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TICKET ARCHIVE -> On startup warning to restart computer

maxalienthing - Jan 16, 2008 - 11:29 am

Hi
I have had this G5 Dual 2.0, for nearly 5 years.

Every now and then I get this warning when I start up, in few different languages, and I have to restart.

"You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button."

On restart all seems to be fine. Then sometimes a month later sometimes a day later, I'll have the same problem.

I have to use diskwarrior now and then cause of the restarts.

I have tried reformat and re-installing, but problem keeps reappearing after a while.

I have also tried swapping my hard drive with no luck.

I use the computer mainly for logic and only use it once or twice a week.

If you can tell me how I can find out what is causing this problem I'll really appreciate it.

Cheers
Max

zo219 - Jan 17, 2008 - 12:35 am

Well, for one thing, what you are seeing is the dreaded Panic Attack.

The idea is to repair your disk on next startup, instead of just restart, and perhaps it won't happen at all.

There are several ways to do this. Disk Warrior is terrific, but first you need to look to Apple, to your install DVD. Start up with that by holding down the C key, and even if it seems to be going into an Install, a menu will appear where one of the choices will be Repair Disk. Starting up this way from another disk allows a more thorough repair. Also Repair your Permissions.

Your Install disk should also have Apple Hardware Repair on it, but you will never see it unless you hold down the Option key at startup.

When that is done, Restart and Clear/Reset the PRAM (perimeter memory) by holding down all four keys at once: Command, Option, P, R. and keep holing them through two or 3 startup tones.

Now you have a fairly well reset machine--and you can think about what might be causing these panics. Perhaps you have no maintenance routine?

Let us know how you make out!

maxalienthing - Jan 17, 2008 - 9:29 am

Hi
Thanks for your quick reply.
I tried all the steps you said.
The disk utility found no faults for hard drive and repaired a few permissions.
The apple hardware repair found no faults.
I reset the PRAM, held it for 3 tones.
Next boot up same warning again.
I have in the past tried TechTool Pro quite a few times, but found no faults.
I use cocktail regularly to make sure permissions etc are all ok.
I forgot to mention sometimes when this error happens the fans inside the machine go mental and make a lot of noise, this also happened when it was running the apple hardware extended test.
A friend of mine said that he had similar problem and he had to push cpu in, but I haven't resorted to that option yet.
I have now run disk warrior, which has found 4% items out of order, this is normal on my machine, I run it once every few months and it usually finds items out of order.
Any other thoughts?
Cheers
Max

zo219 - Jan 17, 2008 - 10:47 pm

It is normal for the hardware test to push the fans to full blast.

The only "home" test beyond all you've done is a Power Manager Reset. On Apple's site they list the procedure for every machine.

The other consideration is the age of your machine. The Hardware Test is not infallible, by any means. And fans randomly blowing on high usually signals that it's new Logic Board time. Which may well be worth replacing; I'd look into it.

Good Luck!