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General discussion

[HELP] Power Mac Dual G4 Sawtooth Shuts down on startup!??

Nov 12, 2010 11:46AM PST

Hi To all Mac Gurus Happy

My good old Dual Power Mac G4 Sawtooth 1.42 Ghz --- shuts itself down after 10-15 seconds
during powering up....
i do hear the chimney though...

Tried to do a PMU reset - nothing helps..

Totally lost - have no access to my Powermac for a week Sad

thanks in advance for any input

best regards,

Milka
Nice, France

Discussion is locked

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Try this,
Nov 12, 2010 10:03PM PST

Shut down and remove all connections from the Machine.
This includes the KB, mouse and power cord
Press the ON button on the front of the machine.
Open the side and remove the battery
Press the CUDA button ONCE (It is next to the battery holder, is a little square metal thing with what looks like a tiny pencil eraser in the middle of it)
Leave everything for 20 mins.

Put the battery back in (Make sure the polarity is correct)
Close the side.
Connect the KB and Mouse
Connect the power cord
Press the ON button.

Any better?


P

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battery on Sawtooth?
Nov 12, 2010 11:40PM PST

hi, thanks for your reply
i've opened the Powermac as the 1st thing ... before posting
and didn't removed any battery - just pressed the CUDA button for 5-6 sec.
closed mac connected keyboard ---- nothing helped.

I will try your method , bu pressin' CUDA only once and leavin' the Pomermac for 20 min....
but what battery needs a removal... where is it?

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You will find the battery
Nov 13, 2010 4:56AM PST

in a holder on the logic board (Motherboard).

The battery is Half AA size, NOT a silver circular battery.

It is usually in a black holder.

Some G4 machines have it on the right hand side of the logic board, as you look at it, open, from the front of the machine.
Others have it roughly in the middle, just in front of the PCI/AGP slots

On pressing the CUDA switch. That's a Press, let go button and not a Press, hold, count to 5 and then let go button.

P

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That did the trick, BUT .....???
Nov 19, 2010 11:55AM PST

Hi again, thanks for your tip on removing the AA size battery and pressing CUDA button once---
it did help : the POwer MAc has started up and have been working for couple of days....
i would put it in sleep mode for a night...

But i had i small 1 second power outage in the hood ( happens quite often here in Old Nice)
that Power does shuts itself down after the chimney sound on startup Sad....

I've tried the same AA battery removal + CUDA reset::::: but this time it didn't help??

what is really happening ... is it the dead AA size battery or something else?

what would be my solution?

thanks in advance

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Could be a low battery
Nov 19, 2010 9:37PM PST

It's worth replacing it to find out.
Be sure to take it along to the store, probably Radio Shack, when you shop for a replacement. (Radio Shack does carry them)

The other thing you can do, if power outages are the norm in your neck of the woods, is to get yourself a UPS device.
Big enough to run the computer and the monitor for 10/15 minutes or so, so that it will carry you over the smaller power outages and allow you to shut down the machine nicely in the event of a longer outage.
That size are quite cheap.

Computers do not like having their legs cut out from underneath them, too often.


P

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AA SIze Compatible battery for PowerMac G4
Nov 20, 2010 10:57AM PST

Thanks for your reply,

but there is unfortunately no Radio Shack in where i live ( France)
so i gotto find some sort of compatible battery .... is it a rechargable battery
and what exactly it does that its so important to the Powermac G4?

is that the battery that keeps the settings ( day, time , etc)in the memory till the next startup...or?

Why does computer shuts itself at the startup process...how can this battery influence that?

milka

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The battery keeps the logic board
Nov 20, 2010 11:38PM PST

in a state ready to boot.
When you removed the battery, pressed the power button and left it for a while, all the residual power in the board went away so that the system had to reload a fresh copy of the firmware.
This resulted in a successful startup.

You are correct, the battery keeps things like date/time/etc going by supplying power to those items on the board that have volatile memory.
A low battery can cause things to not be correct and can cause all sorts of weird problems.

The battery is a 3.6v lithium (NOT rechargeable) and is Half AA size.
I'm sure that there is some place in France that sells them, either in a store or on-line. Google is your friend.

P

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Power Mac G4 ( Dual) completely dead? :(
Mar 21, 2011 11:02PM PDT

Hi again - its been a while i haven't posted anything...
( even though i use MacBook Pro 2010 lately - i just refuse to give up on my good old Power Mac )
News Update:
My Power Mac G4 ( Sawtooth FireWire800) won't even give a "sparkle" of ignition now

when pressing the power button - the button it doesn't even light up anymore....

does it mean that the Power Mac is dead ( refuse to believe that)

or does this mean that the famous AA 3.6v lithium battery is completely dead?


pressing CUDA and removing the battery doesn't help any longer.... Sad

what should i try now?

thanks in advance for your great help

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Measure the voltage in the battery
Mar 22, 2011 9:10AM PDT

Replace if necessary.

Anything below 3 is not good

P

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cannot measure the voltage
Mar 22, 2011 10:51AM PDT

thanks for your prompt reply Happy
cannot measure the voltage ... got no tools Sad
but my guess its dead..
so if i find a replacement would it bring my Power Mac back to life.... hopefully?

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(NT) Hopefully
Mar 22, 2011 10:07PM PDT
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New battery ---- no go :(
Mar 25, 2011 5:10AM PDT

Just bought new battery , installed it
when i push power button it light up for split second and than nothing happes,
trying to push it again --- no light sparkle ...Sad

what else could it be?

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g4 sawtooth
Nov 21, 2010 9:57AM PST

I, don't know anything when comes to using a mac.
I pick up a G4 500 SERVER SAWTOOTH it's got a 1G of ram
and I HAVE ASKED a few if I, could upgrade to a dual
1.42 and I ; was told no, I, couldn'T
What can you tell me about this?

Thanks MZ ...

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Don't hijack a thread,
Nov 21, 2010 9:03PM PST

make a new thread with your problem which has nothing to do with the current problem being dealt with in this thread.

Yes, you an upgrade to a Dual 1.42

P

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need help
Mar 25, 2011 5:13AM PDT

CUDA reset dousn't help , Just bought new battery , installed it
when i push power button - the button blinks light for a split second and than nothing happes,
trying to push it again --- no light sparkle ...Sad

what else could it be?

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Could be
Mar 25, 2011 6:05AM PDT

Logicboard failure
Power supply failure

did you press the CUDA button after taking out the old battery and before installing the new one?

Go back to my first post and repeat the steps it contains

p

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another try
Mar 25, 2011 8:46AM PDT

i have followed your instructions again:
pushed power button once,
removed new battery,
pressed PMU buttoon once shortly
waited 20 min


power Mac powered up for 30 sec... than shut itself off before screen even lighted up.... Sad

now if i press power button it shws light but Mac doesn't powers up.

What made it behave so strange, what else could i test , reset or try?

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You could buy a boat
Mar 25, 2011 9:13AM PDT

and use the G4 as an anchor.

You obviously have some sort of hardware failure going on there.

Make sure that everything is disconnected, not the keyboard and mouse, remove all but one stick of RAM and go again.

I think you are flogging a dead horse

P

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power outtages
Mar 25, 2011 10:13AM PDT

well , the srtartup probs started after few power outages in the ancient downtown of Nice ( where i am located)
in the past i ould always "reanimate" Power Mac G4 by PMU reset
but than it wouldnt go beyond +- sec starting up and subsequent shut down....
i usually disconnect power cable and monitor when doing the these recovery tests....


do you mean it could be a dead RAM? that's why i need to remove the RAM chip?

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It is possible but,
Mar 26, 2011 12:01AM PDT

as I already mentioned, we are just grasping at straws right now.

P

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Startup worked! , but what's the next step?
Mar 26, 2011 12:47PM PDT

Good news : After doing exactly what you've suggested
i removed one memory chip from the two,
removed battery
pressed CUDA one long press waited few hours,
and now i am typing this on my POwer Mac! Happy

but, i am afraid to put it to sleep mode or shutdown cause last time it could never come back from sleep ....

What do you thing was wrong with it , bad memory chip or?
the removed memory chip is made by Infineon if it makes any difference?

How could i diagnose/repair my Mac further .... what tools , steps to undertake
to ensure that its won't have any startup probs anymore?

P.S. at leas i am so happy its not completely dead Happy

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Not sure what is going on and
Mar 26, 2011 11:38PM PDT

the start up after removing the RAM stick may have been coincidental.

If you wanted to push your luck, you could restart with the stick out, and if that works, shut down and add the stick back. If it fails to boot then the stick may well be bad.

However, maybe it would be better if you just left the thing running, no sleep and no shutdown.

Your call.

Happy

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Disk Utility test
Mar 27, 2011 3:26AM PDT

after checking my HD with Disk Utility
i got message that volume needs minor repair....

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Now you will have to reboot
Mar 27, 2011 3:57AM PDT

from the OS X installation disk or the Restore Disks and run Disk Utility from there.

Disk Utility cannot repair the disk that the computer is booted from


P

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memory is OK
Mar 28, 2011 12:42PM PDT

Good News:

just dared to restart the computer, all was fine.
than i've reinstalled the RAM chip back and started fine aswell Happy
so the memory is fine.
what was the matter with my Power Mac shutting itself off all those months than, the old battery or...?

thanks again for all your great insight and help

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I think now is the time to
Mar 28, 2011 9:57PM PDT

tiptoe away from the machine and not try to second guess it any longer.

Battery could have been the cause while RAM is still a suspect. Sometimes reseating a card or memory module is enough to make sure that all the contacts are connecting well and solves the problem.

Enjoy the G4

P

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I think now is the time
Mar 29, 2011 12:45AM PDT

thanks you,
just another observation:

when i try to put G 4 into slip mode it just shuts itself off.
than i have to restart it by pressing the power button on the LCD monitor....?

the sleep mode used to work..

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Good on the second thing,
Mar 29, 2011 10:13AM PDT

not so much on the first.

Don't know what to tell you here.

P