iMac G5 Will Not Boot, Fans Simply Run

M

menenbach1

Registered
Hello,

My iMac G5 Power PC was working just fine, no problems. (2.0 GHZ, SuperDrive, OS 10.5). Before I went to bed, I placed a DVD into the Superdrive for copy by Toast Titanium. I wake up in the morning, the screen is black and the fans are running as fast and hard as possible. Unable to use anything or shutdown, I unfortunately had to use a hard shutdown via Power button. DVD did not eject.

Tried restarting the computer. I can hear it trying to boot from blank DVD. After done trying to boot from blank DVD, it does a little more and then the fans run fast and hard.

I hear no clicking of the hard drive (so I do not suspect a hard drive failure). I have tried unplugging and restarting to no avail. I have tried holding down power button for long time on both startup and shutdown. I never get the start up tone, but I tried holding down X and the Command Option FO (or whatever I read to do) -- nothing happens.

Any help could be appreciated? If it is shot, but not a hard drive problem, can I save the hard drive and put in an external case? (Almost everything is backed up -- but I have some PowerPC programs that don't work on Intel that I still like to use).

I appreciate your assistance.

Matt
 
this sounds weird:S maybe take out the blank dvd and boot from the apple restore disk? is the screen black all the time?
 
Take it in to the nearest Apple Store or Authorized Apple Service Center. There was a repair extension program for the iMac G5 due to the fact that it suffered from faulty capacitors that would cause the power supply and logic board to fail and need replacement, but it has since expired as of December of last year. However, Apple has been known to fix them at no cost beyond the extension's expiration date.

Mine has gone in twice last year for that problem, but so far everything's been stable (thank God).

Follow the information in my post from this thread. Print out the links to the sites and take them with you when you take your iMac in. If they say that they can't do it, be persistent but polite. Contact Apple if need be directly. Remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Good luck! :)
 
Fans will run at high speed on my G5 after being put in sleep mode. The only way to stop it is to press the main power button. Yesterday the machine came back on by itself with a Ø in the middle of the screen. Managed to reboot.

I've tried unplugging and pressing the little reset button on the main board.
I haven't lit candles or contacted a witch doctor at this point, but am willing to try anything.
 
janjon913 said:
Fans will run at high speed on my G5 after being put in sleep mode. The only way to stop it is to press the main power button. Yesterday the machine came back on by itself with a Ø in the middle of the screen. Managed to reboot.

I've tried unplugging and pressing the little reset button on the main board.
I haven't lit candles or contacted a witch doctor at this point, but am willing to try anything.
Click to expand...

Have you tried what I mentioned in my post above? ;)
 
I forgot to mention that this sometimes happens with a total screen freeze-up.

I will attempt a call to Apple first (only because I don't have enough frustration in my life) and register the problem. I'm sure they will tell me that they've never heard of this problem before. I will try to work my way up the food chain from there. My next plan is to show up at the "Genius Bar" and plead my case.

Maybe if I'm relentless they will acquiesce.
 
janjon913 said:
I forgot to mention that this sometimes happens with a total screen freeze-up.

I will attempt a call to Apple first (only because I don't have enough frustration in my life) and register the problem. I'm sure they will tell me that they've never heard of this problem before. I will try to work my way up the food chain from there. My next plan is to show up at the "Genius Bar" and plead my case.

Maybe if I'm relentless they will acquiesce.
Click to expand...

There was a repair extension program for the iMac G5 so they might actually listen. Unfortunately, that program ended in December so they might charge you, but there have been instances where they honor the repairs even after the expiration (happened to someone I know with an eMac). Just make sure you take inventory of what I mentioned in that thread.
 
toymotor said:
sounds exactly like my 2 g5 tell me did you get a fix?
thanx in advance
Click to expand...

If yours is also an iMac G5, there are only two options: replace the bad capacitors yourself (which I intend to do with mine which died again) or buy the replacement parts from a reseller. If you decide to attempt the former, there are plenty of tutorials online on how to do this properly. As I mentioned, Apple had a replacement program but that's since expired. If you go to them for repair, they will more than likely charge for parts and labor.

You can also look into purchasing an older Intel-based Mac since that would give you more upgradeability. At least a Core 2 Duo model is what I would recommend.
 
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