Problem booting Power Mac G4 DA

Hello,
Have a G4 PowerMac (DigitalAudio) and can't get it to boot. Here are the specs: G4,1.5Ghz,1GB RAM, MacOS 10.5.4, Superdrive, 6 HD's - 150GB(main),2 IDE 500GB+1 150BG on IDE card,2 SATA 160GB in IDE card, USB&Firewire expansion cards & ATI video card. All was working fine until after a power failure. Started not showing video;replaced the card but the problem is still there. Tested the monitor and cables with another computer and all is OK. Finally showed video, but then a message showed indicating I have to trun the computer off or restart (in gray screen after the wheel spiined for a few seconds. Stopped showing video again & the power button blinked 3 times. Went back to turning on with the restart message in the gray screen, but now shuts the computer off automatically. Flashed the PRAM and did a hard reset, re-started with the install discs and still the same problem. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Tried a new battery? Old Macs respond in all sorts of unexpected ways when the batteries are getting low. The power outage may have forced your computer to use the battery and pushed it over the edge.
If you have a digital multimeter you can check the condition of your present battery. It should read at least 3.2V if it is the 3.6V half-AA battery type. Ideally this should be measured while the battery is under load; added recommendation from Hans777:
I have recently found out that an exhausted battery will still indicate >3.6 V with a high internal resistance VM.
Checking incircuit: powercord disconnected press PMU reset button for >about 5 sec before measuring.
Checking outside: load the battery with a 1500 Ohm resistor when measuring.

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I am pleased to report that I think the problem has been solved. Apparently the strange behavior can be attributed to overheating. After some on line research and the help of people on this list I opened the case and found that the logic board fan was clogged full of lint and dust. After cleaning it I discovered that the fan is inoperable. The computer is now operating with the case open and a small electric fan directed at the logic board heat sink. The computer has been operating flawlessly now for several hours. Will have to replace the bad cooling fan and clean the computer regularly. Thanks so much to all of the people who have responded to my request for help. Would like to mention that a firm with a canine connection charged me over a hundred dollars to report that their diagnosis is a faulty logic board.
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HT2699 Boot up problems on Power mac G5

I recently bought a second hand powermac G5, and it had a fresh install of os Tiger. When the machine booted up, it asked for a password. I contacted the person I bought the computer from and they had no idea what it was. I ended up using these support pages and somehow wiped the hard drive in Terminal. Ever since then all I get is the picture of a folder with a question mark.
I have a retail disc of Leopard, and I connected my Mac Pro via firewire to install it to the Power mac. It has installed it, and I can boot it up on my Mac Pro, but the actual Power Mac still won't boot up by itself - it still shows the folder and question mark. I've tried everything, including the following:-
- Booting from CD
- Booting from Terminal (can't even get into Terminal on start-up on Power Mac)
- Pressing the option key on start-up (just comes up with a refresh image and arrow pointing right, but noting happens - even with the CD inserted there's no other option)
- Running disc utility via firewire to verify PM hard drive, and it says the drive appears okay.
I've literally tried everything I can think of, but I'm open to any ideas other people may have.

I did this last night, and according to Finder, it's installed successfully. However, when I then try to boot up the Power Mac by itself it still displays the folder with the question mark. It seems like everything's there, but the computer doesn't know it.
I've tried pressing C to boot from the DVD, but nothing happens. This morning I reset the PRAM and the NVRAM. I also found a site where they give all the start-up key boot options, and I've tried these but to no avail. I've even unplugged the keyboard to see if that helps, but it doesn't.
It's almost like there's something missing in the coding, and I've booted it up in Open Firmware mode, but keep getting the message LOAD-SIZE is too small, when I try to boot up from the CD.
Any ideas?

Problem starting Power Mac G4

I'm running the latest version of Tiger. An apple support professional told me not to install Leopard, that I would have problems, so Tiger it still is.
Every 2-3 months I have the same problem. When trying to start (or restart) I get the grey screen with the apple logo and it won't go further.
I can start in safe mode, but restarting after that doesn't go further than the Apple logo.
I removed all peripherals. Same thing.
I reset the PRAM. Same thing.
I was able to boot from the install disc and run Disc Utility. Same thing.
I used Tech Tool Pro 5 and Discwarrior, booting from the repair discs. Did all the tests in TTP5. Redid the directory thru both programs. Same thing.
I try to archive and install and although it goes thru the whole routine, same thing.
Several months ago I bought a brand new internal hard drive reinstalling everything fresh, and still, every 2-3 months the same thing.
The only thing that works is erasing the whole drive and reinstalling the operating system and all the programs from scratch.
This gets to be boring, doing it every 2-3 months!
Before I reinstall, luckily I am able to get access to the hard drive and back up all the important files and folders which weren't backed up previously.
I know the G4 is old by now (got it in 2001) but I can't afford a new computer right now.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you very much in advance.
Donko

I don't know what I'm looking for in this log.
Here's the transcript of the system log, maybe you can give me an idea of what information is relevant ...
Thank you again.
Jul 5 17:36:06 tarados-power-mac-g4 SystemStarter[189]: authentication service (198) did not complete successfully
Jul 5 17:36:06 tarados-power-mac-g4 SystemStarter[189]: Qmaster services (193) did not complete successfully
Jul 5 19:07:16 localhost kernel[0]: standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
Jul 5 19:07:15 localhost mDNSResponder-108.6 (Jul 19 2007 11: 33:32)[33]: starting
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: vm_page_bootstrap: 379457 free pages
Jul 5 19:07:15 localhost memberd[40]: memberd starting up
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: mig_table_max_displ = 70
Jul 5 19:07:16 localhost lookupd[44]: lookupd (version 369.8) starting - Tue Jul 5 19:07:16 2011
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: using 3932 buffer headers and 3932 cluster IO buffer headers
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Extension "com.apple.driver.KeyLargoATA" has no kernel dependency.
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: USBF:    49.565    AppleUSBOHCI[0x2faf000]::start OHCI controller will be unloaded across sleep
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: USBF:    49.566    AppleUSBOHCI[0x3073000]::start OHCI controller will be unloaded across sleep
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5811 built-in now active, GUID 000393ff fe3efd4c; max speed s400.
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: enableClockSpreading returned with 0
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Security auditing service present
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: BSM auditing present
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: disabled
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: 27B25911-06F7-361B-8C49-B80B136BEB07
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Got boot device = IOService:/MacRISC2PE/pci@f2000000/AppleMacRiscPCI/ACARD,6280M@12/AEC62XXSCSICo ntroller/IOSCSIParallelDevice@0/IOSCSIParallelInterfaceProtocolTransport/IOSCSIP eripheralDeviceNub/IOSCSIPeripheralDeviceType00/IOBlockStorageServices/IOBlockSt orageDriver/ATA WDC WD3200AAJB-0 Media/IOApplePartitionScheme/Untitled@3
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: BSD root: disk2s3, major 14, minor 17
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Jettisoning kernel linker.
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Resetting IOCatalogue.
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: Matching service count = 1
Jul 5 19:07:17 localhost kernel[0]: NVDANV10HAL loaded and registered.
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost diskarbitrationd[39]: disk2s3    hfs      27B25911-06F7-361B-8C49-B80B136BEB07 newG4HD2                /
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost diskarbitrationd[39]: disk1s9    hfs      1BB58489-0FD0-3D3A-A227-065527526295 photos                  /Volumes/photos
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost diskarbitrationd[39]: disk0s3    hfs      BFBCD55D-7212-3933-93A7-42812ECE8034 Music                   /Volumes/Music
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost diskarbitrationd[39]: disk0s5    hfs      019AD1CD-CD2B-3F7B-A302-77B2F709161D My Documents            /Volumes/My Documents
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost DirectoryService[48]: Launched version 2.1 (v353.6)
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost kernel[0]: UniNEnet: Ethernet address 00:03:93:3e:fd:4c
Jul 5 19:07:18 localhost diskarbitrationd[39]: disk0s6    hfs      534F3AFE-3BFF-347A-9290-0AED56378D80 eDrive                  /Volumes/eDrive
Jul 5 19:07:19 localhost launchd: Server 330f in bootstrap 1103 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/lookupd"[44]: exited abnormally: Hangup
Jul 5 19:07:19 localhost lookupd[73]: lookupd (version 369.8) starting - Tue Jul 5 19:07:19 2011
Jul 5 19:07:20 localhost kernel[0]: NVDA,Display-B: vram [98000000:08000000]
Jul 5 19:07:22 localhost mDNSResponder: Adding browse domain local.
Jul 5 19:07:22 localhost /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow: Login Window Application Started
Jul 5 19:07:25 localhost loginwindow[79]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Jul 5 19:07:26 tarados-power-mac-g4 configd[37]: setting hostname to "tarados-power-mac-g4.local"
Jul 5 19:07:43 tarados-power-mac-g4 /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/ATS.framewo rk/Support/ATSServer: (-3230) Cannot use ATS Persistent Store - switching to old FODB cache code
Jul 5 19:11:11 tarados-power-mac-g4 KernelEventAgent[32]: tid 00000000 received unknown event (12)
Jul 5 19:11:32 tarados-power-mac-g4 sudo:   Tarado : TTY=ttyp2 ; PWD=/Users/Tarado ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/rm -df -r /System/Library/StartupItems/WiUtilityCardbusPCIStartUp
Jul 5 19:11:33 tarados-power-mac-g4 sudo:   Tarado : TTY=ttyp2 ; PWD=/Users/Tarado ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/rm -df -r /System/Library/Extensions/RT2860WirelessDriver.kext
Jul 5 19:11:33 tarados-power-mac-g4 sudo:   Tarado : TTY=ttyp2 ; PWD=/Users/Tarado ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/rm -df -r /Applications/WirelessUtilityCardbusPCI.app
Jul 5 19:11:33 tarados-power-mac-g4 sudo:   Tarado : TTY=ttyp2 ; PWD=/Users/Tarado ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/rm -df -r /Library/Receipts/CardbusPCIWireless-Tiger.pkg
Jul 5 19:28:16 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1349.705    [0x318a700] The IOUSBFamily is having trouble enumerating a USB device that has been plugged in. It will keep retrying. (Port 3 of hub @ location: 0x13000000)
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:19 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1352.525    OHCI driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0). Retrying.
Jul 5 19:28:20 tarados-power-mac-g4 kernel[0]: USBF:    1353.326    [0x318a700] The IOUSBFamily was not able to enumerate a device.

Can't boot Power Mac G5 up from anything (DVD, USB or HDD)

Hope someone can help me with this one
My mum has an old PowerMac G5, the dual-core 2GHz one (I can't remember what it is exactly) and it won't boot up anymore.
At first I replaced the hard drive because it was making some funny sounds... scratchy-ness.. then with the new hard drive, my dad was able to install 10.3 on it which booted up pretty reliably after reseting the SMU. Then I thought I'd replace the 10.3 installation with 10.5.8, so i tried to install it off a 10.5.8 disk just by booting into to 10.3, opening the disc and clicking the 'Instal Mac OS X' thing, then restarting. But the computer would just keep restarting to 10.3
long story short, the computer won't even turn on now. The light next to the power button doesn't come on, but the fans are on and the hard drive is alive. I've tried booting from the original 10.3 DVD, but that doesn't work either. The DVD drive spins up for like 20-30 seconds, then stops.
I've got one of these: http://www.everymac.com/images/monitor_pictures/apple_cinema_display.jpg and the power button light doesn't come on on that either.
The computer was working fine up until a few days ago.
I've reseated the RAM, reset the SMU, tried booting with C held down. Nothing seems to work.
Thanks in advance

Yeah, the monitor button turns the mac on, but once the comp is on, the light goes off and the screen stays black
I'll give it a go, but I don't believe so.

Problem booting up Mac OS X 10.4.9

I have a mac book pro.. and It was working fine.. and I went to open microsoft word and it froze so I thought it would be a good time to reboot because I hadnt in a week or so and I rebooted and when It booted up, the top tool bar appeared (the part that says like Finder, File, Edit, View - etc but only enough of it to see the Date and time, then the rest of it appeared, then all my desktop icons showed up, then the program menu in the bottom appeared, but I couldnt click anything, then the cursor changed to the spinning circle, then the screen refreshed (everything dissapeared except for my background, then it all appeared again, and it just keeps doing that until I turn it off. I tried doing the fsck thing and it said it repaired everything. The screensaver comes on, everthing appears to be fine so I have no idea what is wrong. I dont want to have to re-install anything bc I dont want to lose my files but I dont have an external harddrive so I want to try to avoid formating unless I have to.
Any idea whats wrong?
Thanks!!

$2,000 + for the machine, but don't have $100 for a bootable, external HD to backup the machine. Not a good choice. Enough of that, boot the machine with the install disk, enter your language, and, when the menu bar pops up, Utilities->Disk Utility and repair the disk and permissions. If it reveals it can't be fixed, then for another $100 get DiskWarrior and fix the HD. If it gives it a clean bill of health, then reinstall the OS selecting the Archive & Install option, saving user and network settings. If that fixes the problem, most likely a corrupted finder prefs file or a conflict with the microsloth stuff, then back the installation up. Once that's done, manually reinstall the latest COMBO and security updates. When you're convinced the OS is stable, delete the Previous System folder, and backup again.

Strange Problems with Power Mac G5 - Shutdown, Date/Time, Mobile Me

Hello All,
Need some help resolving recent issues with my Dual 1.8 GHz g5 (PPC).
I recently had my internal boot drive start falling, so I had it cloned onto a brand new drive. Did not reinstal system (do not have access to m original installers). Since then have been experiencing the following issues:
On starup, the auto update of date/time does not work. An error message pops up stating date is set to before 2001. If it doesn't fix itself in the first 30 seconds (sometimes it does) I go to sys prefs/date & time and wait a few seconds and it then updates correctly.
When I shutdown the computer doesn't make it all the way. It successfully shuts down the OS... screen goes blue to black as normal... but the actual machine stays on unless I keep the power button pressed to force it to shut down. If I don't the computer stays on (black screen... but the hardware still on, as if it were asleep) and then the fans go into overdrive within about five minutes.
Startup is long and goes right into aforementioned date/time issue.
Lastly, I noticed mobile me is not updating my iCal between this mac and my new MacBook pro. It used to work until all this started happening.
Otherwise the computer runs fine, no strange behavior in any applications, OS, etc.
Have not replaced internal G5 battey, so I will explore that. Any other ideas what might be going on?
Thanks in advance,
F

Probably the battery. The time being reset is a typical sign. Replace it before any more troubleshooting.
Check out things in Texas Mac Man's Battery, PRAM, PMU tutorial on the subject. His tutorial is dated (don't believe it even mentions G5's) but the info in it, except SMU not being included, still applies to most Macs. The SMU link is for a late G5 Tower. Early G5's use PMU reset, as shown in the tutorial. The battery for late G5 + G5 iMacs and earlier iMacs, Mac Minis and Intel Tower Macs is this one.
The clone could be an issue too, if it was made from a drive that was already having issues. Do the battery and we'll see what happens!
DALE
Message was edited by: Dale

No Audio Tone when booting power Mac G4 (Sawtooth 400) and cannot get sompu

I have a used PM G4 400 "Sawtooth" that works fine w/OS X 10.4.11, but the audio tone at the startup does not sound, although other volume works. And I cannot seem to put the computer to sleep, even though the System Prefs show them set. Any thoughts?

Hi-
Try resetting the PRAM. Hold CommandOption+PR then start the machine. Hold the 4 keys until the second startup tone, then release. This should restore the boot chime.
Sleep problems can be caused by connected devices, especially USB. Disconnect all but the monitor, keyboard and mouse. If sleep still doesn't work, reset the PMU. If sleep works, add one device, and test. Continue until you find the problem device.
There are other possible sleep inferences, so, check this article for more information.

I have a Power MAC G5 dual 2ghz that has a peculiar problem. The monitor will not report until the machine is stopped and started 5 or 6 times. Once booted it will restart without problem if done so from the apple menu. Swapped out all hardware

My Power MAC G5 has a peculiar problem. The monitor fails to report until the machine is started and shut down 5 or 6 times. Once it has booted it can be restarted without incident from the Apple menu. I have swapped out all of the hardware. Monitor, Memmory,Video Card and reset the PRAM. After resetting the PRAM it booted on the first attempt and I thought it was solved. But the next day it was back to starting and stopping until the Monitor came on. Does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks

It could be a bad PRAM battery corrupting your PRAM. Typically when I have monitor issues on startup it is a bad PRAM battery.
Texas Mac Man's PRAM, battery, PMU tutorial - https://sites.google.com/site/macpram/mac-pram-nvram-cuda-pmu-battery-tutorial
Apple's PRAM reset directions - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
If you have a digital multimeter you can check the condition of your present battery. It should read at least 3.2V if it is the 3.6V half-AA battery type. A new battery provides 3.67 Volts DC. A bad battery provides under 3.2 Volts DC. Ideally this should be measured while the battery is under load; added recommendation from Hans777:
>I have recently found out that an exhausted battery will still indicate >3.6 V with a high internal resistance VM.
>
>Checking incircuit: powercord disconnected press PMU reset button for >about 5 sec before measuring.
>
>Checking outside: load the battery with a 1500 Ohm resistor when measuring.
Alternatively, test the battery while it is still in the computer.
If the battery is more than 5 years old, especially if you totally disconnect the computer from the power regularly, or have left it unplugged for several months at one time, it is likely the battery is dead.
Sometimes you have to do a more intensive reset of hardware management:
[Resetting Cuda/PMU on Power Mac G5, Power Mac G4, Power Macintosh G3|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1939]
[How to reset the SMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436]
[iMac G5: How to Reset the SMU|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1767]

HT1436 My Power Mac G5 will not fully boot without safe mode, it only comes to a blue screen where my cursor duplicates in to 2, (one is frozen, one can move by moving the mouse). What is my problem, and how do I fix it?

My Power Mac G5 will not fully boot without safe mode, it only comes to a blue screen where my cursor duplicates in to 2, (one is frozen, one can move by moving the mouse). What is my problem, and how do I fix it?

Great clue Lukas...
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Dual G5 2.0 Power Mac (June 2004) referb - booting problem

Hi all - my dual G5 2.0 Power Mac (June 2004) decided to rev its fans and boot no more. When I push the power button in front, the white light comes on while pushing it, then goes off, yet I hear the fans starting, the hard drive spinning etc. The key board isn't getting power (the caps light doesn't go on) and after a few minutes the fans rev like a jet engine...starting slow then gaining speed. I can't open the DVD from the key board (have tried all usb ports). Have also looked through this discussion area and tried many of the solutions provided (reset the PMU, unplug, try different outlets etc.) Any help would be appreciated. I do have Applecare but they are closed for the night.
Thanks for you help
Dual G5 2.0 (June 2004) referb from Apple Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Your OS is not loading and the fans default into a speed up mode.
Power up and hold down the mouse button, the cd tray will spit. Insert Tiger/install disk and power boot holding c. (note: use a wired keyboard/mouse directly to the machine and nothing else for now)
In the Installer, select Disk Utility from the menu>Repair disk/permissions. note any errors you see.
If you can't access the drive, it might be dead. I hope you backed up files.
All you need to do is get a new drive and reinstall Tiger etc.
If you can get a 6 pin firewire 400 cable to each Mac and t boot the problem Mac. the hard drive should appear on the other which you can recover files.
If the OS is fried you can do a archive and install too.

Power Mac G4 Boot-up problem?

I have a Power Mac G4 when it is turned on shows the apple, then OSX Loading window, then a blank blue sreen with a black turning wheel and then a black screen with small white letters at the top of screen that say,
"Darwin/BSB (my computer, local console)
login:
After I type in anything I hit the enter key,
password:
this Mac has no login nor a password except the enter key. After I hit the enter key a message appears for a millisec or long enough for me the read "incorrect password" the blue screeen with the black spinning wheel reappears then the afore mentioned black screen with white letters reappears.
Please help. Thank you for for time.

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), does that bring up a login box?
If not let's try fooling it with a new admin user.
Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD...
http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/22/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/
Admin Hack...
http://www.hackmac.org/?q=node/4
Starts up like the first time you buy a new Mac, but after filling in all that info again, you should have access to the computer and the other Users & files will still be there... give the new User a different name than an existing one.

Power Mac G4 cannot boot from CD

Hi there,
First, I'm sorry that question has already been asked
I am new to this forum and also new to Mac world! Soo exited!!
I have a Power Mac G4 Quicksilver. My problem is I cannot make it boot from the CD no matter what I do. Press the C key, no luck. Press the Option key, no drives showing. The HDD is Mac formatted but it cannot been detected. Any help will be appreciated.
PS: Same thing is happening on my iMac G3.
My best regards.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Also depending on the age of the QuickSilver, some were less than 867 Mhz, which meant they couldn't take 10.5, and could only take 10.4.6 retail or earlier.
Also if the clock battery hasn't been replaced in more than 4 years, it can affect booting as well.
The iMac G3 Firewire models can only take up to 10.4.6 retail, and not 10.5 or later. Furthermore, some did not come with a DVD drive, and needed an external Firewire DVD drive to load 10.4.0 or later retail. The iMac G3s without Firewire can only take up to 10.3.5 retail.
10.5.6 retail can be updated to 10.5.8 via Apple's support website.
10.4.6 retail can be updated to 10.4.11 via Apple's support website.
10.3.5 retail can be updated to 10.3.9 via Apple's support website.
So the first question, identify your iMac G3, and identify your QuickSilver's age:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58669
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58207
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42739

Power Mac G4 Won't startup and ejects boot disk.

Hello,
Recently, I got a used Power Mac G4. On startup, it gets to the loading bar and doesn't load anything. It's just a blank white bar with no text aside from the apple logo at the top of the window. I tried inserting the Tiger recovery disk, but when I turn it on, it ejects the disk. I made sure that my keyboard and mouse were not plugged in as it was booting up (there are no other devices that may be causing it to eject), but it's still not solving the problem.
What could possibly be causing this problem?
Thanks,
Nami

It could easily be many things, Logic Board, RAM,Corrupted PRAM or NVRAM, even PSU or anything else, we just have don't have enough data out here to narrow it down yet.
I don't suppose it boots into Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
EDIT: Sometimes even a flaky Optical Drive will prevent normal operation & needs to be disconnected.
Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & if weak can cause really strange problems...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

Power Mac - G4 QuickSilver and dial-up problem..

Hi all, first post here please excuse my naiviety!
As well as owning a Macbook I've been helping a friend out with their 9-10 yr old G4 Power Mac. The problem started with it not being able to power on so I tried resetting CUDA etc; that didn't work so I sourced a replacement Power Mac (power supply being impossible to replace).
All went well, swapped the HD out of his duff M5183 and put it into the newer QuickSilver. Booted-up fine and apart from running quicker it looked like his old Mac. When he tried dial-up (he can't get BB) he kept getting a no dial tone error. So I had a fiddle and managed to get a tone... however when the 0845 number was dialled all you get is a beep....beep....beep noise like the line's engaged or unobtainable. I managed to inadvertently wipe his ISP settings so tried another ISP (called freeisp, 0844 7110059) - still get the same reply on the line with this.
Question is, I'm guessing the modem on the QuickSilver is different to that on the M5183? Do I need to install drivers? The modem seems to dial out okay so I'm a bit confused.
Any help gratefully rec'd... he hasn't been able to get online for some time now.
Ta, HB

According to this article:
Apple USB Modem: Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Sep 15, 2008 ... You can use an Apple USB modem with any
Mac computer capable of running Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later.
You MUST have Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3152
Even email and sparse internet activity would be slow.
Still, that invites further research to be sure; and also to
check what update or upgrade the computer hardware
may need to be ready for the demands of the OS on it.
Hardware upgrades in RAM chip & hard disk drives are
the primary ones for basic physical upgrade; and then
the OS X. And Panther is not really adequate today...
Tiger has support; Panther has increasingly more wants
that are not met and does not see updates. It's rather old.
You should check into the available "retail boxed" Tiger
full installer sets that have previously been sold to people
and now those persons have upgraded to Leopard 10.5.
These should be priced less than online reseller's retail.
In some places, the universal install DVD set is not costly
once you get away from the retail demand. Amazon is a
source of retail goods; ebay is a place to find retail prices.
Individuals, whose goods you would have to be aware of
before buying (or if given a retail box Tiger installer DVD,
be informed as to what you really had.) Be sure it is NOT a
version made for a single model or series of computer,
since those would only work in that one model line.
Without access to DSL or faster cable broadband, getting
all the update bits for the system would be prohibitive; no
matter the version of OSX (or any OS) it would be too slow.
You may be able to get copies of the correct downloads
from persons you know; but you have to be sure they are
the correct ones, and not versions for some other device.
(Some update files are for Intel-based Mac, not PPC-based.)
If you have a portable computer, a list of upgrade downloads
needed (for a needy desktop computer) and a place to go and
experience fast broadband or adequate DSL, the necessary
update files a new OS X installation would require to be up to
date could be gotten; they could be saved to a CD for later use.
The latest security update, all the java updates, the Combo update,
Quicktime, Flash player, Shockwave Player, modern browsers, &
other items are required to bring even Tiger up to today's web
and daily use if going online (or if using applications needing it.)
With a list of needed applications, and/or web sites where the
downloads could be acquired, and getting 'standalone' versions
for later use in a computer later, one can deal with a slow web
access point at home, by going elsewhere to get the essentials.
And to get them with the idea of making a backup archive for
later re-install should that event of necessity occur. The Apple
Support Downloads site has OS X related updates & is search-
able. So knowing file names to do this, that way, is important.
Having the subject computer at the point where high speed
internet is available makes all kinds of sense, to just update
the newer OS X version and make it work correctly.
And the need for this would become painfully clear to even
someone with no credible amount of experience. Anyone
with hopes of getting a task done in their lifetime could see it.
Good luck & happy computing!
{edited}

Problem booting Power Mac G4 DA

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