[VidInTheCity]

I've seen a bunch of posts and googled a billion times with different combinations of the search and couldn't find anything with a successful outcome... so here I go.

Powermac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz Early 2004

When I hit the power button to turn it on, the fans start up, the HD spins, but that's it. The light on top of the power button does NOT stay on unless I hold the power button down.

Removing the air deflector shield causes the fans to run at full throttle.

The power supply is good (I took the computer apart and put it into my other computer and it worked fine).

If it IS the motherboard, what can I do to fix it besides buying a new board?? I'm good with a soldering iron and have worked on powerbooks and iBooks a'plenty. Anyone wanna help and be my special friend?!!? Or anyone wanna BUY it!??! Should I sell it? I don't know.. anyone for advice??
Thanks!!
-James

[windows_sucks]

you may want to check RAM?

[brokenjago]

Re-seat the RAM, check all connections, reset PMU.

But I'm sure you've done all this already.

[VidInTheCity]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

Re-seat the RAM, check all connections, reset PMU.

But I'm sure you've done all this already.

Yup -- I've checked all connections, swapped RAM into another computer and it worked fine, same with video card and hard drive. . .

[VidInTheCity]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

Re-seat the RAM, check all connections, reset PMU.

But I'm sure you've done all this already.

Yup -- I've checked all connections, swapped RAM into another computer and it worked fine, same with video card and hard drive and reset the PMU with the button on the logic board. . .

[josephanthony636]

I am having this exact same problem.

My G5 was off, but still plugged in when our town had a crazy power outage. (lasted about a week). I unplugged the computer after the power went out. The power came back on later in the week. Now when I hit the power button... this exact same problem is occuring.

Fans boot up, Hard disks spin. Nothing else. This is my studio computer. I'm screwed. Help!

[chris v]

Will either of these machines boot from a CD?

[Dr. Wahnsinn]

The service manual for the early G5 models points to the front panel board and/or its cable. Try reseating the cable. If that doesn't work, the cable and/or board could be faulty.

Apple's description of symptoms: "Power-on LED does not illuminate when power button is pressed, but fans spin, boot tone chimes, and there is video".

[Tenacious Dyl]

I had the same problem... had a big power failure, and the thing wouldn't boot, but the fans did come on. I tried the pram, the pmu, etc... nothing. I swapped out cards... nothing, checked all my cables, nothing..

I then tried different combos of ram (i had 3 pairs of sticks.... 6 total) and for some reason, two of them died after that power failure. Computer booted fine without them, and the company sent me two new sticks, which have worked fine since (and were the same exact type of sticks)

It doesn't seem like a power failure could fail 2 of my sticks, and nothing else... but it did... and yes. Try booting the g5 with different sticks, (i know you said you tested the sticks in another computer... but still) Also, if you have another compatible graphics card, try that. It might help.

[BlueSky]

Consider this ?

[jessepdx]

i have a powermac Dual G5 2.0 exhibiting the exact same symptoms

is there a fix for this yet?