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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Startup Hangs on Apple Logo - Leopard

Startup Hangs on Apple Logo - Leopard
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Apple Pro Underwear
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Jun 23, 2010, 03:57 PM
 
Okay, so I fixed the issues (from the other thread) concerning hardware for my Dual PPC Powermac G5 running Tiger. Basically, I decided to upgrade to Leopard instead of buying hardware (which I didn't know I could do).

I installed Leopard on it and now it stalls at the gray Apple Logo and hangs and then the fan turns on at some point.

I installed Leopard on a separate internal hard drive and fixed the disk permissions on the hard drive that has the hanging issues.

There is no peripherals plugged in except for a Cinema display and Apple mouse and keyboard set.


Any ideas?
     
AKcrab
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Jun 23, 2010, 05:47 PM
 
I would reinstall. If it still won't boot you might be looking at a drive issue.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 23, 2010, 07:14 PM
 
That sounds like a plan. With the fixed disk permissions, that should clear it out when it restarts from the install.

Maybe I should zap the pram too. Does that work for non OS9 computers? I haven't done it for like a decade!
     
reader50
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Jun 23, 2010, 07:34 PM
 
It boots OK from the Leopard Install DVD, right? Did you select the new boot disk in Startup Disk?

You can try booting in verbose mode (command-v) to see if it's hanging somewhere. Also, for any PPC Mac, the drive must use the Apple Partition Map partition scheme. It can't boot from GUID partitioning.

It may not help to zap pram, but it won't hurt anything. How long did you wait during boot? It may just take longer during the first Leopard boot.

Question: was this a clean Leopard install, or a Tiger upgrade? If it was an upgrade install, had the Tiger install been giving you trouble before?

I'm thinking out loud here, along various lines that might cause your problem.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 23, 2010, 08:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
It boots OK from the Leopard Install DVD, right? Did you select the new boot disk in Startup Disk?.
Yes. I did it from the other internal hard drive. Just hangs.

You can try booting in verbose mode (command-v) to see if it's hanging somewhere. Also, for any PPC Mac, the drive must use the Apple Partition Map partition scheme. It can't boot from GUID partitioning..
I never changed the partitioning from when it came from Apple and I ran Tiger on that hard drive for 5 years, so I don't think it's that.

It may not help to zap pram, but it won't hurt anything. How long did you wait during boot? It may just take longer during the first Leopard boot..
I waited for like an hour.

Question: was this a clean Leopard install, or a Tiger upgrade? If it was an upgrade install, had the Tiger install been giving you trouble before?.
It was a Tiger upgrade. The Tiger install had been giving me trouble during a previous failed install. I was trying to do an install from a firewire drive and tried to follow a tutorial where I restore the ISO using Disk utility and then startup from that. It failed, but I got a disk and installed using that and everything went great until restart. Then I installed Leopard to the other internal hard drive and repaired permissions on the problem drive - and now it hangs. I thought the fresh Leopard install would fix everything.

I'm going to zap the pram and then if that doesn't work, re-install again now that I repaired permissions on that drive.

I'm thinking out loud here, along various lines that might cause your problem.
Thanks!
     
Tuoder
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Jun 23, 2010, 11:55 PM
 
+1 on the reinstall.

Also, let it check the install disc for errors. I've installed from scratched discs before, causing the machine to not boot. If the disc was scratched, or if by chance you are using a burned copy it may not have burned perfectly. If there is an issue with the install disc it will likely be picked up in the check.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 24, 2010, 03:46 AM
 
I did the archive re-install where it places the old system into another folder. It failed to copy the user profiles and told me to restart. That drive/install doesn't show up as a bootable volume anymore so now I'm stuck.

I would be satisfied if I could just copy the desktop files for one of the users and be done with it. Is that possible at all? All the users on that install except for the admin are locked.

Thanks.
     
Big Mac
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Jun 24, 2010, 03:51 AM
 
You can copy files over to a new user, or you can use Migration Assistant to copy the user over.

The reason why your upgrade from Tiger failed was probably because of something like Shape Shifter if you had that installed previously.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Cold Warrior
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Jun 24, 2010, 10:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear View Post
I did the archive re-install where it places the old system into another folder. It failed to copy the user profiles and told me to restart. That drive/install doesn't show up as a bootable volume anymore so now I'm stuck.

I would be satisfied if I could just copy the desktop files for one of the users and be done with it. Is that possible at all? All the users on that install except for the admin are locked.

Thanks.
Does that machine have firewire? Put it in firewire target disk mode, then you can mount that drive on another firewire-capable Mac. In the disk properties, choose Ignore Permissions on this Volume to ensure you can get into the users' folders and save what you want.

Or pop the drive and put it in an enclosure for direct connection to another machine.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 24, 2010, 01:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
Does that machine have firewire? Put it in firewire target disk mode, then you can mount that drive on another firewire-capable Mac. In the disk properties, choose Ignore Permissions on this Volume to ensure you can get into the users' folders and save what you want.

Thanks, this sounds like a plan.

Where do I go to access the disk properties and turn the "Ignore Permissions" off?
     
Cold Warrior
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Jun 24, 2010, 01:55 PM
 
Get Info on the drive, once it's mounted.
     
reader50
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Jun 24, 2010, 02:14 PM
 
... then look for the Sharing & Permissions section at the bottom. Pop that section open, and there will be a checkbox at the very bottom to [x] Ignore ownership on this volume.

Salvage the User folders, then do a clean install and you should be good. Then create user accounts, and copy files back the old fashioned way.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 24, 2010, 04:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
... then look for the Sharing & Permissions section at the bottom. Pop that section open, and there will be a checkbox at the very bottom to [x] Ignore ownership on this volume.

Salvage the User folders, then do a clean install and you should be good. Then create user accounts, and copy files back the old fashioned way.
Just because termonology has changed - a clean install is a wipe and install right? (the bottom option on install)


Thanks guys!
     
Tuoder
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Jun 25, 2010, 01:11 AM
 
Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear View Post
Just because termonology has changed - a clean install is a wipe and install right? (the bottom option on install)


Thanks guys!
Erase and install is the impression I get from "clean install".
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 26, 2010, 12:12 PM
 
Thanks everybody for your help.

I think that Leopard on PPC will only last me so long. Adobe, Google and some other companies just don't make software that runs on PPC anymore and I suspect by the next OS, some of my everyday programs might not work.
     
reader50
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Jun 26, 2010, 02:05 PM
 
Does this mean you reinstalled successfully, everything is running fine now, and you won the beauty contest?
     
Tuoder
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Jun 27, 2010, 12:28 AM
 
Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear View Post
Thanks everybody for your help.

I think that Leopard on PPC will only last me so long. Adobe, Google and some other companies just don't make software that runs on PPC anymore and I suspect by the next OS, some of my everyday programs might not work.
Yeah, PPC is on it's way out. You can count on now new apps, and it won't be too long before existing PPC apps will no longer be updates. Then, it won't be long until you start having compatibility issues with the documents created and read by these apps.

On the plus side, you might able to hack things together. Until fairly recently, there were people trying to get things working correctly on Mac OS 9 (like iCab).
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 27, 2010, 11:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
Does this mean you reinstalled successfully, everything is running fine now, and you won the beauty contest?
Yes. Thanks. Firewire Target Mode did the trick. Although this makes me re-think security from people who have access to your physical space...
     
Cold Warrior
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Jun 27, 2010, 11:57 PM
 
A firmware password will prevent that.

Unless they have more time and physical access to open the machine to reset that firmware password. But it's another layer of security nonetheless.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 28, 2010, 12:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by Tuoder View Post
Yeah, PPC is on it's way out. You can count on now new apps, and it won't be too long before existing PPC apps will no longer be updates. Then, it won't be long until you start having compatibility issues with the documents created and read by these apps.

Agreed. My Powermac (although still powerful as all heck) will need to be replaced in 1-2 years.

The funny thing that I learned from this is that I think that I will never buy a Powermac ever again because I'd prefer a more "disposable" mac mini. That $800 would be spread out across a life-cycle of 3-4 years and then I'd get another one.

The cool part IMO is that I would not dump it the old one - I'd stack the new one on top of it and daisy chain the firewire cables from my external HDs (also stacked on top of each other) and I'd be done. When I determine it is completely useless to me and I want it off the desk, I'd just unplug it and stick it in a shoebox in my closet.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 28, 2010, 12:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
A firmware password will prevent that.

Unless they have more time and physical access to open the machine to reset that firmware password. But it's another layer of security nonetheless.
Is that easy to do?
     
Cold Warrior
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Jun 28, 2010, 12:12 AM
 
     
Tuoder
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Jun 28, 2010, 11:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear View Post
Agreed. My Powermac (although still powerful as all heck) will need to be replaced in 1-2 years.

The funny thing that I learned from this is that I think that I will never buy a Powermac ever again because I'd prefer a more "disposable" mac mini. That $800 would be spread out across a life-cycle of 3-4 years and then I'd get another one.

The cool part IMO is that I would not dump it the old one - I'd stack the new one on top of it and daisy chain the firewire cables from my external HDs (also stacked on top of each other) and I'd be done. When I determine it is completely useless to me and I want it off the desk, I'd just unplug it and stick it in a shoebox in my closet.
I think the only reason you ended up with a short lifecycle on this one was because of the PPC-Intel switch. I'd be willing to bet that current Mac Pros will be competent internet-access machines for the better part of a decade.

That being said, I've not done the math on what the cost would be on annual basis. I'd be willing to bet you'd get at least 5 years out of a Mac Pro as a video-editing machine or other creative professional uses, and then another five or so as a good home computer. After that, you might be able to move forward with it running Linux.

There are ancient PCs running ultralight Linux distros that are great internet-access/word processing or otherwise simple machines.
     
Apple Pro Underwear  (op)
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Jun 28, 2010, 04:12 PM
 
I'm not upset about the Powermac because I have used it in all its glory with NO problems for more than 5 years and growing to 6 or 7 probably. The space it takes up is valuable to me and the apps of course. Space IMO trumps everything these days because power is comparable.

For me, my iPod touch on wifi is a great internet machine much less a powermac. I'd bet I'm getting an iPad within 365 days and that will be even better. Makes no sense to keep the powermac... I have no idea what I am going to do with it except strip it of all it's parts.
     
   
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