[gfunk]

My G4 seems to work when it feels like it! I've tried everything!!!
Quick background: Power Mac G4; OS 9.2.2; 1GB RAM; 20GB HD

My computer WAS working great! Then, I added a Western Digital 40GB HD with OS 10.2 on it this past Sunday - everything worked perfectly. I upgraded a bunch of things that were necessary. Both HDs worked wonderfully all nite. I left the pins alone on the Master drive and set the Slave to CS.

Next day nothing would work! Was able to boot up from CDs like Norton and Disk Warrior but my HDs would not show up. Later that nite I was able to boot up off the CDs - ran DiskDoctor on both HDs, optimized both, ran DiskWarrior on both - ran beautifully!

Next day - nothing would work! I powered up and nothing but a grey screen appeared. Restarted and a flashing ?/MAC face inside a folder just flashes at me. Later that night, I was able to boot from the CDs but no HDs would show up to fix. I did the exact same thing as the night before but no luck! Then, on the 6 or 7th try it booted in OS 9 all by itself.

Next day - nothing! no HDs would show up...

I took out the HD with 10.2.6 on it. And left it out! I now only have the original HD in the G4.

Checked all the cables, wires, plugs, you name it for the original HD - NOTHING WOULD WORK AGAIN!!!

Tried booting from the CDs and no HD would show up. I also tried booting up with the APPLE + OPTION + P + R keys held down. then, about 4 tries later I was able to boot up from the CD and had the HD show up.

I ran Disk Doctor again - said there were no problems. Restarted and used the computer the rest of the evening with no problems.

And now for this mornings problems.....Powered up the computer and nothing happened, just a grey screen. Rebooted and got the ?/face flashing icon, rebooted again and just a grey screen. Tried booting up from one of the CDs again but no HD appeared on the desktop to fix.

Finally, i tried resetting the Open Firmware by holding down the OPTION, APPLE, O & F Keys. I got 40 plus messages of "SB setup Error: 5C000000 82000" and "SB setup Error: 5C000000 82001" then it read "1 1 failed to respond Apple PowerMac3, 1 4.2.8 f1 boot ROM built on 10/11/01 at 14:12:27"
that's when I typed in reset-nvram hit enter, then typed in reset-all and hit enter - it rebooted to a grey screen!!!! I completely shut the computer down, checked all the connections, in the computer, unplugged everything to an outlet power supply, reconnected, tried booting again and it doesn't recognize that there is any HD with a system even in my computer!!!

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!!

[Eriamjh]

First, you don't say what kind of G4, but is runs OS9 so it isn't an MDD, right? I thought the second drive in a quicksilver had to be set to "slave" not CS.

Did you push the CUDA switch on the mobo? Did you zap the PRAM 3 times?

It sounds like you may have a serious HD problem or the IDE has crapped out or the mobo is dying or any or all of the above. Maybe even a dead PRAM battery.

Take out the original drive and try just the new drive. Maybe the old drive has died and it was merely a coincidence.

Can you put a HD on the same IDE cable as the CD-ROM? Try booting to it (hold the Option key at startup to get a volume select).

[mousehouse]

looks like someting is seriously messed up because of the errors... maybe you accidentally blown up your IDE controller...

it might be the time when you start looking for that apple support number...

[imactheknife]

Hey, don't overlook the cables man...I had a B & W 450, and now I have a dual 800...they all have the same case design..only problem...the hinges and where the door closes..I had major problems with both machines with booting, weird errors and behavior of the OS...go out and buy a brand new IDE cable for both drives or have one cable for both...hopefully that will solve your problem...the problem with my cables were not really noticeable, but when I put the new cable in there I knew right away that that was the problem both times for me