board out at least 15 times moving memory around. What am I missing?
Thanks for any ideas!
Jon

Jon
As a fellow-sufferer from having dragged a 9500 into the third millennium (400MHz/1MB/1024MB, with SCSI-2 and -3), I can sympathize with your problems. There are two observations that I can recommend to you for the future. An 'Apple' HDD is only a function of a Macintosh-style drive partitioning recognition (presumably in a drive's ROM), and in an OEM drive, it refers to the presence of the necessary partitions when the machine arrives in your hands. Most disk utilities (ATTO, FWB, Intech, LaCie) are perfectly capable of doing a Mac (Apple) partitioning when they are directed to do so, if that is not already present. That is, the utility can overwrite a FAT or other scheme and provide one for Mac, and also provide a suitable driver on the drive. Apple's native software (Drive Setup) is not quite so adept when it finds that another driver is already present.
Although the Sonnet extension for G3-in-place-of-a-604 upgrade requires no configuration (as opposed to the software for a MAXpowr upgrade), it is necessary in both cases that the extension should load first after the EM Extension. For that to happen, there must be a space as the first character in the extension's name. That ensures that the upgrade card is active from the outset, which is shown by an extra component ('Sonnet' or 'MAXpowr') attached to or within the OS's splash screen. If you haven't been seeing that, the extension may be loading far too late in the process, and thereby occasioning much of the reported trouble. You may be being too harsh in your judgment of the Sonnet daughtercard, and thereby throwing away a useful card. I use a Sonnet G3 card in a PB1400 and several L2 G3 cache cards in 5400/5500s, with perfect satisfaction, as well as MAXpowr cards in several other machines.

Quicksilver won't start up from 10.3 install disks...sort of

I have a Quicksilver/Dual 800/1.5G RAM/OS 10.2.8 that I am trying to upgrade to 10.3. I have the retail install disks, but when I try to restart from them, the computer whirs and spins, the power light comes on...then nothing happens. Nothing ever comes up on the screen, good or bad. I need to upgrade to install some newer software. There are supposedly no firmware updates needed. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff

Chris:
I just had the same issue on my son's MacBook. As long as you have a wired keyboard, the following will work.
1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and the "s" key for single-user mode.
4. Type mount -uw / (then press the Return Key) wait for next line to appear with # root/
(there is a space between t and - and another space between w and /)
5. Then Type "passwd" (without quotation marks then press the Return Key)
6. Enter new password (this will be for the root user account) (watch your fingers when you type because it doesn't show what you are typing, then hit the Return Key after you type it.
It will prompt you to retype the new password again, so retype it again and then hit the Return Key) wait for next line to appear...
7. Then Type "reboot" (without the quotes and hit the Return Key)
after the computer restarts and comes up with the login window....
8. Login with any of your usernames just to get the desktop up.
9. After desktop comes up choose System Preferences, then choose accounts. Unlock if you have to and using the username: root ..... and the password you just setup in the single user mode You now should be able to make users including your existing user account an admin.
After you log back in under your real account, it is advisable to deactivate the root user account. To do this,
1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
2. From the Go menu, choose Utilities.
3. Open Directory Utility.
4. Click the lock in the Directory Utility window if you need to unlock the utility.
5. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
6. Choose Disable Root User from the Edit menu.
Hope this helps.
David

Won't start up from Safe Mode

Powerbook G4 goes to blue screen during regular start-up. Tried starting it in Safe Mode and it stops on the Apple blue background and won't got any further. I was on Safari earlier and it froze, so I did a hard restart. Now it just stops on one of the blue screens mentioned above. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Donna

Simon, I had a similar problem after restarting (after a software update), resulting in the dreaded blue screen:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=450601&tstart=0
I've since 'zero-ed' the disk and am now back to square -1 on Jaguar until I find my Panther disk!
Although my problem was a drive error, you can still try some of the fixes that should work, e.g try repairing disk permissions using disk utility, i.e before taking the drastic measures I finally had to take.
Good luck
G3 iBook 800mhz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

G4 MDD won't start up from a shutdown...

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