My first feeze for months!!

[TonyG]

This may be un-related to Tiger, but...
Whilst using Final Cut Pro (HD4) I had a freeze - the first since since getting the G5 many months ago! Had to turn off using power button and subsequent attempts to re-start bring up normal (but frozen) desktop. Hitting opt/command/escape has no effect. Is there some way of starting by holding down a certain key whilst it is rebooting that may solve this or do I just un-hook it and go to the 'fixer' chap?

 

[The Ghost]

You could try starting up in safe mode (hold shift down when you hear the chime, and let up when you see the cog) and disabling your startup items. Then, you could add them back one at a time to try to identify any extension conflicts. After starting up, also use Disk Utility to repair permissions. You also could try starting up from your install DVD/CD and using Disk Utility to repair disk and permissions.

 

[TonyG]

Thanks, the Shift idea made no difference and since everything is 'frozen' I cannot open the disk tray anyway!

 

[The Ghost]

Thanks, the Shift idea made no difference and since everything is 'frozen' I cannot open the disk tray anyway!

You are very welcome. Sorry, it did not work. You could try starting up everyway conceivable--Command-S/single-user mode; command-V/verbose mode. Also, you could use command-C to start up from your intall DVD in order to use Disk Utility to repair disk and permissions. And, you could try starting up in firewire target-disk mode, if another firewire Mac is available, and doing some maintenance, including repairing disk and permissions, from the second Mac. Finally, your open firmware might be corrupt. To try to rectify, restart holding down command-option-O-F. When you see the Open Firmware prompt, type the following lines hitting return after each.

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

If your Mac does not restart automatically, then restart it. If none of the above helps and you can start from your intsall DVD, then I would reinstall your software using the archive and install and preserve user and network settings options.

 

[Satcomer]

Thanks, the Shift idea made no difference and since everything is 'frozen' I cannot open the disk tray anyway!

You might have to cut power to the machine. Upon startup, hold down the mouse button during the startup. On all Macs this will cause the CD/DVD to open (before the OS X/OS 9) software fully starts up.