Powermac Dual 2Ghz G5 won't boot

Hello
I've had my powermac since December 2003. The other day, when I went to turn it on, the fans and HDDs started, but the display stayed blank and the LED blinks 3 times, then a pause, then blinks 3 times etc.
I have tried disconnecting everything, including the power for an hour or more.
I've read that it can be anything from a faulty graphics card, to bad RAM, to a bad logic board. I've never had a problem with the computer before, and I haven't changed the specification for 2 years.
I took out the extra Crucial RAM, but it didn't fix it. I also tried the extra Crucial RAM without the original RAM, but it still didn't fix it.
The computer is connected to a 20" Apple Cinema Display (ADC connector).
It's odd that the computer has just stopped working suddenly. The problem seemed to have started after installing 10.4.10 update... but I think that's just a coincidence.
I don't think it's worth paying £100 for a new graphics card when that might not be the problem. Same goes for a £450 logic board.
Are then any other possibilities of what the problem could be?

It must be a conspiracy because I am fighting this same issue on an original 2003 2Ghz G5 and it started yesterday.
The computer just froze while my wife was using Safari and listening to iTunes. Not a heavy load. The last system update to 10.4.10 was when it came out.
I had 8 dimms installed for a total of 4.5 G. The last new pair was a couple of years ago. I have removed the Ram a pair at a time and tried rebooting between each pair. I have tried each pair individually in the first slot. Nothing. All the memory is suddenly bad.
I replaced the CPU battery.
I have reset the PMU.
I have replaced the video card with the original video card.
I can't run diagnostics as it can't be booted in anyway without memory.
All of the memory has gone bad simulateously or the motherboard is fried!!!!!
It must have an expiration date if it happened to you as well????

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Hello,
Cheapest thing to try first is...
Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & can cause strange startup problems...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/
Have youblown yje dust out lately?

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Message was edited by: airiox

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Powermac G5 dual 2.5GHz won't boot

Hi,
I've recently started having issues with my dual 2.5GHz G5 Powermac. When I switch it on I can hear the drives start up and data being read from them. But there's never any chime and the screen stays black. The drives stay quiet (spinning but no data being read). After a minute or two the fans ramp up to full speed.
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- reseating the ram
- swapping out the ram
- trying to boot into open firmware (it won't get that far)
- resetting the pmu with the button on the motherboard
- installed the latest updates to os x
- reseated the graphics card
- replaced the battery on the motherboard with a brand new one
This started roundabout the time I upgraded to 10.5.5 though that could be a coincidence. I also cleaned dust from the inside of the machine at that time as well (including off the graphics card fan and heatsink which was getting clogged up). So, that may have caused it. But again it could just be a coincidence.
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Hi Phil Brayshaw-
What does the little white power light do? This should be helpful: About the Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) diagnostic LEDs
Although it sounds to me like you have tried most of the troubleshooting steps, this document is a good overall reference to address this particular problem: Power Mac G5: What to do if you see black, white, or no video at start up
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The "U3 Heatsink" reads 65-70 degree Celsius. Is that (too) high?
Only once I got a kernel panic during verbose startup. It read:
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My PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 also has this problem.
It all started one sad afternoon a month or so ago. I noticed that my computer was on and the fans were on full speed. As soon as I moved the mouse to shut it down, I got the wheel of death!
I had no choice but to do a force shutdown.
The next day, I turn my computer on and it just stayed on the gray screen with the dark gray apple, and no spinning thingy.
So once again, I had to force shutdown.
Pressing the 'Option' key did gave me the screen where one can select where to boot from; the main HD, booting CD, etc. but none of the worked.
When I chose to boot from my internal HD or from the restore CD it would just get stuck on the gray screen with the apple logo.
I pressed the PMU button = no change
I did a PRAM reset = it brought my G5 to life but then a few minutes later it froze and history repeated itself.
Did a PRAM reset again and this time didn't work.
Tried booting from my PowerBook G4 HD via firewire = frozen gray screen
When I pressed the 'T', i get the FireWire logo and I'm able to boot my G5's HD using my PowerBook G4. But when I put my G4 on firewire mode and try to boot my G5 by selecting the OS of the G4, I still get the frozen screen, so the problem is not with the HD.
One time I was able to boot my G5 from the 'Restoration CD' and I used the Utilities to Fix permisions, and repair the HD but still the computer would freeze and same old story.
Since I got this problem, It has work normal only 3 occasions but no longer than an hour until the fans go crazy and freezes.
I tried different memory sticks and no improvement.
My AppleCare expired on May, and my G5 went down 2 or 3 months after that.
This feels part of an strategy called "Get a(nother) Mac". Where comps are design to last just a little after AppleCare expires and then BOOM! no choice but to spend some serious cash on fixing it or use that money plus more to get one of the resent mac which have had some changes since one bought the mac that just went to apple heaven.
Anyways, I feel that the problem will be solved by replacing the two processors, heatsinks, or whatever they called it.
I took apart my G5 today and I'm not sure but it seems that the heatsinks might use some kind of gas to cools the CPUs or Chips and I think that gas is over.
Has anyone swap the heatsink units and noticed any difference?
Here's of the heatsink for the PPC G5 2.0
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/2642/g5heatsinksw5.jpg

Dual-Core G5 won't boot. Flashing Red Light.

Hey Guys, I've got a 2Ghz Dual-Core G5. It's stock other than 2gigs of ram and a SATA Seagate Barracuda in the second drive bay.
Every now and then (on a fairly regular basis) I'll try to boot up the computer, I do hear the fans going but the drives don't spin up as usual, there is no chime and I get a red light behind the front panel of the G5 flashing. It flashes 7 times. After the 7 flashes it just sits there and after about a minute the fans go into airplane taking off mode.
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Resetting the PRAM doesn't work nor does holding option on boot up. This says (at least) to me that the computer doesn't get far enough to even look at the OS, the fault seems to be a hardware issue. The keyboard and mouse never get buss power.
Anyway, as I said it'll usually work eventually but I haven't been able to get the G5 to boot at all for the past 5 hours. Anyone had any similar experience? At this point I'm thinking bad logic board? Any opinions?
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2Ghz Dual-Core G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi, and a Warm Welcome to Apple Discussions and the Power Mac G5 Forum!
Presumably it is one of the red LEDs shown here that is flashing
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302527
The symptoms possibly don't qualify for this - but maybe with some persuasion...
http://www.apple.com/support/powermac/powersupply/repairextension/
You could try the Apple Hardware Test
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/aht.html
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https://support.apple.com/techtooldeluxe/main?id=dl
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Hi, here's a description of a weird and sudden issue on my mac. Hope one of you out there has a cure.
The system: Powermac G4 (AGP) 450MHz, 512MB RAM, upgraded a couple of years ago with an 133 ATA controller card (Acard 6280M). The card controls my two internal HDs of 160GB, which are from two separate brands. Until 1 week ago I regularly booted from one HD with OS10.4.6 (let's call it hd_A), while used the other HD as a data backup space (hd_B).
The problem:
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Other data:
-The battery reads 3.7V on a voltmeter, so it must be ok.
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Thanks, Lo

You can't use the iBook installer on another model Mac. You need a retail version of Panther 10.3 or Tiger 10.4.
If you do a Google search for M9227LL/A (Panther 10.3 retail install CDs) or M9228LL/A (Family Pack), you may find a set. The CDs should be black with a white X.
After you install the base 10.3.x, update to the final Panther version 10.3.9. See Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update (Combo) http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2464
Tiger install DVDs are in short supply. Tiger is no longer available at the Apple Store but may be available for $129 by calling Apple Phone Sales @ 1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753). For other sources, do a Google search for MA453Z/A (10.4.6), MA190Z/A (10.4.3) and M9639Z/A (10.4) . Also look on eBay. Be sure & buy a retail version (black with silver X) and not a model specific version (gray). Expect to pay (possibly a lot) more than the Apple list price of $129.
Also check this web store http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-bin/rpcart/index.cgi?command=dispitem&type= sku&sku=19521
Possible Alternative if you are currently using Panther 10.3 – Do a Google search for Tiger 10.4 Upgrade DVD . It will upgrade your 10.3 to 10.4, but it doesn’t contain the full retail Tiger installer. Should be cheaper than the retail Tiger install DVD.
After you install the base 10.4.x, update to the final Tiger version 10.4.11. Here's the link for the 10.4.11 combo update http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24901?viewlocale=en_US
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http://www.apple.com/support/tiger/install/
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http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/TigerInstall_SetupGuide.pdf
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Dual 1.25Ghz won't boot? Just happened!?

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Hello! I'm assuming that the drives are jumpered correctly? Anytime you remove or add hardware you may have to reset the PMU. Press the button once with ALL external cables unhooked and then reconnect and restart. Tom
Below is an example of the pmu button
[IMG]http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3729/fw800logicbd4xu.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1623/mddlogicbd4ga.jpg[/IMG]

PowerPC G5 Dual 2.5 won't boot

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Replacing the Hard drive
Re-seat RAM
Reset PMU (pressing button on logic board)
Tried booting to Open Firmware: reset-nvram, set-defaults and reset-all.
Tried booting into Safe Mode. Didn't work.
Tried going to the console (Cmd + Shift). Got into the console, but computer freezes before I can type anything.
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Hi jest537, and a warm welcome to the forums!
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2 times the date was on 01.01.1970
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Hi, thorx, and welcome to the Discussions!
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Dual 2Ghz G5 Fans Ramp Up with Final Cut Pro 5

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Somewhere amidst the release of OS X 10.4.3 and Final Cut Pro 5.0.4, our first generation Powermac Dual 2Ghz G5's fans will occasionally ramp up for 30-60 seconds, then die back down, several times a day. And when I say ramp up, I mean they go from as quiet as they can, to as loud as they can, and then slowly idle back down. On days I don't use Final Cut, the Powermac stays quiet. There's probably not a solution to this that Apple themselves won't have to fix with an update, but I was just curious if I'm the only one experiencing this. Thanks.

Hi Fathertime,
Thanks for your response. I'm rather late returning, but I wanted to follow-up on this. My Dual 2Ghz's fans didn't used to ramp up so obnoxiously like this, except when there was actually good reason to. As it is now, merely opening or playing back a simple DV video timeline causes the fans to ramp up to warp speed, and then slowly die back down multiple times throughout a workday. Needless to say, it makes audio tweaks and adjustments quite difficult when trying to listen closely and the computer keeps getting louder and louder...
I'd wager that this issue arrived for me with a Software Update, although I have no idea which one. I'm currently running the most recent versions of everything Apple-related. Motion 2.0.1 is now endlessly crashing on me too, so maybe it's time to wipe this noisy monster clean.

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I've detached all external accessories, disks, etc. I reset the memory chips. Unplugged two of my 4 internal disks. Doesn't help.
What I was doing before this--running iDefrag on one of my internal disks (not the startup disk), stopped & quit the app partway. Also running SuperDuper backing up yet a third internal disk to my external firewire storage--also stopped & quit partway.
I inserted my 10.4 installation disk to install a system on an external firewire disk (none of the above, I have a lot of drives) but could not start up from the CD. Started to get the error above. Can't eject CD, either. Bluetooth seems fine as my Apple bluetooth keyboard works.
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hey if you actually restrt your mac now where will your mac boot up to does it reach the firmware screen if it does just try typing in
reset-nvram
and then
reset-all
the mac should restart

Won't boot....shuts itself down

Help. Power Mac G5 Dual 2 GHz won't boot. It chimes and gets as far as the white screen w/apple logo and pinwheel. The fans grow louder and louder and then it shuts itself down. I have a BT wireless keyboard so I can't boot from a CD/DVD. My next idea is to borrow a wired USB keyboard so I can try to boot from a restore disc but I'm at a loss as to what else to do. Any ideas?

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1541
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html
http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/MacTroubleshoot.html
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
Might want to Google "Mac FAQ troubleshoot OS X"
Disk drive, Disk Warrior, FW case, maybe SuperDuper and it is nice to have something designed to backup or synch folders like TriBackup or Personal Backup.
The time of course to start using Disk Warrior is when things are working, and not even wait for the problem to get so bad that even Disk Utility notices something isn't right.
It is more important to pull the files off than to fix the drive. As long as it can be mounted in FW case that is good enough, and forget trying to fix or anything. Even if I run into a problem that is "repairable" I still prefer to nuke the drive and restore from backups.
No matter how good or perfect a utility is, I've also run into times when it wasn't worth the time, trouble and effort to keep re-running Disk Warrior weekly after I had some bad ram write bad data (GIGO).

Powermac Dual 2Ghz G5 won't boot

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