Won't even boot...

U

undershot

Registered
Hello all.

Background of mac:
iMac G5, purchased December 2004, has been repaired twice for the same problem, which the details of can be found here. It was repaired in June/July '05 and a couple of months ago for this problem, My Warranty has expired aswell as my AppleCare, so I'll have to pay unless it fits in with the current iMac repair extension program.

Current problem:
Got in last night, tapped my mouse to wake it up, so far so good... tried moving the mouse, no good, tried numerous keyboard commands like volume, eject, switch programs etc, no good, so ended up doing ye olde restart by holding the power button.

Restarted the computer, did a chime, got to the screen with the apple on, then a grey screen came up saying 'Restart', so I did, and I can't turn it on, endless loop. :(. I popped in my Hardware Test CD, held C, no luck, the 'Restart' dialogue came up again before it even had chance to boot up, can't even eject it because the 'Restart' screen comes up so quickly. Booo!

Any ideas folks?! Could it be the same problem as before? The dreaded Logic Board problem?! And if it is, do you all think I should get some sort of extended extended repair program if it's still got the problem 3/4 of the way through my 2 year program. And do you think it would be fair of me to try and get a replacement as my computer seems to be a tad on the prone side for this problem?

Cheers, Ryan x
 
01. Turn ON the iMac with the mouse button pressed (and kept press). This should eject any inserted disc.

02. Each new logic board installation should come with its own (new) warranty period. Consult your local Apple repair center, retailer, store, etc. for specifics.

03. No one has an idea of your location (country, city) - thus, quoting possible [layman or professionally speaking] legal actions is impossible. In some US states there are lemon laws - such as, have an item fixed - for the same problem so many times, and a replacement would be required; etc.

04. If I were you, I would try to boot from a Disk Warrior disc. Maybe, just maybe - it could resolve the problem you have, should it not be the same problem requiring a (motherboard) logic board replacement.

05. To boot from the 'Hardware Test CD' - try pressing the <option> button, during bootup. Once all the bootable volumes are listed (and the arrow cursor eventually appears) click on the '-->' button.
 
To start with, I've changed my location and details etc just for you... btw, you don't have a location either :p. Anyways, your assistance results...

01. Did nothing, went straight to Restart screen once again

02/03. Interesting to know that, I'll look into it. But I did mention it when I last had it repaired, and the not so helpful Apple bloke on the phone basically told me tough sh!t, and that it was my problem and not apples...... he's just wrong, I'm considering contacting Trading Standards.

04. CD stuck in drive, so no way of inserting my Disk Warrior CD.

05. Does nothing, just the Restart screen again.



Not having much look eh... :(
Cheers anyway.
 
With regards to your location ... opps, I did not take a second or two to look under 'Join Date:'. I have a habit of automatically clicking on the lower left 'POST REPLY' button. It affords me a larger text edit field to enter a reply in; however, the 'Location' information is omitted.
This is not the first time, doing such bit me back.

When replying - a location is less important, than when one is posting a problem or request.

If any of my reply was interpreted as offensive - it was not sent as such. I do not have the time or incentive to do such. When I post, with / without a solution (meaning, additional information is requested, etc.) - it is an attempt to assist the poster.

----

Here is an Apple "My disc won't eject" suggestion.
 
Don't worry about it man, took no offence or nothing, just found it funny. :).

Anyways, got a comedy night to go to, shall return later, hopefully to find some more helpful hints and tips.

Cheers :D
 
Looks like a Kernel Panic immediately after booting.
Can happen after killing a system by pushing the power button.

I suggest two things: Reset PRAM and Reset NVRAM.
You accomplish this with booting while
1) holding Cmd-alt-P-R until Startup Chime comes up a second time.
immediately after the second chime
2) holding Cmd-alt-O-F until a gray screen with a commandline-like look comes up. (Welcome to Open Firmware!) Type
"reset-nvram" (without quotes, no spaces) press Enter (should say "ok")
"set-defaults" Enter (ok)
"reset-all" Enter (erase bla bla bla).
Your machine will reboot again, hopefully back to normal.

DiskWarrior can help if it is any kind of disk-related problem, if it is a logic bord problem &#8211; sorry&#8230;

Hope this helps
virius
 
Cheers virius, you legend! It looks like it was the PRAM, it took me a few goes to do it, most of the time it just ignored my commands, but eventually it did it, and now I'm posting this back off of my iMac. :)

Just a bit more help needed though... is there a way of preventing this sort of thing happening again?! I already use OnyX to do a System Optimize every week or 2, but is there any other programs you'd reccomend that would keep my mac in lovely working order. Whenever my mac seems to break, it's catastrophic, and doesn't even allow me to try and fix it, not the sort of situation I enjoy.

Cheers again, Ryan x
 
best try to do is go and get your self a externl hard drives that comes close to matching you hard drive size and when your mac is working in like it should then use something like Carbon Copy Cloner and the when the mac wants to fight back just boot up form that drive fix whats going on and ever is back to the way it should be.
 
Also download macaroni (www.atomicbird.com) and pay the shareware fee. It automatically performs a lot of the "routine" UNIX tasks and permission repairs which keep problems from developing. There's no way to be sure what caused your problem, but resetting nvram and pram when things seem a little out of adjustment does no harm.
 
Hi undershot!

Glad it worked.

I'm just coming back from Easter Holidays – in the meantime you already got a nice collection of maintenance tools. Let me add _my_ favourite, Cocktail. I paid the little fee (15$ including lifetime upgrades) long time ago and never regretted it. It has some options to tinker with your system and the fabulous "Pilot" feature, which I do run whenever any system begins acting weird (since it's the Caches in most cases).
Since it works perfectly for me I have no experience with the others…

Whenever my mac seems to break, it's catastrophic, and doesn't even allow me to try and fix it, not the sort of situation I enjoy.
Click to expand...

This Kernel Panic, do you get it often?
Does your Mac often "seem to break" and how does that look like?


virius
 
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