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scot · Jul 23, 2005, 12:46 AM

Hi...New here, but not new to Apple. I have a powermac g5 with dual 2.7s and 2 gig memory. Increasingly, for no apparent reason, my machine will go to "sleep" while I am typing or editing video, or whatever. It wakes up ok...usually. When i try to restart the machine about 75 percent of the time now I get a solid red light inside..and no boot...dark screen....and after a time the fans kick in. I have to push the on and off switch several times, turning it off and then back on before it will "catch" and boot. This is a brand new machine. What might be the problem? Don't tell me to stand in line at my local Apple store and wait for a Genuis...cuz the ones at my store know less than me....

scot

scot · Jul 23, 2005, 09:35 AM

I should probably say that when the red light is on....if i leave it for about five or six minutes....the fans will kick on and get faster and faster....if i then hit the off button and then try to start it it will actually work...but this seems to be the only time.

OogaBooga · Jul 23, 2005, 09:47 AM

Have you tried changing the CPU cable?

scot · Jul 23, 2005, 09:58 AM

I haven't....what makes you think that is the problem....trying to learn here. thanks for your reply btw

Al G · Jul 23, 2005, 12:35 PM

Bottom line is you're going to have to either call the Applecare 1-800 number and/or take it to an Apple Store or other authorized service provider. Applecare technical support will walk you through some troubleshooting steps, but in the end they'll probably have wasted your time and tell you to take it in for service.

The "narcolepsy" problem sounds like a thermal runaway. It probably indicates a bad logic board and/or CPU.

Run the Apple Hardware Test that comes on the OS DVD to see if it finds a problem (boot the machine with the DVD in the drive while holding the Option key). AHT, more often than not, will indicate a clean bill of health even when there's an obvious problem, but who knows it may find something which will make it easier for you or an Apple tech to diagnose.

As for "changing the CPU cable," I have absolutely no idea what that means.

scot · Jul 23, 2005, 06:44 PM

Took it in to Apple Store...they said "whoa dude" and took it from me ordering a whole new processor to start off with. After that comes, they will troubleshoot some more. Almost a thousand bucks.....and 7 to 10 days out of commission. At least Jobs is paying for this one...

Link · Jul 24, 2005, 02:27 AM

Ouch, something almost exactly like that happens to our 1.8 a lot -- oddly enough opening the case has NEVER put the fans in full blast.. but I figure that isn't unusual.

So far g5 annoyances ==
[intermittent]
Display will go off normally but then not wake up
Sometimes, the machine will crash instead of going to sleep, sending the fans to full blast
machine will sleep and then when trying to wake up the screen won't come on.

In those cases it usually freezes the whole machine but sometimes the keyboard/mouse will still be responsive, you just don't see anything. Unfortunately, it isn't a problem with the video card..

A constant problem is we have it hooked up to one of our speaker setups with toslink out - but EVERY TIME it's rebooted it switches back to its internal speaker -- yet it still outputs to the optical hookup. It's a problem because when playing music over the external setup if you don't have the moment to go and set the speakers to external only, it'll play over the little puny internal one too..

So uh.. yeah. I'm not happy because it's not easy for us to head down to a service center and just get it fixed.

Jordan · Jul 25, 2005, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by scot

Hi...New here, but not new to Apple. I have a powermac g5 with dual 2.7s and 2 gig memory. Increasingly, for no apparent reason, my machine will go to "sleep" while I am typing or editing video, or whatever. It wakes up ok...usually. When i try to restart the machine about 75 percent of the time now I get a solid red light inside..and no boot...dark screen....and after a time the fans kick in. I have to push the on and off switch several times, turning it off and then back on before it will "catch" and boot. This is a brand new machine. What might be the problem? Don't tell me to stand in line at my local Apple store and wait for a Genuis...cuz the ones at my store know less than me....

scot

Scot - I'm so glad to read about your problem. Not for you, but for me. I am having exactly the same problem with exactly the same spec machine. I thought it was the way my girlfriend was using it but after it started happening to me I did a bit of investigation and cam up with exactly the same problems as you did.

Red light on inside (actually there are two of them on)
Screen occassionally turns on and off several times. Then it goes off and I can't get it on.
A few minutes later the fans kick in and start getting louder and louder until I shut it off.

I thought the problem was that I was using an old ADC powered 22inch Cinema which is going through a standard Apple adaptor to turn the DVI into ADC.

I'm glad that I did a search before I went crazy.

I will ring Apple tomorrow and let them know of this. I guess it's a faulty batch.

Thanks again Scot.

outsourced · Jul 25, 2005, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Jordan

I thought it was the way my girlfriend was using it ...

Blaming it on the girlfriend!

Gotta love it.

Jordan · Jul 27, 2005, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by outsourced

Blaming it on the girlfriend!

Gotta love it.

Hee hee. I'm always telling her PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard) but apparently this time she might have been right.

Unfortunately, Apple's service is so poor in Australia that I could be without this for weeks. The Apple Centre said that it will be 4 days before they can even look at it! They did confirm over the phone that it most likely sounds like a processor failure and that they have had a few of these.

Not really what I expect from Apple's highest end and highest price machine!!!

Jordan · Aug 8, 2005, 04:50 PM

Yes - still waiting for my machine to come back from Apple.

Spoke to them on Friday and they said that they replaced the processor with a new one but it started failing again immediately.

Almost at the point now that I want a new machine!!!! I've been without it for a couple of weeks now....

Grrr....