G5 Problems.

N

nady

Registered
Hi all, my G5 (10.5.4)in work has has some HD errors (From the Disk utility program) that need to be resolved by restarting with the os CD. But The OSX Disc will not load i just get a light blue screen.

Is there anyway i can fix these problems?

Many thanks
 
Hi Nady, what version of Mac OS X are yiou trying to install?
Is the Disk Utility from the SAME install disc? Ie. not from a previous or later version of Mac OS X?

What is the exact error message it shows?
Invalid b-tree/node structure?
 
Hi I have 10.5.4 on there at the moment and that's the same CD i am trying to run from startup to access the disk utility to fix the harddrive.

When i run the disc utility from the hard drive this is what i get:

Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
%)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair_
The volume The volume arlow needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Click to expand...

I only noticed this problem because i was upgrading to Leopard and the lepoard just hung on the space background from the install disc.
 
Hi getting a bit confused now :)

The Leopard disk is not grey, but the tiger one is, in fact it's 2 discs. But i am only trying to launch from tiger (Original OS installed) is to repair the HD - from the errors above, then maybe i can fix the problem with the discs not loading, catch 22 :)
 
Ah, gray as it shipped with that Mac. If you have 10.4 installed on that Mac now, then 10.4 Disk Utility should do to fix it.
That error message isn't too clear on what part failed.

I'd make sure I have a clean backup of all your data, try something like DiskWarrior (if you have that application).

And if those fail, make sure there are no hardware errors reported on the system (run Apple Hardware Test, it is in one of those 2 gray discs you have), and consider, as long as no hardware errors are reported, wiping that harddrive clear and doing a new install of OS on that.
 
Thanks, Disk Utility stills says - it stopped because of an underlying error?

I ran it off the mac os cd, do i have to startup with the cd as the os to fix the hard drive problems?

Thanks, much appreciated btw
 
Yes, you must start up from the CD in order to repair the hard drive.

Be aware that running Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" while booted into OS X from the hard drive will always report some errors, simply because some errors cannot be fixed while booted from the hard drive, and some things cannot be scanned while booted from the hard drive:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2711

To boot from the Mac OS X Install CD, put the CD in the drive and do one of two things:

1) Open the "Startup Disk" preference pane and select the CD to be the startup disk, then restart the computer.
2) Restart the computer and immediately hold down the 'c' key (and keep it held down) until the computer boots from the CD.

Then, select "Disk Utility" from the "Installer" or the "Utilities" menu in the menubar, and repair the hard drive.
 
Thanks, I tried starting with the CD holding down the C key but all i got was a plane light blue screen. I'll try the Startup disk method to see if that works.

Many thanks!!
 
Well the startup disc does not work either - nothing happens??

I have run Onyx, is there any other software i can use?
 
Are you sure the gray disks are the one that came with that particular computer? Do they say "G5 Restore Disks" or something similar on the front? What do the front of the disks say, exactly?
 
Yes you are correct, feel such an idiot!! It was the mac os x Tiger for my mac bookpro LoL.

Now we can't find the original discs for the G5's anywhere (Was set up before i joined the company). Can i just buy a copy of tiger and use that, will that work?
 
Yes, it should work -- as long as you purchase a retail version of Tiger that is equal to or later than the version that shipped with your G5.

For example, if your G5 shipped with Mac OS X 10.4.8, you cannot buy a Tiger install disk that is 10.4.7 or earlier. You must use 10.4.8, 10.4.9, 10.4.10 or 10.4.11. To be perfectly safe, I would recommend 10.4.9 or later, since sometimes Mac computers ship with 10.4.8, but small tweaks have been made to the gray restore disks for that computer that are not present on the 10.4.8 retail disk.

I'm just using 10.4.8 as an example -- your G5 may or may not have shipped with 10.4.8, so apply the above rules to whatever version the G5 originally shipped with.

It would probably be easiest (although not the cheapest, since Tiger is less expensive than Leopard) to purchase a new, retail Leopard install disk set -- unless there is some reason you need to run Tiger instead of Leopard.
 
Thanks, well i have the newest version of leopard, this is where all this started LoL - when the computer restarts from the install DVD, i just get the red galaxy/space image and nothing else happens! I did this on my G5 (exact same model as my colleges) and it installed in just under an hour!

The only difference is he had final cut on his!

So what to do now, getting the tiger install just to fix the mac is not a problem. Bur in the end need Leopard on it :)

Have a good weekend
 
How long did you wait when you booted from the Leopard install DVD? It can take some time -- I would suggest booting from the Leopard install DVD, then just waiting... and waiting... walk away if need be (a watched pot never boils, so to speak). Just because one G5 boots quickly from the DVD does not mean that all G5s boot quickly from the DVD.

If two hours pass, then that is definitely too long for it to boot.
 
Thanks, yes let it go for over 2 hours - the 2 G5's are identical and it started installing within a few minutes on mine. Good news is i found the original install CD :) will try on Monday!

Also we have had problem with the fire wall, stopping updates, so i wonder if the Tiger OS has had bugs relating to my problem? maybe i'll download manually from home the updates and try them first?
 
A firewall can only prevent downloading updates, not the actual installing of them. If you can download the updates, then you can install them, so a firewall most likely isn't the cause.
 
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