No video on boot - G5

A

austreu

Registered
Dual 2Ghz G5 - no mods.
Booted this morning. Chirped, heard fan, but no video on either monitor.
Tried to boot from install disc. CD tray would not open with keyboard command, although opened with switch through grill. Tried to reboot with 'C' held down - chirped again, seemed to be booting - but still no video.
Tried rebooting with command-option-P-R held down. Did not go through the rebooting sequence. Tried to enter single user mode. No prompts on monitor.
If I leave the computer turned on after the initial boot, the fans slowly start to speed up until they're roaring, and I shut down with the power switch.
Also changed the battery, and removed the video card (Nvidia OEM) - blew it off and re-installed.
Does this sound like a video card issue? If the machine is booting and the video card is bad, wouldn't the CD tray open from the keyboard?
I'm stumped.
 
The best test I can think of is to try and hold down the mouse button (left button if a two button mouse) and keep holding it down while the machine boots. If the machine is actually booting then the cd drive will eject just fine, if however your drive stays shut then its a much more serious problem than the video card.

Post back with what happens.
 
I have a standard single button mac mouse. Booting with the mouse button held down
does not eject the CD drive. The machine goes through some kind of sequence, and I can see the top fan going through some changes. I've also just noticed that there is a red led illuminated behind the power button on the front of the unit. I haven't noticed that before either, I'm afraid of what it might mean.
 
8 hours later, having tried everything I could think of, and pursuing a lot of suggestions from the internet, I started disconnecting and reconnecting components. Nothing - until I removed the memory and re-installed. The machine booted up and ran as if there'd never been a problem.
 
austreu said:
8 hours later, having tried everything I could think of, and pursuing a lot of suggestions from the internet, I started disconnecting and reconnecting components. Nothing - until I removed the memory and re-installed. The machine booted up and ran as if there'd never been a problem.
Click to expand...

Badass. Just goes to show, try everything before you give up.

When I worked tech support I came across a PowerMac G4 that a staff member had acquired, but it didn't work. It did the chime but nothing ever came on the screen. First guess was the video card, that wasn't the problem... turned out that whoever he got it from slapped a stick of ram in a slot that had a huge dust wad in it.
 
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