[clam2000]

I've had a working G4 466 for quite a while, and recently it crashed...


* when i turn it on it starts to boot (apple on white screen) and freezes, no rotating wheel comes up, it just freezes
* if i put a cd in the drive and start up with the C key down it does the same thing
* it won't go into single user mode with command-s

* if I hold down option to get to the boot menu an odd thing happens...
while it is still looking for harddrives my mouse functions, as soon as it is done finding boot folders it freezes, there is no way to boot because it kills all imput from my mouse

any ideas?
--will

[slider]

Dammit, now you're gonna have to get one of the new 970's, some guys have all the luck. Sorry

[IceEnclosure]

Originally posted by clam2000:
I've had a working G4 466 for quite a while, and recently it crashed...


* when i turn it on it starts to boot (apple on white screen) and freezes, no rotating wheel comes up, it just freezes
* if i put a cd in the drive and start up with the C key down it does the same thing
* it won't go into single user mode with command-s

* if I hold down option to get to the boot menu an odd thing happens...
while it is still looking for harddrives my mouse functions, as soon as it is done finding boot folders it freezes, there is no way to boot because it kills all imput from my mouse

any ideas?
--will

maybe.. if you have access to another mac, start your 466 up in FirewireTarget disk mode and copy a clean, fresh OS install onto your disk, then try to boot again with option key?


or plop another HD in there with a clean OS and see if it'll boot that way? then you know the drive is suspect.


i dunno

[superlarry]

you can try the classic hopeful-fix-all here: zap the PRAM. as soon as you turn the computer on, hold the command, option, p and r keys until it restarts 3 times (making the chime 3 times). hopefully this will work. you might lose some settings that are stored in PRAM, like your time or your current monitor resolution, but you can set them back.
also, try removing any extra RAM you've added, because it could be causing a problem. if it works without it, try sticking it back in and maybe things will be fine again. computers are finnicky.

[Mac Zealot]

And if that doesn't work, it could be 2 other things:

1. drive failure or incorrect jumpers (not too likely)

2. Motherboard controller problems (sounds very likely, I dunno maybe the IDE bus shorted out..

steps to fix number 2 could be as simple as sticking in a PCI ata card or as complex as replacing that motherboard. I seriously hope the CUDA reset / PRAM reset works.

Oh yeah, CUDA switch is a little grey button next to the ram sticks in your g4.. you can hold that down for a few seconds and it's the fastest way to wipe the memory.

[clam2000]

I figured it out... it was the cd drive

i don't know why that would cause it, but when i unpluged the cable from the cd drive it started booting again

i have now clue why

--will

[Mac Zealot]

I WAS going to say that as a third possible thing.. I'M REALLY GLAD TO HEAR THAT!!!!

Well, at least that'll cost no more then $20 to replace unless you wanna get a cd burner or something w00t!