DP Gigabit freezes during boot

P

podmate

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I have a Dual 450 Gigabit Powermac that freezes during OS boot.

This machine will not boot into 10.2 at all. The boot will start, but after 30 seconds or so everything freezes.

None of the HD's are SCSI.

I am using a known good 30gb Maxtor HD with 10.2.8 that was pulled from a B&W.

This machine will occasionally boot into 9.2. It will invariably freeze after a few seconds. Usually, the machine will freeze at some point during the boot process (usualy within the last steps).
I am using a known good 6gb Apple (Maxtor) HD with 9.2 that was pulled from a B&W.

I have also tried to install 10.3 onto a known good 40gb Seagate (no OS installed, but "initialized" by 10.2.8) and the install process will freeze at the screen where you are asked to select the drive to be installed on.



I have run the Version 1 Apple Hardware Test CD multiple times and everything passed.

I have switched out the stock DVD-ROM drive for a known good DVD-RAM drive with no change in behavior. I have also switched out the HD ribbon with no change in behavior.

I have verified that each HD is set to master.

The machine is stock with the exception of 1 256mb Cruical RAM stick that is a pull from a B&W (and was also tested in a quicksilver). Graphics is a stock ATI AGP card. No Airport, 3rd party PCI cards or SCSI drives/cards.

I am using the smurf keyboard and mouse from a B&W.

Ethernet cable is attached. No other usb or firewire devices are attached.

Monitor is VGA.

Any ideas on what my next steps should be in figuring out whats wrong with this PowerMac?

Thanks,
David
 
Sounds like you might have bad memory. I wish there was a reliable bootcd/disk type program like Memtest86 for Macs.....but I haven't found a good software based memory tester for macs :( I'd try pulling out some of your ram, or replacing it with some from a known working machine :)
 
Already done.
I have 3 sticks of RAM that worked fine under 10.2.8 on a B&W (I also tested 1 stick in a quicksilver).
I have been rotating the RAM so that I try a boot with each stick (I only use 1 stick at a time) and I have tested each stick with the AHT CD and they all passed.

Bad CPU???
 
I know this my sound crazy, but have you checked your PRAM battery??

Your computer can display some very unusual behavior when that little battery goes bad.

Just a thought, and something that is very cheap to replace.

Good luck
 
naodx said:
I know this my sound crazy, but have you checked your PRAM battery??

Your computer can display some very unusual behavior when that little battery goes bad.

Just a thought, and something that is very cheap to replace.

Good luck
Click to expand...


The Battery is brand new.
I also pushed the cuda button after replacing the battery (the old one was dead).
 
podmate said:
I have verified that each HD is set to master.
Click to expand...

If you're running two HDs at the same bus, one should be set to master and one to slave. It works just fine when booting from a CD, but not from a HD? Since the optical drives and HDs are on separate busses, it could sound like that's the problem.

The computer would also hang like that if the processors are faulty, like if they're overheating or clocked too high. Have you ever removed the heat sink and/or processor card?
 
I am only running 1 HD at a time and each one is set to master.

I have never removed the heat sink or processor.

When booting from OS 9 CD the computer does not freeze at the same place all the time.
About 75% of the time I am able to get the CD to boot fully. As soon as I move my mouse all of the files/folders disapear.
I am left with the OS 9 top nav bar and a mouse that will move but the top nav will not respond to click events.

I have rerun the AHT CD and everything still passes.

Now I must make a decision. Do I buy a new logic board and hope its not the CPU's or do I part out the computer?
 
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