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PM has went kaput :(

Josh

Josh

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2004
1,640
1
State College, PA
I came home yesterday to find my G5 powermac's fans spinning at full blast - much more than I ever expected they could. It sounded like a jet readying for take off.

The monitor was on, but no display. I powered it down (holding the power button in) and then turned it back on. It began powering on, made the loud chime sound as usual, keyboard lights never came on, and no display on the monitor.

After waiting 15 or so more seconds, the fans began roaring again :mad: Tried a second time, same deal.

Guess I'll have to take it in. All I hope is that it is nothing with my hard drive *crosses fingers.*

Because the keyboard lights are not initalizing as usual, and the monitor is not being actived, I'm assuming it is processor/motherboard related, as it shows signs of system failure before the drive is really utilized *crosses fingers again*.
 
^ first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was the colored LEDs. But then I started wondering if that was only in the iMacs (I had to look at them in my old iMac once).

I'm not certain :confused: I didn't look for them, and I don't recall seeing any. But I can't say for sure if that was because I wasn't looking for them or that there wasn't any.

I'll have to check that out once I get home.

Thanks for reminding me about that, Gary.
 
Josh said:
^ first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was the colored LEDs. But then I started wondering if that was only in the iMacs (I had to look at them in my old iMac once).

I'm not certain :confused: I didn't look for them, and I don't recall seeing any. But I can't say for sure if that was because I wasn't looking for them or that there wasn't any.

I'll have to check that out once I get home.

Thanks for reminding me about that, Gary.
Click to expand...

Yup, you probably would have seen them, but they are visible right behind the grating above the power switch.

And yes it is scary to find one of these things blowing full blast. :eek:

Let us know how you make out!
 
Will do.

Thanks again!

I'll see if I can test anything I'm able to myself (taking out my crucial ram, unplugging all external devices, pci-cards, etc) But either way I'm sure I'll have to take in, which won't be until Monday (camping trip this weekend). :(
 
I sure hope so! That is an encouraging possibility :D

I cannot describe the lumb in my throat and the sick feeling I got once I realized I may lose every photograph I've ever taken (niece being born, brother's wedding, all my photography)....

Needless to say, I've learned a lesson in backing things up, and will be ordering a LaCie this afternoon.
 
LOL here is some funny chat.

Lilstewart and I had a file transfer going before I left to my girlfriend's place (to let the transfer finish while I was gone).

When I came back is when I discovered the non-working Mac.

(Check out the chat...lol cracked me up...I changed his s/n incase he doesnt want ppl messaging him)
Code: 
[11:24] lilstewart: crap man
[11:24] lilstewart: did u get it?
[11:25] lilstewart: some how i signed off and back on again or something
[11:25] joshuwa72nfg: dunno, my mac was dead when i got home
[11:26] lilstewart: dead?
[11:26] lilstewart: o.O
[11:26] lilstewart: what do you mean dead
[11:26] joshuwa72nfg: fans going full blast, no display, and wont boot up
[11:26] lilstewart: :o
[11:26] lilstewart: OMG
[11:26] lilstewart: :o
[11:27] lilstewart: is it ok?
[11:27] joshuwa72nfg: dunno, I'll have to do some tests when I get home tonight, and probably need to bring it in to get fixed
[11:28] lilstewart: wtf!?
[11:28] lilstewart: dude.. i didn't do it.. lol..
[11:29] lilstewart: you realize an ichat transfer couldn't of done that, right? lol
[11:29] joshuwa72nfg: *raises eyebrows*
[11:30] lilstewart: i'm serious lol

I know he didn't do it, but him thinking I might think that is hilarious :)
 
This has me thinking....

Will Apple be able to preserve my HD and all of its data (assuming the drive is fine)?

I don't have any local friends that have Macs, so I have no way of backing up my data from this drive.
 
Josh said:
This has me thinking....

Will Apple be able to preserve my HD and all of its data (assuming the drive is fine)?

I don't have any local friends that have Macs, so I have no way of backing up my data from this drive.
Click to expand...
If you tell them that I'm sure they'll be sensitive towards your situation.
 
josh -

i had this same problem about a month ago. i would come home to find the fans blowing like a turbine jet engine.

in the end i took i to apple, and luckily i was covered under warranty, because my problem was both processors and the powersupply needed to be replaced.
that may be the issue with yours, and i hope to God you have applecare otherwise it could run you about $1100 for parts and labor.

they fixed mine good as new, and my hard drive came back untouched, i had backed everything up just the day prior so i wasnt as worried, but regardless, it came back just like it was when i took it in. ( the hard drive i mean )
 
AGoglanian said:
josh -

i had this same problem about a month ago. i would come home to find the fans blowing like a turbine jet engine.

in the end i took i to apple, and luckily i was covered under warranty, because my problem was both processors and the powersupply needed to be replaced.
that may be the issue with yours, and i hope to God you have applecare otherwise it could run you about $1100 for parts and labor.

they fixed mine good as new, and my hard drive came back untouched, i had backed everything up just the day prior so i wasnt as worried, but regardless, it came back just like it was when i took it in. ( the hard drive i mean )
Click to expand...

It is still under the 1-year warranty. That works the same as Apple Care, right? (my understanding is that Apple Care extends the same warranty an additional 2 years). Is that correct?

iDuck said:
If you tell them that I'm sure they'll be sensitive towards your situation.
Click to expand...

I sure hope so. If I remember right, they charge $50 to transfer data from one drive to the other, and even if I have to pay that fee, I'd be very much relieved.
 
Josh said:
LOL here is some funny chat.

Lilstewart and I had a file transfer going before I left to my girlfriend's place (to let the transfer finish while I was gone).

When I came back is when I discovered the non-working Mac.

(Check out the chat...lol cracked me up...I changed his s/n incase he doesnt want ppl messaging him)
Code: 
[11:24] lilstewart: crap man
[11:24] lilstewart: did u get it?
[11:25] lilstewart: some how i signed off and back on again or something
[11:25] joshuwa72nfg: dunno, my mac was dead when i got home
[11:26] lilstewart: dead?
[11:26] lilstewart: o.O
[11:26] lilstewart: what do you mean dead
[11:26] joshuwa72nfg: fans going full blast, no display, and wont boot up
[11:26] lilstewart: :o
[11:26] lilstewart: OMG
[11:26] lilstewart: :o
[11:27] lilstewart: is it ok?
[11:27] joshuwa72nfg: dunno, I'll have to do some tests when I get home tonight, and probably need to bring it in to get fixed
[11:28] lilstewart: wtf!?
[11:28] lilstewart: dude.. i didn't do it.. lol..
[11:29] lilstewart: you realize an ichat transfer couldn't of done that, right? lol
[11:29] joshuwa72nfg: *raises eyebrows*
[11:30] lilstewart: i'm serious lol

I know he didn't do it, but him thinking I might think that is hilarious :)
Click to expand...
:eek:
 
Your coverage will be identical to AppleCare. But this should also be a good reminder to buy AppleCare for your machine. Find some way to backup your HD.

From my past experience with Apple they are notorious for erasing drives for no reason, even when a sheet of paper was jammed into the laptop KB saying DO NOT ERASE DRIVE!
 
Macmaniac said:
Your coverage will be identical to AppleCare. But this should also be a good reminder to buy AppleCare for your machine. Find some way to backup your HD.

From my past experience with Apple they are notorious for erasing drives for no reason, even when a sheet of paper was jammed into the laptop KB saying DO NOT ERASE DRIVE!
Click to expand...

Do you know if a PC would be able to read the drive?

I have no other Macs to put it in, and without mine working, I can't think of anyway to back it up :confused:
 
Hey Josh, this sounds like a problem I have sometimes with power interruptions (well everything but the fan noise). The solution for my G4 was to turn the computer off, press the PMU reset button on the motherboard and start it back up. It may not fix your problem, but I don't think it does any harm and could save you a lot of time!

Good Luck!
 
Pull the harddrive out and put it in a PC if you have one around somewhere. Then boot Linux from somewhere. Linux has built-in HFS+ drivers and they do work reasonably well.

You can grab yourself a Live CD/DVD from places like this http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/DVDs/ubuntu/6.06/release/ and just boot off the CD/DVD once you've burnt the image onto a disc.

If the HFS+ driver doesn't work then you can "dd" (again, any Linux distro) your entire partition out into an image, but you'll need enough harddrive space to store your entire drive's partition.
 
Raid said:
Hey Josh, this sounds like a problem I have sometimes with power interruptions (well everything but the fan noise). The solution for my G4 was to turn the computer off, press the PMU reset button on the motherboard and start it back up. It may not fix your problem, but I don't think it does any harm and could save you a lot of time!

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

I will definitely try that when I get home from work. Thanks for the tip!

I'll post what happens.


PatrickF said:
Pull the harddrive out and put it in a PC if you have one around somewhere. Then boot Linux from somewhere. Linux has built-in HFS+ drivers and they do work reasonably well.

You can grab yourself a Live CD/DVD from places like this http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/DVDs/ubuntu/6.06/release/ and just boot off the CD/DVD once you've burnt the image onto a disc.

If the HFS+ driver doesn't work then you can "dd" (again, any Linux distro) your entire partition out into an image, but you'll need enough harddrive space to store your entire drive's partition.
Click to expand...

I've got linux on my PC at work - that's a good idea. I'll give that a try as well tomorrow.
 
Raid said:
So is your machine healed yet Josh?
Click to expand...

lol I just got on to update this thread and saw a reply :)

Good news is that my hard drive was fine. I took that out and took it over to my brother's house and used his pc + MacDrive (trial version - good thing for that!) to back up my data.

Tomorrow I'll be taking it in to the Apple store to find out what the actual problem is and get a fix.

I wanted to back up my data first though, after being worried they might erase it for no reason.
 
Fixed :)

I took my Mac in to the Apple store on Tuesday, and they said it would be 3-5 days, which was cool.

I got a surprise call last night (the very next day) that it was ready to go :D

Needed a new logic board/processor.

Works fine now.

When I first turned it on, I heard an awful "click click click" that rapidly increased, so I shut it down and opened the case. I found two small wires that were being hit by the top and front-most fan. They are attatched at the top, but hanging loose at the bottom, not being connected.

I don't know what they are for; I moved them out of the way, booted up, and checked everything out, made sure all my devices were working, all fans were working, etc.

It's quite a trip to the Apple store from where I live, so I don't think I'll be taking it back unless it causes a problem. Though I will probably call and tell them just so it is on record.
 
Excellent - do the replaced the processor and logic board?

What is the descriptio non the warranty ticket, out of curiousity...
 
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