[EH21]

Hi All,
I just got back from a three week vacation and my G5 won't turn on. If i push the button on the unit or the display, I hear a relay click and then the button will light briefly and then fade out. Nothing comes on the screen and I hear no fan noise nor any start up sounds or chime tones. The machine was working perfectly when I shut it down before leaving with no symptoms. This was the first time I have shut it down for that long. I did some searching on the MacNN forums and found one post with similar symptoms that turned out to be a bad CPU. My guess was that something simple would be required like reseating the power cord but that didn't work. Any other suggestions for trouble shooting before I lug the sad mac into a store expecting to replace a powersupply or yikes a CPU or two? My machine was one of the first 2.0's available so undoubtably out of warrantee.

Thanks,
Eric

[andreas_g4]

That sux to hear, man. Maybe the internel backup battery drained. I'm not sure whether this affects the startup of a G5 as well, it sure does prevent startup on a PowerBook, however.

Good luck!

[stburt]

my friend haad similar prob last week with a G4. I recall there was some problem with the battery. Sorry i can't be more specific, but you could try replacing the battery....

[EH21]

Thanks for the suggestions re: battery. I just pulled the one from my old computer a G4 and put it in just to see if it made a difference and it didn't. Actually having the battery completely out also made no difference.
The machine clicks when plugged in and makes a similar click when the power button is pressed and the little light goes on for a brief moment and then fades.

Any other ideas?

Eric

[osxisfun]

is it really cold in your office? I have seen g5s do this until things got warm. (i am not joking) turn off the air cond. if you have it. It might be vid card related and not mobo.

[Al G]

Try reseting the PMU or SMU. How to do It differs depending on what version machine you have. For later machines with a SMU: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341

For earlier machines with a PMU, I don't see exact instructions online; Apple says to check your user's manual for instructions. Here are instructions for the G5 Xserve but you'll have to locate the PMU reset button on your Powermac logic board: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86757

[indyfan31]

My dual-G4 did the same thing. From the support website I found a few suggestions, the first one worked. I pulled the battery, waited about 10 minutes, then put it back.
Aside from that, Al G's suggestions would be next.

[EH21]

Hi Al G and others,

My machine is still not working. So far I have tried replacing the battery and the PMU reset button (which was behind the removable CPU fan module) with no luck. I still get the relay click and nothing else. Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Eric