Powermac G4 spontaneous startup

Hi to all on the forums!
My G4 800 Quicksilver has developed a problem following shutdown, after about 15 minutes, the machine starts up spontaneously. This has happened a handful of times in the last months. Most recently, the spontantous startup led to the alarming flashing startup light and bad hardware tone. Reset button dumped me into open firmware. Mac starts OK, but will shut down spontaneously during sleep.
Internal battery was replaced recently, but did nothing to solve these problems.
Would appreciate any help available to troubleshoot this.
Cheers,
Alan

Yes, it does reset the motherboard and does a more effective job of it. The garbled boot tone is disturbing though. While I have heard of having a clipped boot tone or any of the other tones mentioned on the link provided above the garbled boot tone is the puzzler. I'm thinking that it could be a combination of one of the components mentioned in the article and corruption of Power On Self Test that is masking the correct tone.
When you reset the motherboard as I outlined and go to boot for the first time pay close attention to the tone. Hopefully it will be different and give you some indication of what other component is acting up.
If it is a user preference that is corrupted then create and login as another user.
If it is a system preference then it could be tougher to track down but the symptoms you outline with the flashing lights and garbled boot tone lead me to think that something deeper is the cause.
When my computer starts acting up I usually run Applejack. It is one of the best free utilities that I have seen.
http://applejack.sourceforge.net/#top
Pay close attention to installation instructions and have an Apple keyboard handy for booting into single user.
I forgot. Are you using an Apple monitor that can boot the computer? There are reports of these monitors causing strange startups and shutdowns.

Similar Messages

Spontaneous startups and shutdowns

Ever since I got my G5 in 2004, I've had spontaneous startup/shutdown problems. I will wake up in the morning or come home from work and find the computer on and at the login prompt (I have set no such predetermined startup time.) Or, I'll be working and all of a sudden it powers down and then powers back up (it will bring me back to the same screen and what I was doing), but after repeated occurrences of shutdown/startup, usually in short succession, it will permanently shut down, requiring me to shut off the battery backup into which it is plugged to reset the whole system. Then things settle down for a while. Then a month or two later, it will go through another bad spate of spontaneous startups and shutdowns, almost like it just got over a cold only to contract a new one.
At first, Apple said it was a motherboard problem which they replaced; that didn't solve my problem. Then they said it was a bad video cable to the monitor and repaired that; that didn't solve my problem, either. They asked if I had any peripherals (printer, scanner, external HD) hooked up and said such items can cause erratic behavior (to which I felt like asking "then why do you manufacture your computers with ports in them so users CAN plug in other devices?") I've given up taking it to them because I can't make it replicate its erratic behavior and unless they see what it's doing, they can't do anything about it (and I don't think they really believe me, anyway...)
I've reset my PRAM. I've reset my SMU (actually that happens every time I shut down the computer because I shut down the battery backup every time to prevent unsupervised morning startup.) I've run Disk Warrior. I've checked and confirmed my power source. I've literally unplugged everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) and re-connected all components. All to no avail. I even have video of it happening because Apple doesn't believe what I'm describing. Is it possible that my computer has been infected and is one of those "slave computers" that hackers use to do their bidding? I've wondered about that...
Has anyone else experienced this?

It almost sounds like a bad UPS.
Have you tried bypassing the UPS? What is the rating of the thing?

Quicksilver PowerMac G4 800 Spontaneous Startup

Hi to all on the forums!
My G4 800 Quicksilver has developed a problem following shutdown, after about 15 minutes, the machine starts up spontaneously. This has happened a handful of times in the last months. Most recently, the spontantous startup led to the alarming flashing startup light and bad hardware tone. Reset button dumped me into open firmware. Mac starts OK, but will shut down spontaneously during sleep.
Internal battery was replaced recently, but did nothing to solve these problems.
Would appreciate any help available to troubleshoot this.
Cheers,
Alan
Powermac G4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Hi, Friedrich!
Disconnect your peripherals. Disconnect the power cord, remove the battery, reset the PMU, depress the front power button for a few seconds, wait thirty minutes or so for the logic board's capacitors to discharge, then reconnect the power cord and attempt startup without the battery.
If no luck, then using a voltmeter, test the line voltage from the wall outlet through the power cord at female end of the cord. If the reading is normal, reconnect the power cord to the tower, open the side door, and use the voltmeter to test for DC trickle voltage coming from the power supply...
Here's a link to the PSU testing procedure you can use for your QS Mac. Please note that the only difference from the Gigabit Ethernet model test shown is that your QS should read +25 volts across pins 11 and 22, rather than the +28 volts shown:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=95064
Here's a link with a color-coded pinout diagram for a Quicksilver (scroll down on the page) which will help identify the right wires to test:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/MDDps_mods/MDD_PSMods.html
Test the power supply from the wire side of the power supply's harness where it connects to the logic board. Don't disconnect the connector from the board, but instead just insert the probes alongside the wires into the appropriate pin terminals and be sure to make metal-to-metal contact with the pins at the end of these wires within the connector. If the first test for trickle voltage reads zero voltage, retest to be sure that pin to probe contact was indeed made. If you still get a zero reading, your power supply is defective.
Gary

PowerMac G5 Wont Startup - Dead Battery???

Hey yall, I have a 1.6 GHz BASE model PCI G5 with 4gigs of ram (maxed) and 80 gig hdd. My concern is that I unplugged it for a schedued power outage, and now it wont boot back up. Worked fine before. I replaced the PSU just in case, but same thing happens. The light on the front stays on for a second, then shuts off. No internals can be heard turning on. It has a 3rd party power cord, but it has been working just fine - first one was getting worn. Any ideas? Could it be the "VRAM Battery"? Thanks

Hello,
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/

Powermac g4 no startup, no chime, does turn on

Got a free Powermac G4 QUICKSILVER, which was working when I got it. Since I was playing with it, to get a newer OS on it (came with 9.2.2 installed, no installation disks), I was trying to upgrade the RAM, which I think should work (since it is pc133). After that, the machine wouldn't boot, doesn't give error signals, no chime, no harddrive spinning (does spin up when I disconnect the IDE, but ofcourse not power), the on/off button lights up as long as you press it, when the pressure is released, the light goes of. DS5 led is on, have put a minimum of 1 RAM stick in, since I'm not sure anymore what the rest of the original RAM was (this one is original).
Tried another PRAM battery, resetting PRAM, Power and CUDA switch at the same time pressed, CPU reseated with new heat paste, and possibly other things.
Since I get No video output on the screen via VGA, I cannot get into the Open Firmware, where I should reset it.
Anybody?

Is the RAM for sure Mac compatible PC133?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/133SD512328/

G5 Spontaneously Un-mounting Hard Drives

I have a number of hard drives connected to my G5 powermac. Spontaneously and for no obvious reason the G5 will put up a red Device Removal warning and the drive will disappear from the desktop.
This used to happen to the second drive that was mounted inside the G5 once every day or two, but the disc remounted if I re-started the computer - irritating but manageable.
After a disastrous upgrade to 10.5.6 and an archive and install and 10.5.4 bundle download I now find that the internal drives are stable but the external drives - I have a box of six connected to the G5 on firewire 800 will spontaneously unmount. This happened yesterday and several re-starts failed to get them to re-mount.
Staring up this morning the drives all mounted fine, but just now the FW 800 drives have all unmounted.
What can be the cause and how do I fix it?
Any suggestions gratefully received,
Mike

I have a number of hard drives connected to my G5 powermac. Spontaneously and for no obvious reason the G5 will put up a red Device Removal warning and the drive will disappear from the desktop.
This used to happen to the second drive that was mounted inside the G5 once every day or two, but the disc remounted if I re-started the computer - irritating but manageable.
After a disastrous upgrade to 10.5.6 and an archive and install and 10.5.4 bundle download I now find that the internal drives are stable but the external drives - I have a box of six connected to the G5 on firewire 800 will spontaneously unmount. This happened yesterday and several re-starts failed to get them to re-mount.
Staring up this morning the drives all mounted fine, but just now the FW 800 drives have all unmounted.
What can be the cause and how do I fix it?
Any suggestions gratefully received,
Mike

Powermac g5 won't boot mac os 10.5 stuck at logo screen

Anyone experience this problem? How do I fix it?
PowerMac G5 wont startup. gets stuck on grey screen with apple logo with no turning gears, then fans start blowing really loud.
Using latest Mac OS 10.5
It will not start up from an install disc, but will run the hardware tests.
All tests pass in G5 hardware test disc.
Hard drives have passed all tests, been rebuilt and repaired permissions.
I have tried starting up in safe mode, holding down the option key to select a drive and holding down the c key to startup with an install disc.
The battery was dead so I replaced it but it still wont boot.
I tried zapping the PRAm still not booting up.
I have attempted to use terminal but get the following message then there is no response.
Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:57:01 PDT 2009;
root: xnv-1228.15.4~1/Release_PPC
Standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 US
VM_page_bootstrap: 1021219 free pages and 27,357 wired pages
mig_table_max_displ = 79
Extension "com.apple.driver.Apple Mac Risc4PE" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components use only one style
Loading security extension com.apple.security. TmSafetyNet
calling mpo_policy_init for TmSafetyNet
Security policy loaded Sfety net for Time Machine (tmSafetyNet)
Loading security extension com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall
Loading security extension com.apple.security seatbelt
calling mpo_policy_init for mb
Seatbelt MACF policy initialized
Security policy loaded: seatbelt policy (mb)
Copyright (c) 1982 1986 1989 1991 1993 The Regents of the University of California. All rights researved
Mac Framework successfully initialized
Using 16384 buffer headers and 4096 cluster 10 buffer headers
DART enabled

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

I have 2 iPhones among my devices in iTunes. I need to deauthorize the correct one. Help!

My old standby Mac for sync-ing my iTunes library and my iPhone 4 was my G4 Mirror Doors PowerMac. The startup hard disk on that Mac crapped out last month, and my other option for keeping my iTunes & iPhone ecosystem up-to-date -- my MacBook 2.0 GHz -- has problems with its USB ports. SO, now I have pressed into action an eMac with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, and with all the other requirements (iTunes, Safari, iOS 10.5.8, etc) for sync-ing my new (Jan '13) iPhone 4S.
I did my first sync today between the iPhone 4S and the eMac, via USB hardwire and iTunes. I wanted to load up my phone with music purchases from iCloud, but felt the fastest way to do that would be to first pull all my purchases down into the eMac from iCloud, via My Previous Purchases in iTunes. Once I entered my iTunes account info (via my Apple ID), iTunes showed me logged in. But I could not drag any music over to eMac from the 10 or so songs I have on my iPhone after downloading them from iCloud to several days ago.
I realized I had to authorize the eMac for my account. Checked the Manage Account > Manage Devices area in the iTunes Store, and it informed my that I had already used my 5 "computers" on my acccount, and two of them are iPhones. There is no information that tells me which iPhone is which, like a MAC address or EAN or serial #. One of them is probably the iPhone 4 that I just traded up from, but which I still have. The other iPhone entry shows "Associated December 28, 2012" in the listing of devices. That date matches the date I set up iCloud on my new iPhone 4S, so it should be saying that my new phone is among the 5 devices already authorized. So I just deleted the older iPhone listing,and now I have 4 devices. I just went to add in the Emac, and iTunes tells me I still have "5 computers" authorized on my account (and therefore still cannot add the eMac).
Are "devices" the same as "computers" in the eyes of iTunes DRM?
Is there a lag time in the iTunes database updating the fact that I deauthorized the (older) iPhone?

The title of my initial post is a bit misleading. I already took a chance deleting one of the iPhones, hoping if I deleted the wrong one, I can still reauthorize it (all with the same Apple ID acct, so not subject to 90-day waiting period, right?) The iTunes database just updated itself, and it says I have 4 "devices" "in the Cloud", but 5 "computers" associated w my account. How can I find out what computers are associated? Isn't there a list I can see? I dont have a clue what computers they might be. If I use the "Deauthorize All" option, is it a pain to add them all back in. I assume I would have to log in from each computer to reauthorize each one. Would I have to be running the newest OS or version of iTunes to reauthorize? I think I have a PowerBook G4 Titanium with an older OS and iTunes. I'd like to keep that authorized, if possible.

Bootable Backup- created and works BUT....

I've got a full bootable backup on my external lacie firewire drive. My PB G4 15" can boot from it, happily.
(tiger, not leopard)
My question is what other macs could boot off the drive? e.g. MacMini, Macbook, Macbook pro (intel)? or is the bootable backup only good for my specific machine?

I can't speak for the Intel-based Macs because I don't have any of those (though my folks and sister have MacBooks, go figure... they have "more powerful" machines than me... I have lots of PowerPC-based apps that I'm still using as well as OS 9 ones in Classic) but I'm sure they are no different with Intel-based Macs.
I know for a fact that you can boot from any machine that supports Tiger and matches the specs of what's on your LaCie external drive.
So, your PowerBook G4 15-inch that's been backed up onto the LaCie, will function as that PowerBook when you boot up on any G4-based Mac mini, PowerMac, iMac, etc.
Though even G3 machines will work. I mean, G3 machine's drives will work as bootup drives in G4. (I never tried vice versa). I have a drive that is the original drive from a PowerMac G3, and I put it inside an older PowerMac G4 model--older than the Dual FW800 model that I have--and it booted up fine.
I'm sure you know how to choose your boot volume at startup? Hold down the OPTION key at startup and it will let you select your startup drive.
The perfect example is this. In April, I sent my 12-inch PowerBook into the Genius Bar to have the LCD screen replaced under warranty. I created a backup of my 12-incher's drive. I was able to connect that to my PowerMac G4 and startup as if I was using my 12-inch PowerBook all along.
You can even do that via FireWire in Target Disk Mode. I can, essentially, if I wanted to, use my PowerMac G4 on my 12-inch PowerBook.
The only caveat there is that of the processor. Let's say you are able to run Aperture on your PowerBook 15-inch. If you plug that LaCie external drive into a 433 MHz PowerMac G4, you won't be able to run Aperture since it doesn't qualify for the minimum system requirements.
But you can do everything else that does qualify (like iMovie, iPhoto, maybe not GarageBand or Pages, if you have those).
Hope that helps.

Power Mac G5 Freezes only the First Time starting up

PowerMac G5 on StartUp freezes every FIRST time. Sometimes it chimes, most times it doesn't. Used the Hardware Test disk and it says RAM is OKAY. I have 4 1 gb chips that I have been using for 2 years without problems. I reset PMU, I zapped PRAM, NRAM, removed Airport card, used compressed air to clean the insides, reseated all RAM chips, repaired permissions - and nothing changes. I removed all peripherals and nothing changes. It always starts the 2nd time, so I can still use it. I need to know what is causing a First Startup freeze at the Grey screen, but again, 2nd start is good. I am a Recording Engineer with a ProTools HD rig, so I can't afford to take the computer out to repair, as I am in the middle of a Project. Just want to know if anyone has seen this issue before and dealt with it?

Very grateful for all of the replies! Disk Utility showed no errors, I replaced the battery last week, with a correct replacement. No problems with Clock/Date. RAM has been reseated. Airport Card removed, etc. I will put in some new RAM as soon as it arrives to see if that solves the issue - and I glad that someone echoed that software testing doesn't always show the whole picture. I cannot boot in Safe Mode. Does this help get closer to the root problem? It's confusing that it always works on the second boot and never the first boot. Even later in the day, it has the exact same issues. It gets to the grey screen spinning gear and freezes - every first boot, all the time. 2nd boot is flawless. That's what I don't understand. What problem goes away on the 2nd boot? Sounds like a Power issue of some sort, but I've never run into it. Also - Chime almost never occurs on startup - so I can't do the PRAM zap while waiting for 3 chimes, because I don't get any. Does this help describe the problem?

Cube starts up & shuts down on its own

I've got a G4 Cube, 400 mhz, 80 mb hd, 1 gb ram, OS 10.4.11.
It's recently developed this odd habit of periodically starting up for no reason at all. There's nothing anywhere near the power buttons on the cube or the display, you didn't touch it, you didn't touch the desk, the mouse, the light switch on the wall, nothing. And suddenly, bing, it's starting up.
Which isn't so terrible by itself. Spontaneous startups I could live with.
It's more the spontaneous shutdowns that annoy me. My wife will be checking email, visiting a website, whatever, and suddenly the computer just shuts down. Sometimes it shuts down, then starts up, then shuts down again just for kicks.
I've reset the PRAM, and that did nothing. I'm thinking I'll try resetting the PMU button on the board, but I'm wondering if anyone has an idea on what might be causing this.
The Cube has an unusual power button, as some of you know, so I'm guessing there might be something about the touch-sensitive variety that makes this sot of thing possible.
Anyway, any thoughts?
Thanks.

Do you have anything around that is creating static? any of those tesla coils or lighting balls by chance? Pets? Where does the computer sit (desk, floor, etc)?
see if you can ground the system somehow with a grounding strap or something - my guess it's gotten over stimulated or is failing...

Where can I find a startup disk for Powermac 7600?

When I tried to boot my powermac 7600 i received the '?' icon in the center of the screen. So I thought I would try to boot from the startup disk. Uh-Oh, I seem to have lost my startup disk to my powermac 7600. Where can I find a start up disk? Or is their another way around the issue?

A Disk Tools PPC file can be found via Apple's Older Software Downloads list (http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html).
http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English -North_American/Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_8.1_Update/Disk_Tools_PPC.img.bin
A floppy from the above file should work as a startup disk for your computer (it is intended for Mac OS 8.1 and Mac OS Extended, but it should at least allow you to boot the 7600). However, the problem is that you would have to locate someone with another old (pre-1998) Macintosh computer with Disk Copy 6.3.3 (the Make a Floppy command under the Utilities menu) in order to create the floppy.
http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English -North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/Disk_Copy/Disk_Copy_6.3.3.smi.bin
Jan

PowerMac G5 freezes shortly after startup without fail

Hi,
I have a PowerMac G5 running Tiger and am having an issue with it freezing.
The whole system will freeze, including the cursor, about a minute after startup. Sometimes it happens during startup and sometimes its longer than a minute, but it always happens.
I haven't installed anything new lately and I'm not sure what would have caused this.
I was able to boot from the install CD but unable to run it because the system freezes before I can do anything. I tried booting while holding down Command+S and was able to boot, but still have the freezing issue.
Anyone have suggestions on what to try next? Please let me know if you need any particular information to help determine the cause.
Thank you!
Dan

Try things in this ongoing thread.
DALE

PowerMac G4 doesn't see startup drive

I've had this to happen before, but it's been so long ago, I cannot remember how to resolve it. I've got a PowerMac G4 that is not seeing the startup drive ... it just alternately flashs the Mac smiley face and a question mark.
How do I get it to recognize the startup drive again? Thanks.

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
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
 Cheers, Tom

Startup PowerMac G4/500 AGP

When I startup or restart the PowerMac G4/500 AGP the following screen comes on.
Black screen.
Apple PowerMac 1.2.2f1
BootRom build om 01/28/00 at 17:54:48
Copyright 1994-2000 Apple Computer Inc
All Rights Reserved
Welcome to Open Firmware
To continue booting: type "mac-boot" and press Return.
To shutdown: type "shut-down" and press Return
Ok>
When I follow the instructions the PowerMac startup normal.
Please can you tell me what is going on and how i solve this problem.
Thank you very much for your time
Daans

Hi-
For whatever reason, the Mac is booting into Open Firmware. It most likely means that you need to reset your Mac's PRAM and Open Firmware.
Instead of typing mac-boot type reset-nvram and press Return.
Then type reset-all and press Return.
The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have reset the Open Firmware settings. The boot problem should then be resolved.

Powermac G4 spontaneous startup

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