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TICKET ARCHIVE -> My iMac G5 won't boot up Mac OSX.

Callo - Mar 7, 2007 - 1:25 am

Hello!

I have a problem with my iMac G5 that I bought almost two years ago. It won't boot up Mac OSX. It started acting weird a couple of weeks ago when it wouldn't boot up when I turned it on until the second or third try. Yesterday, it wouldn't boot up and today I had the same bad luck. I don't think that it will boot up anymore unless I can fix the problem. I honestly have no idea of what the problem could be. I would guess that there is a problem with the hard-drive because, when it started acting weird, it made a very loud noise every now and then for several seconds. I don't know, maybe it was a fan that was spinning fast and making that noise. As you can see, I am clueless about this problem.

When I turn on my iMac, it starts as normal until a circulating figure appears to show that it's loading something and then a darker "curtain" falls on the screen and the "power" symbol appears and a black box with a message that says that I have to restart my computer by pussing the restart button or by holding the power button down for a few seconds. It doesn't get to the blue screen where it says that Mac OSX is booting up. I can load from a DVD. I tried to load from the installation disc that came with the computer by holding the "C" key on start up and It loads. I tried installing Mac OSX again by doing an "Archive and Install" installation and it installs it. The problem is that I have two discs and it only lets me install disc one and says it is finished and restarts the computer. When the computer is restarted by the installation, the "dark curtain" and message box telling me that I should restart it appear again.

Sorry if what I wrote didn't make too much sense. I am not in a hurry to get this fixed but I would really appreciate your help.

Thank you in advance for helping me.

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 7, 2007 - 6:25 am

Hi and welcome to macosx.com

Follow this article
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
to
(1) repair the disk using DiskUtility
(2) repair the system through fsck command

Perform (1) the reboot. If reboot, fails perform (2); if (1) succeed, test some times to see if the problem still continues; if yes, performs (2)

But, as you stated disk makes noise + boots on InstallDisc runs fine, I think your drive is slowly dying. The fan make a continuous noise, dying drive makes a discontinuous loud noise, like metallic knock.

Post back
Philippe

PS: is your G5 a 1.8Ghz 17'' ?

Callo - Mar 8, 2007 - 8:23 am

Hi Philippe

I am sorry that I didn't respond to you sooner. I have to borrow a computer in order to get to the inerntet and I hadn't realize you had responded to my question.

I tried repairing the the HDD using the DiskUtility but it didn't find any problems. I'll try again and see what happens. What is the "fsck command"? That part I didn't understand. Could you tell me how to perform that kind of repair? Maybe that will solve my problem.

The computer makes noise that is NOT continues. The noise is very loud and discountinuous.
You are correct, my iMac G5 is a 1.8Ghz 17".

Callo.

Callo - Mar 8, 2007 - 8:27 am

Hi

I'll use the link. Sorry, I didn't see it the first time. I'll try that and see if it fixes the problem.

philippe99 - Mar 8, 2007 - 10:04 am

Ok: discontinous loud sound -> not the fan, the drive: so, plz, backup !!!
Was a known problem on the 1.8 17'' (beside the power controller failure)
Fsck is the deep Unix (so not Apple) command tool fro repairing the structure of the files of the drive...not the machanic of the drive itself of course.
Post back your tries.
Phil

Callo - Mar 9, 2007 - 1:09 am

Hello philippe

I have been trying to boot up the computer for a long time and nothing. I used the Disk Utility but it goes through every step and at the end it says that there was nothing to fix. I did it many times. I still get the same screen and message every time I restart my computer.

Do you think that the HDD is the Hard Drive is the problem? I didn't back up all my stuff but if I lose everything it's OK. Is there a way to copy the info to another Hard Drive if I can't get it to boot up? If there is, I would really appreciate it if you told me how to do it. If you think that the problem is the Hard Drive I will buy a new one and install it. That's about all I can do for now because nothing I have done has fixed the problem.

Thank you for all your help. I hope that installing a new Hard Drive will get the problem fixed. I hope it's nothing more serious. I would really appreciate your opinion on this.

Thank you,

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 9, 2007 - 2:42 am

Hi
(1) do you perform the fsck command as detailled in the link some posts above ?
(2) Finally, when you boot on the Install disc, can you "play" with the iMac ...of course not Web, .... but can you browse to see files, folders ? Right ?

To backup
(1) to backup your documents, you can simply drag them to an external mounted on the iMac...if you have the hand !
(2) to backup the system, you have to clone it. You cannot drag it.
Clone it through the Restore function of DU or through specialized freeware like CarbonCopyCloner or CloneX). However, at your level, I'm not sure that the system is not corrupted by the hard drive problem.

To replace the drive
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/ima..._harddrive.pdf

What I would try
(a) backup the most important documents
(b) Reinstall through an "Erase&Install" the system; in some cases, Erase will mark bad sectors of the drive as unusable.

If this not works, then I would replace the drive

Phil

Callo - Mar 10, 2007 - 2:22 pm

Hi Philippe

Sorry that I didn't respond sooner. I didn't have internet until today. I borrowed a friend's iMac and backed-up everything that I wanted from my hard drive to my friend's computer. I did the "Erase and Install" install and it didn't fix the problem. I decided to buy a new hard drive from an online retailer today and when it arrives, I'll install it. Thanks for the link to the installation instruction PDF.

I really appreciate all your help. I have learned many things about my Mac thanks to you.

I hope that the new hard drive fixes the problem. I hope it's the hard drive that is causing this problem and not something else.

Thanks for your help.

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 11, 2007 - 4:48 am

Good luck and thank you for using macosx.com
Regards
Philippe

TechSupport - Mar 15, 2007 - 10:10 am

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292626

Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.

Callo - Mar 15, 2007 - 10:34 am

Hi Philippe

Sorry to bother you again but I am still having some trouble with my iMac and I need your advice.

I replaced the 160GB HDD that came with the computer with a 400GB HDD (I wanted a bigger HDD anyway). I also added 512MB of RAM (this was not an attempt to fix the problem, I just wanted more RAM).

It still does the same thing when I turn on the computer. It still tells me that I need to restart my computer and it won't boot up MAC OSX. The only difference is that it now lets me do a SAFE BOOT. I can use Safari to connect to the internet and iTunes and some other programs but I don't know if I can damage it by using it in SAFE BOOT mode. Is it more limited to run a computer in SAFE BOOT mode than to run it in normal mode? In SAFE BOOT mode, the computer seems normal but when I drag any open window really fast around the screen it seems to move 'choppy' and not smooth as it used to in normal mode. That made me think that SAFE BOOT mode is slower but I am not sure.

This is what I did...

- I replaced the HDD with a new one.
- I put 512MB of RAM and I now have 1G.
- I partitioned the HDD to '1 partition' and installed 'Disc 1' of Mac OSX Version 10.4.0 (the installation disc that came with my computer when I first bought it).
- The computer finished installing 'Disc 1' and it restarted.
- When it restarted, it had the same problem with the dark curtain and the message telling me that the computer needs to be restarted.
- I then turned off and back on the computer and I held the shift key to do a SAFE BOOT and then the computer told me that it needed me to insert "Disc 2" to continue the installation.
- I inserted "Disc 2" and it was installed and the computer restarted itself when it was finished.
- Again, the dark curtain appeared and the message telling me that the computer needed to be restarted.
- I restarted the computer and did a SAFE BOOT to see if it worked and it did.
- The problem is that I can't restart or shut down the computer when I am in SAFE BOOT mode. To turn off the computer I have to hold down the power button for several seconds and it does it but from the drop-down menu it doesn't work.
- I installed the Mac OSX update Version 10.4.9 from the Apple website.
- I can now use my computer but only in SAFE BOOT mode.

Is there a way to find out what the problem is? Do you know why it does boot up in SAFE BOOT mode and not in normal mode?

Again, sorry to bother you but I really need all the help that I can get.

Thank you!

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 17, 2007 - 3:39 pm

Very strange.
Could you try to remove the old 512MB RAM you add before adding the new ones, so that the Mac boots on the only new 512MB you add.
Just to see if RAM is not involved in the problem.
Regards
Phil

Callo - Mar 17, 2007 - 8:47 pm

Hi Philippe

I'll try it with only the new RAM and see what happens. I had not thought about that! I'll let you know what happens after I try it.

Thanks,

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 18, 2007 - 8:03 am

Ok, thanks
Phil

Callo - Mar 19, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Hi Philippe

I tried what you said about the RAM and it still did the same thing. Today, I took it to a Mac Store to have it fixed. They couldn't find the problem either and also thought it was very strange. I left it there and they said that they would have it fixed in a couple of days. I hope it's soon because I really need my computer back as soon as possible.

Sorry that I opened the question again but I really needed the help.

Thank you very much for all your help. I really appreciate it.

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 20, 2007 - 4:50 am

Ok, good luck. Post back the results. I would like to know and to understand..
Phil

Callo - Mar 21, 2007 - 12:03 am

Ok, I will. I haven't heard from them yet but as soon as I do, I'll post back.

Callo.

philippe99 - Mar 21, 2007 - 4:22 am

Thanks

TechSupport - Mar 25, 2007 - 10:20 pm

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292930

Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.

Callo - Mar 25, 2007 - 10:27 pm

Hi Philippe

Today, the techs at the Mac Store told me that the problem was the Logic Board. I was hoping that it wasn't the Logic Board the one that was causing the problem because it is very expensive. I don't have a warranty on my iMac anymore and I decided not to fix it. I'll probably buy a new one (with extra warranty of course) when I have enough money to do it. The repairs would have costed me almost as much as a new computer! Anyway, I'll run my computer in Safe Mode for now until I get a new one.

Thanks for everything Philippe!

Later,

Callo.