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TICKET ARCHIVE -> G4 will not STAY shut down

wade43 - Oct 22, 2007 - 11:57 am

The computer:
(PowerPC G4 466 MHZ)
http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...ac_g4_466.html

The problem:
Shutting the computer down causes it to start back up immediately. I need it to stay shut down. After two years of putting up with it and many attempts to remedy, I am finally posting my question.

Notes:
The most obvious culprit is the Energy Saver Preference Option "Restart automatically after power failure". That is and has always been unchecked.
The next obvious culprit could be attached peripherals. There are none besides Apple keyboard, speakers, ethernet and monitor.
Next culprit is the motherboard battery, but that is new.
This problem has ALWAYS existed--no matter 10.3/10.4, Apple CRT/ViewSonic monitor, KVM/no KVM, ethernet/no ethernet, speakers/no speakers, peripherals/no peripherals. I've used different keyboards and mice. I've used different power strips and wall sockets. I've used both DVI and AGP monitor connections. I've used different video cards. I've used different RAM.

I have not changed CPU's or power supply.

Help! It's making me crazy. Thanks.

wade43 - Oct 22, 2007 - 12:10 pm

One idea I forgot to mention...
It is possible that this machine was used as a server at one time. Is it possible that, WITHOUT using the usual OS X interface, someone has set a flag (in some Library file or something) to make it restart upon shutting down?

Thanks.

Serenak - Oct 22, 2007 - 6:19 pm

Hello Wade

thanks for choosing to use macosx.com - I will see if I can offer some advice that may help (though this is a puzzling problem and no mistake).

Firstly, you are correct that the obvious suspect is the Energy Saver Preference Pane - but if that is and has always been unchecked for "restart after power failure" that is in theory out of the picture...

I have no doubt that you have done the following already but nonetheless I will list them just in case one gives you a bright idea.

Used OnyX or Coctkail or one of many other similar utilities to run all the cron scripts, repair permissions, clear caches etc.

Reset the PRAM, either by the restart holding Apple-Alt/Option-P-R or by resetting all the NVRAM (boot holding Apple-Alt-O-F which should take you into the Open Firmware interface - type reset-nvram and hit return then reset-all and hit return, the mac should then reboot) -You may need to reset some of the Mac's preferences after this (that is the point of it after all)

Reset the PMU/SMU - how to do this varies depending on Mac Model,
this page has info on the procedure http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=95037
(as it handles functions such as startup, shutdown etc. this may be a worthwhile effort)

This one may sound silly but I have met more than one PC with this fault (don't think I can recall a Mac with it but you never know...) Is the physical "power on" button actually working properly? If it is stuck or otherwise permanently reading as "pushed" you will never get the Mac to shutdown... as soon as it does it will read the live circuit from the switch as a "boot now" instruction

Does the problem persist if you create a clean new user account and log into that? If that cures the problem then it is a problem related to some preference setting in your account... (but what the hell it might be I couldn't say tbh...)

Failing all that you could try an Archive & Install - otherwise (considering that good as the Sawtooth G4s were - I have had at least 6 of the 400-450s pass through my hands) they are getting pretty old now and newer ones can be had very cheap now on e-bay... A good place to look for links to good deals on older Macs is http://www.lowendmac.com/ btw...

I hope something here helps. Let me know how you get on and if nothing here is new or helpful come back and I will throw the question back out to the floor again.

Good luck.

wade43 - Oct 23, 2007 - 2:10 pm

Thank you for your quick response.

OnyX or Cocktail:
Never used those tools. Will try.

PRAM, NVRAM:
I have reset PRAM many times before, problem persists. After posting my question, I reset all NVRAM and rebooted, but problem persists.

PMU/SMU:
Never done that. Will try.

Power Button:
It is doing it's job correctly. It is not stuck due to Mountain Dew spills.

User Account:
Persists with all user accounts.

Incidentally, I just installed a fresh OS X on a new Hard Drive and problem persists.

Thanks, It may take me a few days to try the above methods before I respond again.

Serenak - Oct 23, 2007 - 2:42 pm

OK Wade

OnyX is free and you can get it here - http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html

Cocktail is not free but will run fully for the first ten launches... you can get it here - http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php

As for the power button - I was not so much thinking of it being physically stuck as internally stuck or shorted... don't know how you would test this though tbh...