G4 startup - the saga continues...merged

[Ragged Apple]

Oh dear - where to start....

I have a G4 running OSX - Tiger - no longer know which version. It remains on the spinning disc when I try to boot up.

Tried starting from the install disc and it can find no drive to install on. There are two drives, the main disc and a
second Apple approved 40Gb internal which was installed by an Apple recognised and accredited service Company.

The rot was slow to set in - a period of kernal panic screens and then, curiously, I could only start up in OS9, then I switched startup to the second drive. All this worked for a while. Final episode (death?) was a power cut (I live in village) after which I can no longer get the machine working.

I have just installed a new battery and zapped the PRAM - nothing.

Fortunately I use a G5 as my main workhorse and took the precaution of backing all of my files while I could. But I would really like to solve this problem without taking it to the mac doctor if possible. I would hate to give up on it.

Any advice - or even a solution - would be most welcome.

Thanks

[Texas Mac Man]

Trya PMU reset. See  
Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial
http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html

Cheers, Tom

[beacher]

And if you have it, RA, use good ol' trusty Disk Warrior; it's definitely a "MUST HAVE" for Mac users!  Afterwards, use the Disk Utility from apple to repair permissions.

[gunug]

You might try starting the system up in Single-User Mode (OS X) and then run FSCK (file system consistency check):

QUOTE

To run fsck, you need to boot into Single-User mode.

1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command-S key.

Next, at the command-line prompt, type in the following:

/sbin/fsck -fy
 
Then press Return. fsck will go through five “phases” and then return information about your disk. If there is a problem, it will automatically repair it and give you a summary of the damage.

So how often should you run fsck? Personally, I always run it after an improper shutdown, forced restart, or power interruption, as stated above. Any of these situations can cause file system problems, so why not eliminate any right away? It only takes a couple of minutes and may save you headaches down the road. It also wouldn’t hurt to run it whenever you do your periodic system maintenance.

It can sometimes fix problems that are keeping you from booting up!  I also have installed "APPLEJACK" which is a utility that will fix even more things when you can only get it to start up in single-user mode!

[Xairbusdriver]

Also, remove any un-needed peripherals ( including ethernet cables ). Leave nothing connected except the keyboard and mouse. And even those should be disconnected and then plugged back in.

[Ragged Apple]

Thanks for all the help guys - I tried several of your suggestions with no success.
So..... I have got the beast to work, ended up reformatting both drives.

At least the machine is alive and useful once more - thanks again.

[Gregg]

Well, you act quickly!

Glad it's working again.



Come back often. It seems that you'd be able to give advice also!

[Ragged Apple]

QUOTE(Gregg @ Jun 8 2007, 06:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, you act quickly!

Glad it's working again.



Come back often. It seems that you'd be able to give advice also!

Now I have found this very useful site I will stay in touch. Thanks for your kind message.

[Ragged Apple]

I must have tempted fate - I certainly spoke too soon!

Reformatted the discs on the G4 and all seemed fine. Left the machine in sleep mode and came back to it next day.

Almost immediately had a kernal panic and frozen screen. Tried running Memtest - froze again. Tried doing the erase disc utilities again, froze before I could get to select options. Interesting - because I was using the install disc as the startup.

Also tried re-seating the RAM chips - I read the RAM may sometimes be the cause of kernal panics - but no go.

It may have to be a visit to the white coats - what do you think?

Nearing the end of the tether - thanks.

[kelly]

Hi. Welcome to the Forum.

You reformatted a Hard Drive with problems?

Is it just a dying Hard Drive?

Yes. Bad RAM can do that.

[Paddy]

The fact that the G4 is freezing when booted off the install disk indicates that it is probably more than (or not at all related to) a HD failure. Do you have the hardware test disk for this machine? If so, try to run that.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31241

You can also try to remove all the RAM except for the original Apple RAM, if you can identify it, and then, if it works, add the RAM back one stick at a time. Or just try testing the RAM one stick at a time - when/if you find one that works, add the next one and reboot, and so on.

However, you could also be looking at a more serious hardware failure such as the logic board, in which case the repair may well cost more than the machine itself is worth.

Let us know how things go.

[Ragged Apple]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Jun 9 2007, 06:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The fact that the G4 is freezing when booted off the install disk indicates that it is probably more than (or not at all related to) a HD failure. Do you have the hardware test disk for this machine? If so, try to run that.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31241

You can also try to remove all the RAM except for the original Apple RAM, if you can identify it, and then, if it works, add the RAM back one stick at a time. Or just try testing the RAM one stick at a time - when/if you find one that works, add the next one and reboot, and so on.

However, you could also be looking at a more serious hardware failure such as the logic board, in which case the repair may well cost more than the machine itself is worth.

Let us know how things go.

Thanks for this - and apologies for my late reply, I've been pretty busy and so have let the problem sit. Your suggestion to try the Hardware Test disk is worth a look - and thanks for the link to the Apple site.

I'll let you know how it goes - meanwhile the machine does start and maintains stability for a while.

Thanks again.