[mikemako]

My Powermac G4 1.4GHz recently died, or so it seems. There have been no hardware or software changes recently, but when I try to boot it up, it only gets as far as the blank blue screen. I tried all the usual things = removed all non-Apple devices, reset PRAM, ran disk check, and I ran the Apple hardware test disk. Finally, I clean installed OS X after formatting the hard drive.

OS X installed fine, but once it was finished, it did the same thing: blue screen. I tried using a different hard drive, same thing. Strangely, the OS will boot in Safe Mode.

Has anyone else experienced this problem who could tell me how you fixed it? If it's something I can replace myself, then I would like to try, but I don't really know how to determine which hardware component is causing this problem.

I am very thankful for any help.

[Simon]

Have you tried using a different set of install disks? Yours could be damaged.

[mikemako]

Thanks for the suggestion, but yeah I did try using a different install disk and the same thing: OS X installed, but once installation was complete, I just got the blue screen of sadness.

Has anyone else had a similar problem, and if so, what was the hardware cause? If I just need to buy a new video card or something simple then I can to that, but if it's something complicated like the motherboard, then I'll have to recycle my buddy... I expect Apple would charge a lot to get something like that fixed, right?

[P]

* Check the motherboard if there are any bulging capacitors. Your Mac is in the range where that was fairly common. Could also be in the PSU, but that's harder to check.

* Try pulling a few DIMMs and see if that helps.

* Check the cooling. A long shot, but the install disks sometimes run the fans a little faster than the actual OS does. Doesn't hurt to clean them.

* Try a different HD as the start drive.

That said, none of these seem to make a lot of sense if the install works, but they're possible and they're things you might try yourself.

[Googer-Giger]

Originally Posted by P 

* Try pulling a few DIMMs and see if that helps.

Yeah, i am willing to bet it is bad ram, or a bad amount.

[mikemako]

Update: it was a bad video card. I have replaced it and the computer is now working.

The only other problem I now have is that the computer requires the PMU button to be pushed if it is shut down because the computer will not boot back up. I bought a replacement battery online and am waiting for that to arrive to see if it resolves this last problem.

thanks again for everyone's help.

[papaG]

"Update: it was a bad video card. I have replaced it and the computer is now working."

I have the same problem with my G4 MDD. It started with no video, then I replaced the battery. Now the only way I can get my mac to work is by starting up in safe boot.

I too strip the machine of every thing and currently only have a single harddrive which I re-install the os. If I try to start the system normally , I would get the blue screen or the gray screen "You need to restart your computer.."

I too think it might be the video card and want to replace it. However, I am not sure if I should replace it with the same type or another. Which video card did you used?

Thanks.