G5 tower won't boot beyond chime, fan is possessed?

Hi, have been having problems with my Dual 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5. Fan has been running loud and fast, and on last restart, whirred like crazy w/no reboot. Shut off by pressing power button on front of unit and waited a few minutes. Now when I try to turn on, I get a chime and brief noise as if trying to start but then nothing but blank screen (if I leave on, the fan gets loud after a few minutes). Also tried unplugging power cord for a few minutes then restarting, but that hasnt worked. Cannot find my OS X disks (augh!), so what now? Would appreciate any help.. thanks .
P.S. Just bought a new super-de-dupery mac pro and was getting ready to backup my G5 before transferring files. How does it know...?

Bob Ayre wrote:
I had the same trouble 2 years ago.... Turned out to be a bad RAM chip. I had enough RAM to pull two bad chips. I have been running on 3GB since then. The computer ran fine until this AM. I cant start it but the fan doesnt wind up. Good luck.
Bad RAM may sometimes cause the power LED to flash in a particular pattern on power up, though this usually happens when you don't get the boot tone (or as we like to call it, the chime). Something to note when you attempt to power up.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547 for some information, some of which applies to G5s.

Similar Messages

  • Apple won't boot beyond chimes

    My Imac 24 inch does not boot beyond the chimes. When I reformatted, it worked but I could not install my Adobe CS3 and on restarting again after 2hrs it did the same thing stopped booting after the chimes. Please I need help to solve this

    Hi
    When you boot up, you should get a single chime (equiv chord of G apparently). Multiple chimes on startup can signify possible hardware problems. Have you checked your RAM to see if it is correctly seated (may be loose)?
    Steve
    Oops, didn't see last post, sorry. Please mark your thread as Answered so people know problem is solved. This helps other people with same problem find answers to their problem when using the filters.

  • MacBook Pro Won't Boot Beyond Grey Apple Screen - Mystery Partition Found

    My MacBook Pro, which suffers from appalling overheating (94 degrees C in each core last week) won't boot beyond the grey apple splash screen. I booted from a Developer's disk and ran Repair Disk/Disk Permissions. Both verified AND said the repairs failed. The drive (as opposed to the volumes) said it had no valid files and thus couldn't be repaired even though it verified. I target-disked it to one of my G4s and took off a bunch of apps and lightened its load, waited a while and tried again--it's been grey screen gear turning for 20 minutes now. I have Remote Desktop but it won't respond to that. Of course, Windows XP boots up perfectly normally on its Boot Camp-created partition, dumbly unaware of the general chaos on the other side.
    While I had the Disk Utility from the boot disk on, I noticed my partition scheme had changed somehow. The big partition with the system was now in position #2, set between #3 (Windows--formerly #2 of 2) and a new one of only 200MB called #1 which is formatted OS X Journaled. I didn't make that partition and it couldn't be erased. I think the cpmputer is looking in the #1 spot for a system and can't find it because some renegade partition with no brain has pushed its way to the front. How do I annihilate that thing and get on with it? How did it get there?
    Has anyone tried that alter the Apple Blower/Fan hack said to turn the fans on permanently?
    For the record, I'm in L.A. and the ground has been rocking and rolling for the past 3 minutes on and off.
    MacBook Pro 2.0/2GB/100GB   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   TiBookG4 1.0/512K/60; PowerMacG4 Quicksilver 933/1G/160; PowerMacG4 450/512K/30

    I called Apple's Tech Support and they had me do perform sevral procedures I had done already, none of which worked. They suggested that the mystery partition (which has since ceased to reappear in the Disk Utility's view of the partition scheme) was an anomaly caused by the still-Beta Boot Camp--nothing was said about Windows XP booting, but I think you're right because whenever installing Windows, it always reserves a small "free space" on the PC's drive for its own purposes. Anyway, I'mre-installing now but very unhappy to hear I have suspected all along--the overheating is killing the computer. I know this from experience because Ihad a Powerbook G4 with a at-that-time-not-yet-recalled battery that overheated to such an extent that it fried the logic board and the harddrive. After a year of arguing with Apple, they replaced the computer with this MacBookPro--and overheating laptop that also had its battery recalled, has already been sent back to Texas for over heating (they replaced the superdrive which of course had no effect on the heat issue) and now has hard drive problems. I have two old PowerMac G4s sitting here plugging along--maybe I'm over laptops. Thanks
    MacBook Pro 2.0/2GB/100GB   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   TiBookG4 1.0/512K/60; PowerMacG4 Quicksilver 933/1G/160; PowerMacG4 450/1GB/100

  • System won't boot-no chime.

    Despite repeated attempts and resetting the CUDA button, the system won't boot when start button is pressed. In the first few seconds it seems to make normal sounds; but no chime and settles into simply fan noise. This is true even if using C (with an Install CD). or Shift key. Is there anything else I can try? (I know it's actually a G3 B&W Motherboard; but I had nowhwere else to post it)

    I do not remember exactly what was happening when it stopped. It may have been executing something , hung up, and wouldn't respond to the Command-Opt-Esc or I do remember one incident when it was booting up and stopped when it was partly thru "searching for local discs.
    I checked the ref. article and tried to measure the voltages on the power connector. I was never quite sure what pin was what, since the colors did not jive with those in the article. At any rate 2 were approx. + 5 V (one was 4.85), the rest were essentially zero (I believe 1 or 2 were about 300 mv). I did notice that when the power connector is reconnected and start up is attempted, 3 little green lights come on on the motherboard. One goes off after a while.
    I have tried the old Sonnet upgrade and have tried reseating all the RAM modules. All to no avail.
    The Hard drive and all other parts seemed to be working fine prior to the failure.

  • SP G5 won't boot, no chime, no LED

    I have a single processor G5 that won't boot. I was using it and all of a sudden, everything frooze - the first time in the almost 3 years that I have owned it. As it sat there, the fan started to slowly speed up.
    I shut it down with the power button and when I tried to reboot, I did not get a chime or any other sign of life. I think the power LED came on and stayed on. I tried the PMU reset (once) and tried another reboot. This time, it started up again without the chime and the power LED went off after I pressed it and stayed off.
    I tried removing and reseating the memory, the video card and I removed an Alchemy TV card. Still no luck. I checked the power to the battery and it is good. I tried removing the battery, waited for five minutes and then I reinstalled. Still no luck. If I leave it on, the fans slowly kicks into high gear.
    Sounds pretty serious to me. I think at this point, it requires a service call. Can I try my local PC computer repair, or is Apple the only way to go? I will have to ship it to Apple.
    G5 SP   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   1 GB RAM

    I have a single processor G5 that won't boot. I was
    using it and all of a sudden, everything frooze - the
    first time in the almost 3 years that I have owned
    it. As it sat there, the fan started to slowly speed
    up.
    I shut it down with the power button and when I tried
    to reboot, I did not get a chime or any other sign of
    life. I think the power LED came on and stayed on.
    I tried the PMU reset (once) and tried another
    reboot. This time, it started up again without the
    chime and the power LED went off after I pressed it
    and stayed off.
    I tried removing and reseating the memory, the video
    card and I removed an Alchemy TV card. Still no
    luck. I checked the power to the battery and it is
    good. I tried removing the battery, waited for five
    minutes and then I reinstalled. Still no luck. If I
    leave it on, the fans slowly kicks into high gear.
    Sounds pretty serious to me. I think at this point,
    it requires a service call. Can I try my local PC
    computer repair, or is Apple the only way to go? I
    will have to ship it to Apple.
    G5 SP   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   1 GB
    RAM
    Hi Lawrence,
    The same thing happened to my dual 2.5 G5 yesterday! I also tried all of the things you tried. After discussing the issue and trying several different steps suggested by the Apple Tech Support person on the telephone, it was suggested that either the power supply, logic board or both were defective. The Apple Tech Support person recommended that I take the machine either to the nearest Apple Store or the Apple Service provider where I purchased the G5. I delivered my machine to my service provider this morning and the initial diagnosis, on the basis of symptoms, is consistent with that of Apple Tech Support. I have confidence in my service provider's capability because they successfully replaced a failed logic board withing two months of my purchasing the machine. I've had no problems until yesterday. Hopefully, they'll have a firm diagnosis in a day or so. I'll let you know how it works out. I'm glad I have Apple Care!
    AndyH

  • More on the G5 Won't boot, no chime, no grey screen issue....

    OK, so in the last thread, I had taken it to the apple store, where the g5 (DP 2.5) dutifully started up on their firewire drive, whereupon they declared it a faulty hard drive.
    I pressed them pretty hard, but it made sense at the time, and certainly never failed while they were there.
    So now I have it back home, a new WD SATA drive installed, and guess what?? same thing... boots, no chime, no power LED, just fans.
    I have set/reset the SMU, I have removed everything including the batter (which checks good at 3.7 volts BTW)
    Here's the weird part - it seems like once per day (always the first time) I do get one good try out of it. By this I mean, it will chime and at least get to the grey screen, and i can eject a CD. However, up till now I have not been prepared with the right thing to give it. Once that opportunity has passed, its back to the old black screen with no chimes for at least 24 hours.
    I don't detect any overheating or that sort of problem - anyone ever seen this - where you can only get one good boot out of it for a day?
    Thanks,
    adam

    Hi gB -
    Yes I tried without the cover, to no avail. Ended up taking it back to the apple store today where they now are able to see the problem (with a different monitor).
    Their gut instinct is logic board, but I am asking them to do a complete test on it (whatever that means) just to make sure it isn't a flaky leg on the power supply, or a bad cable somewhere. I don't have alot of hope, but I will give it a chance.
    If it ends up being procs, board, or both, I will probably sell it for parts and put the money into a new one with warranty etc!
    Glad yours is up and running.
    Adam

  • Wont boot - no chimes, fan noise but only with battery connected

    Hello,
    It's an old Powerbook G4 - A1138 that won't boot.
    If you press the power button, the fan whirrs quickly and loudly. But only with the battery connected. If the battery is removed (but the computer is connected to the power supply) then nothing happens...
    I have tried re-setting the PMU as per this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431 This didn't help.
    Is it now dead? If I can just reach a point whereby I can boot it in Firewire HD mode (normally holding command + T down) and recover content then great!
    Thanks :-)
    Jay

    Troubleshooting portables that won't turn on or start up
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25686?viewlocale=en_US
    Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
     Cheers, Tom

  • HT1752 Liquid On Top of PowerMac G4 Tower, Won't Boot

    Liquid got onto the top of my PowerMac G4 tower. Now it powers up but won't boot. Has only the logic board been fried, or could there be even more damage? Any chance of recovering files from the hard-drive?

    Impossible to tell what is damaged, but pull the Hard Drive & try something like this...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

  • Laptop won't boot beyond the screen showing "Tobshiba leading innovation"

    I installed an antivirus recently and in its scan some viruses were found. Those viruses were deleted and now my laptop wont boot into windows. It just stays where "toshiba" logo is displayed. My laptop is running on windows 8.1. I have a recovery DVD, but the laptop won't boot from the DVD either. Is there a way to get my laptop to boot windows without doing a factory reset. Please help!!

    Try the Troubleshooting Assistant or the suggestions in this article.
    What can I do if my Windows 8 laptop won't start?
    - Peter

  • G5 tower won't boot; fans ramp up until I shut down

    I'm running a Dual 1.8 GhZ PowerPC G5, with 1.5 gig of RAM. I recently replaced the power supply, as the one that came with the machine died.
    I left the machine running last night, and this morning I found the fans ramped up as high as they could go, and the screen telling me that one of the external devices had been disconnected improperly. (This had happened once or twice while I was using the computer before I went to bed. Couldn't figure out what the problem was.) I shut down the machine by holding down the power button. When I turned it back on again, it wouldn't boot. I get the startup chime, and the main HD spins up, but the screen remains blank (the light on the display still works the way it should).
    I was somehow able to get the machine to start from my backup drive once, so I verified and repaired the main drive. It checked out fine. I tried another restart, and the machine wouldn't boot again. It has since refused to boot, getting no farther than the startup chime.
    I've tried pressing the power management button. I've tried booting from the Leopard disks, and I've tried zapping the PRAM. However, it appears that the keyboard isn't having any effect, as the last two didn't work either.
    Anybody have any thoughts? I've removed and reseated one of the RAM cards, but haven't had a chance to try the rest yet.
    I can't afford a new machine right now, so I'll try pretty much anything to get it to work again. Thanks!

    UPDATE: I removed the Belkin PCI card I had installed in the machine, and it started up with no problems. So, it would appear the card is the problem. It's been working fine for months. Is it possible that it just up and died for no reason?
    This is the card I had in the machine:
    http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1Input-Output-Cards_157547_Business_Supplies_10051SEARCH

  • G5 won't boot, no chime, solid red light, fan rush and no display!

    Hello,
    As the title states my power mac g5 doesn't start..I suspect it's for the scrap, but hold out hope.
    It's around 2005 model. 2.0ghz
    Ok so I turn on, fans go into overdrive, red light comes on and does not blink at all, stays solid.
    No display, it also does not chime.. Just sits in fan overdrive and solid red light..
    I hold the power button to turn off and it does.. No led flashes.. Red light is the one behind the power button, no other lights on..
    Help would be greatly appreciated... Have looked at so many links, but they don't have the exact same problem
    Thanks in advance.... Innit!

    Hello,
    Fans going full blast is normal if the OS doesn't load OK.
    I suspect this...
    If you're sure the RAM is good, try the Hair Dryer trick...
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13240047#13240047
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/15223603#15223603
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/15499912#15499912
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/15613068#15613068
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3270112
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16053892#16053892
    No power light at all...
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3692775?tstart=0
    It can show on any G5, and even many other computers & electronic devices of the period.
    http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html
    http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-macintosh-g5.html
    And see this last one in particular...
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16781690#16781690
    Heat gun better...
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3916312?tstart=0

  • Won't boot beyond grey screen. Gear just spins.

    I have a MacBook Pro. I recently updated to OS X 10.8.2. Once this update was completed I updated my iPhone 4S to OS 6 followed by my iPad. This was done over successive days.  My problem started one morning sending an email reply via Mail. I was also checking some Internet news sights.  Suddenly I lost my connection and noticed the email had not been sent. I closed Safari and re- opened it only to see the message that I was not connected to the Internet. The other laptop in the household could connect but not mine. I choose to restart it but it never would get beyond the grey screen. Sometimes the gear freezes or just keeps spinning. I have tried everything, rebooting holding down command S to do an fsck -y check, holding down the shift key, and holding down the option key to select the recovery disk. Still nothing.  I tried using a FireWire connection to my desk top. I used Disk Utilities to  perform First Aid on the volume. I backed up the volume also this way. I then tried booting from the last OS X disk I had (Snow Leopard). I can hear the disk working but then the laptop freezes and the error message tells me that I must shut down and reboot. It restarts but it continues to reboot on its own over and over until I shut it down. I was hoping that I could do a clean install and start over but I can't get the laptop to boot from a disk I have in my possession.
    What can I do?

    This link is for troubleshooting the 'Gray Screen' problem....
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
    Hopefully it won't take a clean install

  • IMac G4 won't boot, no chime, blank screen

    When powering up my iMac G4, you can hear the fan, but no boot chime or screen display. After manually opening superdrive and inserting the diskwarrior (or any disc), you can hear the drive spin up, but nothing happens, the drive then spins down.
    Have reset PMU, still nothing.
    Any suggestions?

    Hey Drake and Welcome to Apple Discussions,
    First it would help to know the CPU speed of your eMac.
    So you hear the fan and you reset the PMU ( by pushing the button in the user access port? ).
    Here's the procedure from the USB 2.0 models' service manual:
    "Screen is dark, fan is running and the hard drive is spinning. You may hear the startup
    chime as well.
    1. Reset parameter RAM. Press Command-Option-P-R during startup before “Welcome to Macintosh”
    appears.
    2. The system software could be damaged. Start up from the system CD that came with the computer.
    3. Remove the user access panel on the bottom of the computer. With the unit powered on, check if a red
    LED is visible in the access door. If the red LED is on, power is on. If you don’t see the LED glowing
    red, follow the steps under the symptom “No Power”.
    4. Disconnect the A/C power cord. Place the unit in the service stand and remove the user access plate.
    Press the PMU reset button on the logic board. Refer to “Resetting the PMU on the Logic Board”
    mentioned earlier in this chapter.
    5. Check for external video. Connect an external monitor to the mini-VGA port."
    Richard

  • My PowerMac G5 won't boot, no chime, no nothing

    My father got this machine last november, and used it for a couple of months, then simply shut it down and noone used it anymore.
    Now he decided to give the machine to me, but when I pressed the power button, nothing happened.
    No leds, neither on the front, neither inside.
    No startup chime.
    No fans starting up.
    Just like the power cable was unplugged, but the cable is plugged and in january all worked fine.
    I tried to reset the PMU/SMU but nothing changed, it still behaves like it was unplugged.
    I have no way to test the power cable (I don't have another one), and now I'm thinking about going where we bought it and ask them to fix it.
    Is there a faster way to know if it's only he power cable?
    I know that if I take it to the store, they'll give me the machine back in no less than 2 weeks, even if it's only the cable
    Please help...
    Thanks
    Elena.

    Hi Elena, and a Warm Welcome to the Power Mac G5
    Forum!
    Not sure how much of this applies to the dual-core
    that you have, but...
    You could try wiggling the power cord/cable where it
    enters the G5 at the back, in case some corrosion has
    built up over the months.
    I already tried it, unplugged and replugget the cable, it was a bit hard to unplug and to replug but nothing happened.
    There should probably be a relay-click from the PSU,
    low-down at the back of the G5, when the mains power
    is first connected to the G5.
    Tried to press the PSU reset button more than once, both with mains power connected and disconnected and it doesn't make a sound (that's why I pressed it more than once, I didn't realize I was doing it because I heard nothing)
    The internal back-up battery is possibly flat if the
    G5 was disconnected from the mains for that length of
    time.
    The machine was not always connected because my father unplugs all cables at night, but at least a couple of hours every day the G5 was connected. Switched off but connected, I don't think being off is enough to kill a battery that should live for more than 5 years, and as I was without battery on my PB (replacement needed), the worse I got was OSX complaining about wrong date/time settings, the PB booted with flat battery.
    A somewhat similar story here
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=20
    21118#2021118
    I could read that thread and I noted a power supply change.
    That can be my problem too, hoping logical board and hard drive survived.
    I also tried to remove some ram and tested the two "couples" of ram separately (spelling?), nothing with apple's ram, nothing with the kingston expansion I bought with the G5 (this used to work at least until january anyway).
    Trust your story will have a happier ending.
    I hope it will turn out it's a power supply problem (better would be the cable).
    The store is open tomorrow (no assistance until monday anyway), but I hope someone can at least test my battery and cable (they should have some spare ones there I hope), giving me the working ones if it's just a cable or battery problem.
    And I hope they can change my power supply in less than 2 weeks (it was a pain when I had my PowerBook logic board and fans replaced, two weeks of waiting for a call...)
    Thanks to all and if you have other suggestions they're always welcome.

  • G5 Tower won't boot from other hard drives

    I have recently purchased a used G5 tower and cannot get it to boot from a second internal drive nor from external Firewire Drive - all running system 10.5.8. My G5's primary boot is a Western Digital Serial ATA on Bus A. On Bus B is a Samsung Serial ATA drive, and attached via FireWire is a Western Digital 1TB Mybook (with 3 partitions - one with system 10.5.8). When I go to System Prefs and choose Start-up disk, the Samsung on Bus B *does not appear* (although it shows up on my desktop). My FireWire WD shows as a Start-up drive, but when selected as my startup, and I reboot, the machine starts from the WD on Bus A again.
    I've been with Macs ever since the 80's and served as system and network manager for all our units--installing, upgrading, and troubleshooting dozens of Macs in our unit. I'm now retired and this is the first time that I've encounter a problem like this. I've tried switching buses and jumpers but nothing seems to work.

    It doesn't say anything about APM
    Sorry, that is the Partition info, highlight the Whole Drive's icon just above & inset to the left a bit, then do the blue Info icon, look for info like this...
    Name : CVBRaid0
    Type : RAID Set
    Disk Identifier : disk3
    Version : AppleRAID version 2.0
    *Partition Map Scheme : Apple_HFS*
    Device Tree : IODeviceTree:sata/k2-sata@1
    Universal Unique Identifier : BFEC2D8B-1525-307B-ADF3-1D95952E6C58
    Writable : Yes
    Ejectable : No
    Location : External
    Part of RAID Set : Yes
    RAID Set Master : Yes
    RAID Name : CVBRaid0
    RAID Identifier : E42F5AD8-1BD2-4F7E-8BA2-79876F9112E9
    RAID Status : Online
    RAID Set Type : Striped RAID Set
    Member List : disk0s3
    : disk1s3
    Total Capacity : 1.2 TB (1,280,001,507,328 Bytes)
    Free Space : 706.9 GB (759,077,679,104 Bytes)
    Disk Number : 3
    Partition Number : 0

Maybe you are looking for