My G5 Is Under Repair…, I'm a poor lonesome moderator Options

[lepetitmartien]

Well, I wasn't a lot around for 8 days as my G5 1.8 from 2003 decided to freeze on spot since last wednesday. It freezed at choice during boot (rotating thing), loading OS X (blue screen) or right during/after login.

The lithium battery was dead but not at first when I checked it, when I could change it it went slightly more "normal" as I could try to start from the Apple Hardware Test. Else I could only boot in Open Firmware and Single User Mode.

When I tried to startup on the install CD/DVD of 10.2.7, panther, tiger it froze too. However, after the lithium battery change I could install a 10.2.7 on the remaining drive (freeze in the middle but the system seems 100% on the drive).

The drives were OK, as the RAM (checked with memtest, while in SUM it can test 97% of you RAM including lower part not available another way), I counsel Applejack too which enables you to check drives, permissions, clean caches, check preferences while in SUM.

When I tried the AHT i went into something I found out is a commun bug instead of launching AHT i ended up in OF with this:

CODE

Invalid memory access at %SRR0: 000000000.6000d300 %SRR1: 100000000.40003030

Pretty impressive… but not meaning a lot.

As I knew my RAM was ok (even bought 1 GB more to check), the drives too, I tried in turn without the DVD burner, each SATA drives. I had no graphic card to try but overall it looks bad, only the hot pot, the temp sensors, the motherboard and the CPU are left, and no Applecare I have either (sorry Mr Apple, too expensive and never a mac has left me this way, NEVER). It's at the repairshop here in Paris since yesterday, and I ressucitated ye olde timer BW G3 last evening.

I'll buy tomorrow a FW external enclosure for the SATA drive on which I had saved my keychains/mail/etc as here I have no mail (it's my old mail database but I'm under tiger for a few months now and the databases are not compatible).

So in the end, it looks like it's something on the motherboard wich is blown in some way, so it'll $$$ in the end I know chips/components do die, but it's heartbrake, this was a fabulous computer. I'll know for sure in ten days.

Really, I need a macbook… (and no money for it s…t!)

[lepetitmartien]

As mine is under analysis since Wednesday I wonder…

What was the model exactly?

If checking the memory using Memtest and looking after it in Open Firmware brings back nothing, the problem is not in the memory itself.

To see really the RAM in Open Firmware:

- start up in OF: command-option-o-f on start up
- type: dev /memory <enter>
- type: .properties <enter>
- you'll have a lot of stuff on screen, including the hexadecimal view of RAM banks. in a G5 RAM is in pair, so you must have the HEX repeating itself twice (it's a bit interleaved by lines, you'll see that easily). If the different lines don't match at all, either the RAM is not identical or bad, or somehting on the Motherboard is screwing up things.

In my case, I had strange stuff written whatever the config (I have 3 pairs to test) however I'd insert them. But memtest said it was ok…