[ebuddy]

G5 keeps freezing, monitor goes to black. Ran memtestosx and it ran several checks all came back okay. I've verified all RAM is firmly seated and cleaned everything out. I've done nothing differently to the machine to cause this condition. No new installs, nothing.

Can't find hardware cd that came with machine and am still running 10.3.9 because can't afford both Tiger update and Digital Performer upgrade.

Is ir RAM, video card, ATTO drivers (whatever those are).

I'm a spoiled rotten brat with years of band projects on this machine that I can't use. Is it a peripheral? All info I'm reading on this is less than clear. I can't return the machine. It's a couple years old. 2.0 ghz G5. Thanx for any advise.

[jpuckrin]

What I would do.

#1 Unplug everything run the machine. Keep plugging stuff in until the machine works. As you are doing it make sure that the connections are nice and tight. Make sure that the G5 has enough power. Check to make sure your not on the end of 16 power bars tied together.
#2 Failing that Boot into open firmware and type : reset-all
#3 failing that more OF tricks, but do that first then report back.

-J

[Baburao786]

"G5 keeps freezing, monitor goes to black. Ran memtestosx and it ran several checks all came back okay. I've verified all RAM is firmly seated and cleaned everything out. I've done nothing differently to the machine to cause this condition. No new installs, nothing."

I used to have that problem also when I first got my G5 (dual 1.8ghz with 2Gig of Ram)...At first I thought it was probably the RAM or the Hard Drive, but after much troubleshooting with Apple, it came down to the fact that the G5 processors installed were bad. The CPU would freeze at a random time everytime I tried to run multiple applications (FCP and DVD Studio).

I am not sure if you still have your apple care...if not then I suggest you buy it and haul that thing to an apple store...the apple care should cover it. Hope it helps

[awcopus]

Probably a faulty logic board. I say this as somebody at the end of dealing with Apple (Doesn't) Care.

The first replacement of the logic board did not solve my problem. Most recent replacement seems to have.

Good luck. Thanks to AppleCare, repair costs of over $2800.00 were covered, fyi.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by awcopus

Probably a faulty logic board. I say this as somebody at the end of dealing with Apple (Doesn't) Care.

The first replacement of the logic board did not solve my problem. Most recent replacement seems to have.

Good luck. Thanks to AppleCare, repair costs of over $2800.00 were covered, fyi.

I don't think I can get AppleCare at this point. I've also noticed that when it used to boot up, it would go through several things quickly while in blue screen. The little progress bar would progress while indicating certain system check.

This time when I started up, it just said; "checked disks" and my desktop appeared. Very strange. I'm waiting for it to freeze again and I'll keep you all posted.

[ebuddy]

I've unplugged all peripherals, removed all third party RAM. I'm now down to 500 mbs RAM and no peripherals.

Froze again.

Again, upon blue screen at startup, it used to go through all kinds of checks. Now the progress bar only gets one third the way, says Checking Disks and starts up without going through anything else.

Still freezing.

[awcopus]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

I've unplugged all peripherals, removed all third party RAM. I'm now down to 500 mbs RAM and no peripherals.

Froze again.

Again, upon blue screen at startup, it used to go through all kinds of checks. Now the progress bar only gets one third the way, says Checking Disks and starts up without going through anything else.

Still freezing.

Start up off of a System CD (Panther, Tiger, etc) and see how that goes. Basically, you insert the CD and start up the computer holding down the C key. It's worth your while to see if the basic problem is your HD. If it isn't, you're looking at buying a new Mac.

I feel your pain eBuddy. Good luck.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by awcopus

Start up off of a System CD (Panther, Tiger, etc) and see how that goes. Basically, you insert the CD and start up the computer holding down the C key. It's worth your while to see if the basic problem is your HD. If it isn't, you're looking at buying a new Mac.

I feel your pain eBuddy. Good luck.

What I've basically done is pull the preferences folder from the Library and moved it to my desktop. I logged off, then logged back on. Checking to see if it was a corrupted preference or something. If my system stay up, then I'll slowly pull one off, then back on depending on the issue and probably according to the problems encountered in the System log to see if this does anything.

I appreciate your empathy. This is most frustrating.

[ebuddy]

Still on. I've only moved a few preferences back. I'm being very conservative. Granted, no tasty desktop, no email prefs, etc... but I'm up at least for now.

Hey, where would I find preferences for email so I don't have to re-enter all the POP info.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by jpuckrin

What I would do.

#1 Unplug everything run the machine. Keep plugging stuff in until the machine works. As you are doing it make sure that the connections are nice and tight. Make sure that the G5 has enough power. Check to make sure your not on the end of 16 power bars tied together.
#2 Failing that Boot into open firmware and type : reset-all
#3 failing that more OF tricks, but do that first then report back.

-J

1) unplugged all peripherals. no luck
2) booted into open firmware and typed 'reset-nvram' [enter], then 'reset-all' [enter]. Screen went blank and rebooted as it should, but then it froze after 3 minutes. Screen went blank and all froze.
3) now it boots up, but no screen and immediate freeze. I've restarted 3 times and it will not come on.

In summary;

- all USB peripherals unplugged
- ran memtestosx; all checked out okay.
- pulled all third party RAM, started up, froze
- put third party RAM back in and pulled original Apple RAM, started up, froze.
- pulled preference file from Library folder, logged off, then back on. Everything is back to bare-bones preferences wise. Ran approximately 5 minutes, froze.
- booted in OF, reset nvram and reset-all. froze after 3 minutes and every boot since freezes immediately.
- I'm trying to find out what the serial number is. Apparently there were some problems with the dual 2ghz G5's.

I'm ready for more tricks. Hell, I'll try anything at this point.

This is killing me. Please tell me it's not the logic board. I've read a lot of horror stories on this and I'd absolutely hate to think I spent $2400.00 on a machine rendered useless after less than two years. I've been chugging away on an $800 Dell at work for over 5 years. Please tell me jpuckrin, that I've not been hornswaggled again. I can't afford to fix it if it's the logic board. This would be a world-killer for me right now. Not to mention 3 other band mates.

SOS

[jpuckrin]

Like everyone else has mentioned do whatever you can to find some boot disk. Eliminate the HD and software issues in one shot.

Also you can try reseting the PMU. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341

Other then that I find it very odd it will boot into the OS then freeze after 3-5min unless it was heat, OS or hardware related [logic board, HD, fan failure, ect].

Sounds like it might_ small chance be the hard drive if you have another one kicking around try that.

Let me know if any of that helps.

_J

[ebuddy]

I put the Panther Disk 1 in, shut down, then started back up while holding down "C" and screen blanks out, system freezes still.

Give me the hard news guys, having tried to boot off the Panther 1 disk, am I toast? Is it the logic board? Is there absolutely anything else I can try?

[ebuddy]

I read somewhere that if you're still experiencing problems, it could be your hard drive even though you're trying to boot from OS disc. I've disconnected the hard drive power supply and data cable to eliminate the hard drive from the equation entirely, then held 'c' and booted into Panther disc 1. I've been up (and have read the license agreement and install options 'til I'm blue in the face ) I've been up approximately 35 minutes. I need to go another 30 minutes or so to be certain I've got this narrowed down, though I must say this is probably the most time I've been up when starting cold in the morning.

Strange, very strange... and I'm finding this out after having just ordered a new video card trying to narrow that down.

[brokenjago]

Yeah, looks like your HDD....

You did backup, right?

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

Yeah, looks like your HDD....

You did backup, right?

Couldn't stay up long enough to back up a darned thing.

UPDATE;

Now this is bizarro. After having been up about an hour with HD unplugged, I decided to verify this for certain by shutting down and reconnecting the power and data cable to the HD. I booted up and it assumed the Panther disc 1. (I assume this is because the last time I did this I had the HD unplugged entirely.)

I went ahead and used the disk utility and "repaired disk". It came up with only one strange message;

"Volume Header needs minor repair"
"Volume header repaired"

I quit the installer, chose my HD as the startup disk and this time, after the grey startup screen, it went to the blue screen with progress bar and went all the way through startup like it should. You'll recall at the top of this thread, I mentioned that it would get 1/3rd the way through where it would say "checking disks", but up would pop my desktop, then 3-5 minutes later would freeze.

This would be the fourth time I've thought I found something, but I can honestly tell you that after repairing the "volume header", it boots through as it should and I've been up about 20 minutes. I'll update tonight after giving it some time.

[awcopus]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

This would be the fourth time I've thought I found something, but I can honestly tell you that after repairing the "volume header", it boots through as it should and I've been up about 20 minutes. I'll update tonight after giving it some time.

Immediately back up your critical data to DVD. Then buy a new HD from newegg.com and get the HD in there out.

[brokenjago]

Originally Posted by awcopus

Immediately back up your critical data to DVD. Then buy a new HD from newegg.com and get the HD in there out.

2nded, 3rded, 4thed and 5thed.

[ebuddy]

Okay, okay.
... all joking about what a moron ebuddy is.

With all of your help, we determined a problem with my hard drive so I pulled it. I've installed a new SeaGate 160GB SATA drive into the upper slot. (making it my only HD right now) and I've booted from the Panther Disk 1. I've run disk utility and selected erase which created a volume of my naming.

Now what? When I go back to the installer and I try to install the OS, I get to the "select destination" pane where my newly named volume appears, but with a large red exclamation point through it. When I try to select it anyhow, it will not let me install the OS to that volume and it tells me that I cannot boot from this volume either.

What else do I need to do???

[ebuddy]

Thanx for all your help peepz. I'm back on line and all is well. Luckily, found Panther install discs and made it happen. It's so rare that I've had to dig around with the machine and the software that the few times I do run into a problem I'm like; okay, where's the discs that came with the machine? How do I swap out a hard drive? Fan, what fan? Oh, screwdriver on my Mac?!?

This problem was definitely the hard drive. I know this because I've been up several hours with updates.

Replaced it and now all is well. Couldn't have suffered through it w/o the help of trusted MacNN online support.

good day all and thanx again!

[brokenjago]

No problem.
We do what we can

[awcopus]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

Thanx for all your help peepz. I'm back on line and all is well. Luckily, found Panther install discs and made it happen. It's so rare that I've had to dig around with the machine and the software that the few times I do run into a problem I'm like; okay, where's the discs that came with the machine? How do I swap out a hard drive? Fan, what fan? Oh, screwdriver on my Mac?!?

This problem was definitely the hard drive. I know this because I've been up several hours with updates.

Replaced it and now all is well. Couldn't have suffered through it w/o the help of trusted MacNN online support.

good day all and thanx again!

When you share an experience like this on Macnn or other forums, you end up helping other people. So, thanks for sharing.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by awcopus

When you share an experience like this on Macnn or other forums, you end up helping other people. So, thanks for sharing.

I hate to be a pest, but I'm a little paranoid about something. I'm now reading that the specs for the G5 state clearly; must be 3.9" SATA drive, 1" thich, 5.7" long. Question is, the new SeaGate that I put in was significantly thinner than the original drive. I mean, it slid in w/o hassle and I'm certainly up and running as if everything's in order, but will this cause a problem for me down the road???

[reader50]

If it fits, it will be fine. Consider the height spec to be a maximum height.

I hope you left the old HD in long enough to copy your data across. In my books, it would be well worth it to risk a few freezes in order to recover 2 years of work files.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by reader50

If it fits, it will be fine. Consider the height spec to be a maximum height.

I hope you left the old HD in long enough to copy your data across. In my books, it would be well worth it to risk a few freezes in order to recover 2 years of work files.

... stole the thoughts right out of my keyboard.

I actually did that this morning. I had the old drive pulled while I formatted and reinstalled OS on new hard drive. I wanted to make sure I installed Digital Performer 4.0 clean, then updated back to 4.12. Just after getting the audio and midi interfaces back on line with driver updates, I reinstalled old hard drive. Fortunately I still had an hour to kill before leaving for work so I started dragging and dropping. All the song files are loaded and working.

Thanx for lookin' out reader50.