one of the processors is not doing it's thing correctly.
If you have warranty coverage for this machine, call Apple and have them start the paper trial. If not.........
Sometimes adding extra memory or a different drive causes this problem but you say that it has been present since you got the machine.
The fans usually start going into overdrive when they sense, through the built in sensors, that heat is building up but, they also kick into overdrive when one of the sensors fails.
The multi-lingual box is usually the result of a Kernel panic, not always seen, and you are correct, the message is the same in all the languages.
Have you tried an Archive and Install? It's a cure for a lot of what ails the machine and all your data is saved.
Before that though, try resetting the PRAM and NVRAM.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238 refers
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I have a Mac with the following specs.
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 900 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7
I bought this G5 new several years ago.
Ever since I bought it it has periodically seemed to freeze up for no reason (in no particular program both on and off the internet) and display a black box that says in English something like "You need to shut down your computer." with several suggestions as to how and then follows it with what I assume is the same message in 4 or 5 other languages.
or
just freezes with whatever is on the screen and the little multicolored wheel starts spinning
or
the screen grays and the background turns black and it says in gray print SOMETHING LIKE "System Failure: cpu1: code: 008808007 (corrupt skip lists) OR PMAP
Followed by lots of other letters, numbers and words and ending with Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.7.0: and date : root:xnu-792.6.76.obj-1/RELEASE_PPC
Sometimes when I reboot it starts to come back up and then stops with a black rectangular box on the screen. But most of the time it reboots and all is well.
Through this time I have upgraded the OS to 10.4.7, and recently replaced the hard drive and added memory. My Mac still continues to do its freeze thing. In fact it is getting more and more frequent. When this happens the fan revs up and becomes very loud.
I would appreciate any suggestions you might have as to what might be causing this and how I might correct it.
CCS

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