DEAD PowerMac G5

[origican]

I have a dead G5. It was running fine one day and then it just died, went off in the middle of everything. The fans still run and the HD still spins but it won't startup and the status light won't stay on .
It's been in service for the past month, they say it's not just one thing (ie. logic board, power supply or processor), so it's not worth to even fix. Since its was 4 months beyond the 1 year apple won't do squat. blah apple care blah.
Any advice?
Please Help.

 

[rockandrule]

Time for a new Quad. Of course, with Apple Care this time

 

[Mechcozmo]

Pull the hard drive out and insert into new Mac?

That sucks BTW, but 4 months is a long time.

 

[gammamonk]

That sucks... You pay 2 grand or more for a system, you expect it to last more than 16months.

Here's an idea that might get me banned: Buy the Asus intel motherboard recommended on that ZDNet article, and load the haxored x86 OS X on it. Your tower's back and running for maybe $200.

Whatever you do, we're feeling your pain.

 

[FFTT]

First of all, sorry to hear about your situation.
It would help to know what model G5 you have and how it's configured.

Did the technician give you any clear indication of what IS causing the problem?

He should have been able to narrow it down during his diagnostic checks.

The best hope is that you might have a loose connection somewhere
after it was slapped back together in repair.

Try removing the power chord for a few minutes, then plug it back in and try starting up.

Wild guess, it's a faulty power supply.
It maybe getting some limited power, but not enough.

You'd have to check voltage to find out.

? Was your system plugged into a good surge protector?
If so, was it one with a protection guarantee?

I would ask the Apple technician if the kind of damage he found
could have been caused by a power surge.
If so you have a claim.

If not with the surge protector manufacturer, then possibly with your
home owners insurance.

You might also consider consulting the guys over at xlr8yourmac.com
to help you figure out what the problem is.

It might be something simple you could fix yourself.

I wouldn't give up so easy until you know for sure that it's not worth fixing.

 

[origican]

Problem Solved!!

After 4 phone calls to apple and a couple hours on hold the problem is solved. I did as the repair center suggested and gave Apple's customer relations a call. I was fortunate to talk someone who was very pleasant and helpful for once. This time they took the time to call up the repair center and verify what i was saying and get the rest of the details.
(edit)
It sucks it took so many attempts, but it's taken care of now.

So in the end not even the techs could pinpoint what the problem was without spending on a lifetime on the machine.
Thumbs up to the repair center for their help and cooperation.
(edit) and Apple.

Thank you guys too for offering suggestions and looking out for other mac users

 

[Mechcozmo]

After 4 phone calls to apple and a couple hours on hold the problem is solved. I did as the repair center suggested and gave Apple's customer relations a call. I was fortunate to talk someone who was very pleasant and helpful for once. This time they took the time to call up the repair center and verify what i was saying and get the rest of the details.
So the solution has been that I will recieve a replacement machine!!
It sucks it took so many attempts, but it's taken care of now.

So in the end not even the techs could pinpoint what the problem was without spending on a lifetime on the machine.
thumbs up to the repair center for their help and cooperation.

Great job! If you be nice, Apple will be nice back. Very cool, glad to hear. (And remember to find a way to back up your data before you turn over your deceased G5)

 

[FFTT]

It's great to hear that you found a solution.

New replacement kewel!

Looks like it's all working out for the best.

 

[gammamonk]

Wow, they replaced it even tho it's 4 months out of warranty. That's nice. It sounds like you've been having problems for some time. It's good that they did the right thing.

 

[joecool85]

Actually, since its past the 1year, the "right thing" would have been to tell him "sorry, we can't do anything for you." But they went above and beyond. Awesome.

 

[MRU]

Its not unusual for the G5 to die

Mine began playing up only a week after reciving it back in 2004.

Hardware Monitor & Tech Tool both couldn't detect what was going wrong and Apple Technicians at the repair centre sent the machine back twice before fixing it. Turned out one of the Processors was up the swanny and yet software diagnosis was unable to see this.

Since they replaced the processor my G5 has worked with no bother at all.

Glad to see you got yours replaced, Dealing with Apple at the time myself was a complete fecking nightmare. I didn't have AppleCare (hey the machine was only a week or two old) and unfortunetly the nearest Apple Centre was the otherside of the country, which made sending the machine to the repair center costly. I found Apple customer care to be a bit of a pain in the arse to be honest, I ended up buying AppleCare eventually because the cost of sending the machine up and down from the repair center too expensive. Oh well we live and learn