G4 startup issues

shillizzle · #1 May 30th, 2008, 01:15 AM

So I bought a G4 ppc 450mhz with 1.25gig ram running os x 10.3.9. Had it for a day and was sooo happy with it, no problems... untill i used the apple software update. at first it gave an error saying that i needed permissions to write to the temp dir, or something similar. I have the only account and therefore I am the admin. but I tried the update again and it downloaded but could not expand the update, it said to download again and choose the package from the finder. but the mac froze and had to do a hard reset. now when i boot, I dont get the startup chime, and the monitor stays in standby mode. The led lights up and the fan is running,
1. I did change one of the ram sticks from a 256 to a 512, could the ram be the problem?
2. If the HD became corrupt would that also cause this problem? its makes noise for a second but then is silent.
I dont have a retail os x disk to try to boot from, and I have tried alll the methods for booting, (cont+option, hold-c, hold-x). just to see if i can get any visuals of any kind.
I appreciate any advice

VirtualTracy · #2 May 30th, 2008, 02:10 AM

Did the G4 come to you with a fresh install of Panther?

shillizzle · #3 May 30th, 2008, 02:18 AM

yes, i set up the initial account. The guy left it fresh so the person who bought it could set it up, I called the guy and he does have the retail panther disk and i will get it on fri evening, he said we could try swapping the hdd and the ram to try and trouble shoot if need be,

shillizzle · #4 May 30th, 2008, 12:37 PM

What would happen if i disconnected the HDD and then started it up? What kind of error would i get? I can hear the HDD "computing" im not sure if it is stuck in an endless loop? im going to leave it running for a while and see if it just needs time to finish "making noise"..

Kees Buijs · #5 June 2nd, 2008, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shillizzle

What would happen if i disconnected the HDD and then started it up? What kind of error would i get? I can hear the HDD "computing" im not sure if it is stuck in an endless loop? im going to leave it running for a while and see if it just needs time to finish "making noise"..

It will start from an available startup disk in your case it might be the OS X installation disk in the cd-drive. You can also force the computer to start from the CD (or DVD) by pressing the C key while turning on your computer.

Also undo any changes done are receiving the computer on the ahrdware level, or even remove it if possible (if you have multiple memory modules, remove all but the first (or first two when the system requires 2 modules to function properly, which is quite frequently).

It looks like your OS X installation is damaged an re-installation is the easiest way out (if you ahve the disks ofcourse).

Good luck, Kees