Cannot Boot... WEIRD Apple logo on startup

MDLarson

MDLarson

Registered
Take a look at the attached file... that happens when attempting to startup from a Panther CD from a retail box. Here's exactly what happens:

• Insert the Mac OS X install disk 1
• Go to Startup Disk and select it... Restart
• Machine restarts, playing familiar startup chime
• Wait a few seconds, computer recognizes CD as startup disk
• Dark gray Apple logo appears on light gray background
• 7 or 8 seconds later, the logo shifts to the right and down a pixel or so (see attached image)
• 15 or 20 seconds later, the iMac's fans kick into high gear and sits there doing nothing (I let it sit in that state for about 20 minutes, nothing changed)

An earlier problem involving what I believe to be a fried ethernet port is why I'm trying to do all this. I'm thinking my 1.6 GHz 17" iMac G5 has hardware problems. Anyone have anything similar happening to their iMac?
 

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If you have trouble deciphering that attached image, the Apple logo image seems to shift to the right, and the tip of the logo (beneath the bite mark) pops up on the left side. Furthermore, there is a strip of weird colored pixels on the top left of the area. The rest of the screen is just the light gray color.
 
Could be a bad disk. Can you boot from a Jaguar, or other disks. Just restart holding the C key with the disk in.
 
It sounds like bad NVRAM to me, have you tried flashing it? (boot with OPTION-APPLE-P-R at least on older machines, I assume it's the same for yours). The computer will chime as if booting and then chime again, let that happen at least three times before you release the key combo and let it boot normally or from CD as you desire.

If that doesn't work, I'd worry about a bad logic board...
 
It resets the PRAM. I believe, to reset NVRAM, you must: a) have an open-firmware based machine, and b) boot into open-firmware and type "reset-nvram" then "reset-all".

I do not believe that PRAM and NVRAM are the same thing, but I could be wrong.
 
I think, though, that the PRAM settings are saved in NVRAM, so resetting the latter would also reset the former.
 
I have seen this several times. I call it an 'almost-boot', and usually is caused by trying a boot with a boot CD that is too old (older than the version required to boot the system). If your retail box Panther is 10.3, then this can't boot an iMac G5. You must have 10.3.5 or later. Most Macs just won't boot with a system older than the version it shipped with.
 
I run into the same problem discussed in this thread (Apple logo misplaced, bootup does not complete). Retail version of Panther on a a PowerBook 1.33Ghz (July 2004). I bought Tiger and it didn't give me any problems installing.

Edited to add: Hey, I also get those discolorations (smudginess) next to the Apple logo!
 
I have seen this several times. I call it an 'almost-boot', and usually is caused by trying a boot with a boot CD that is too old (older than the version required to boot the system). If your retail box Panther is 10.3, then this can't boot an iMac G5. You must have 10.3.5 or later. Most Macs just won't boot with a system older than the version it shipped with.
Click to expand...

I have to agree. This is the cause of misplaced Apple logo and the failed boot sequence. The same thing happens if I try to boot retail 10.3 install cd on my mac mini.
 
Most Macs just won't boot with a system older than the version it shipped with.
Click to expand...

That theory works for me. My PowerBook came with 10.3.3 and it won't boot from the Panther CD I bought as soon as Panther was released. However, the Panther CD works for my iBook 900.
 
Well, that was it. I tried using the install disks that came with the iMac, and, lo and behold, it worked! The earlier boxed version of Mac OS X (10.3.3, I believe) was indeed older than the 10.3.5 disk that came with the computer.

And the ethernet port issue I thought I was having was actually not the iMac's fault at all... it was caused by a known issue with the Actiontec DSL Gateway R1524SU modem (used by our Qwest DSL connection). THAT problem was temporarily solved by manually making the ethernet card go 10baseT / half-duplex, and will be permanently solved by Actiontec when they send me a new modem.

It feels good to solve problems like this, especially when I was looking at having to bring the iMac into an Apple Store to get it diagnosed for a hardware failure. (whew!)
 
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