iMac G5 crashed after using track changes on Word for Mac

[Aude]

This has happened before, on my iBook too, and I have sent off reports to Microsoft, but now it has happened on my iMac (which has plenty of memory) and I can't get it to restart. I have changed the fuse and unplugged it overnight but can't get it to restart ...

[wove]

Detailed symptoms would make it easier to provide helpful suggestions. Is the iMac acting like it is not even plugged in when you try to start it? Do you get a chime or any other signs of life, like a fan or drive spinning up? Does it get to displaying an image and if so what is displayed?

The iMac G5s were prone to capacitor failure. The result of that failure would either be the iMac appearing completely dead, or simply starting with the fans runing full speed with no other activity. A crash while running an application can cause hard drive corruption, which will prevent a complete startup, but otherwise will still show a screen on boot.

bill

[Aude]

Thanks, Bill. There is no noise at all. It's completely dead with a black screen and no response at all to the button on the back. Does this mean a new hard drive? Fortunately, I have been backing everything up on an external drive.

Is a capacitor the same as the transformer on a laptop power lead? I hope it's not complete death of machine. I like it very much.

Aude

[wove]

If the G5 iMac is making no noise of any sort and the screen remains black without so much as a flicker then you no doubt have hardware problems and probably serious problems.

The G5 iMac suffered from capacitor failure. If you do a search on G5 iMac and capacitors you will find a good deal of information about the whys and how to fix the problem.

It is unlikely the failure would have harmed the hard drive and you should be able to remove it and place it in another machine or an extenal case and retrieve your data.

bill

[Aude]

Thanks, Bill. I'm sad to hear this as it's a lovely machine. I take it you don't recommend getting another G5 then?

Aude

[wove]

My wife's iMac G5 died from capacitor problems a year ago. My wife was content with her iMac G5 and had no lust for a new(er) computer so we did get it fixed. The repair was not inexpensive, but it was much less than the cost of a new machine. You just need to look at all the variables and make a determination on your own.

bill

[Aude]

Thanks again, Bill.
I've opened it up and it's not the capacitors but it does involve replacing the logicboard, according to the LED check. I can't do soldering etc and my son, who can, is just off to Australia for a couple of months, so it looks like a new computer, as I need it to work from home. (My eyes get tired on this iBook G4, useful though it is). I'll keep the G5 though, as someone in the family may have a use for it. I was interested to hear that your wife's has worked well after the repair.

Aude

[amigadave]

I hope you can get your G5 iMac fixed Aude, and for not too much money. The later and current Intel iMacs are many times faster and have the added ability to run more software by running Windows (if there is a particular software on Windows that you can't find an equivalent for that runs on MacOSX), but the G5 line of Mac computers will soon have another alternative OS, besides PPC Linux. There is a small team of developers that is porting MorphOS2.x to several G5 Mac systems and they have already released "Proof of Concept" pictures of screen grabs of their preliminary work booting on a 2.1GHz G5 iMac and a 2.7GHz Dual G5 PowerMac. MorphOS2.x has already been ported and is running on many G4 Mac models, starting with the G4 Mac Mini a couple of years ago. MorphOS is an "Amiga-Like" OS that has been dubbed "The Lightning OS", due to its small size and extremely fast operating speed. For older G4 (and soon G5) Mac computers that don't run MacOSX Tiger, or Leopard very well (the last two versions of OSX that supported the PPC line of Mac computers), MorphOS can breath some new life into that old hardware, instead of relegating it to the closet or attic, or worse, sending it to the recycle bin. As you might have guessed from my nickname, I am an old time Amiga user who has started using Mac's in addition to my 20+ year-old Amiga systems that I still use on a regular basis, and there is still an active Amiga community writing new software and even making some new add-on hardware for those ancient systems. Amazing after 25 years and rivaling the fanaticism of even the most die hard Mac user. I enjoy both!

[Turboladdade]

Okay come on, iMac G5s aren't *that* old, why would anybody want to replace Leopard (or even Tiger) with something as incredibly useless as this thing you're describing?

[amigadave]

Okay come on, iMac G5s aren't *that* old, why would anybody want to replace Leopard (or even Tiger) with something as incredibly useless as this thing you're describing?

I didn't suggest that he needed to replace his OSX Leopard (or Tiger) install. MorphOS2.7 is lightning quick compared to MacOSX and has a small following that is growing slowly with new software being written by the users. It has not yet been released for the G5 Mac models, but should be available for his G5 iMac some time in the not too distant future as an alternative for people that are interested in all choices and finding out what else is out there. I also run Ubuntu PPC 10.10 on my G4 & G5 Mac systems, so what is wrong with having choices and running a dual, or triple boot system?

If Apple is not going to support any of their PPC systems any longer, why not explore other operating systems that ARE going to support PPC Mac hardware that is not "*that* old". Specially when the alternative runs so much faster that it makes your PPC Mac feel like it is brand new and responds as fast, or faster than the newest Intel Mac models that run Snow Leopard. I am not saying that MorphOS2.7 can compete head-to-head with MacOSX, it is coded by a group of maybe 20 to 30 guys in their spare time. How could it compete with a multi-billion dollar corporation that employs thousands of employees? But as good as MacOSX is, it has grown into a huge monster of an OS, almost as bloated as Windows, and all that bloat takes power to implement and run. MorphOS2.7 is lightning quick because it is only 10 years old and has retained its original goal of staying small and fast, while still trying to provide all the needed basics of any OS and it continues to add new features and more software with each new release. I bought version 2.0 of MorphOS and have not had to pay for any of the 7 updated later releases over the last 2+ years, so I am very pleased with my investment and the performance of MorphOS2.7 and very much looking forward to the release of it which will support my 1.67GHz G4 PowerBook and later, my Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac. Older PPC Macs don't have to be retired, or replaced, unless you absolutely have to have a new system to run some piece of software that only runs on the Intel machines.

Edit: Why would you call MorphOS "incredibly useless", when it is obvious that you have never used it? It is not as full featured as MacOSX (yet), but it is very useful to the hundreds of users that have installed it.

[Turboladdade]

MorphOS2.7 is lightning quick compared to MacOSX and has a small following that is growing slowly with new software being written by the users.

You keep going on about how small and fast the operating system is, as if that's the only property that is of consideration when making that choice. I promise 99% of people will be woefully unsatisfied with the robustness of the system itself and the software available for it, just like 99% of users are totally unsatisfied with even the best Linux distros, such as Ubuntu. You're coming at the problem from the angle of a computer geek, for which multi booting many obscure operating systems and tinkering around with stuff is exciting and worthwhile investment of time. However for most people it is not. I come at this problem from the "what is best for the person asking the question" angle.

Edit: Why would you call MorphOS "incredibly useless", when it is obvious that you have never used it? It is not as full featured as MacOSX (yet), but it is very useful to the hundreds of users that have installed it.

It's only because I've heard this same story again and again from operating system developers intending to create serious replacements or alternatives to Windows and Mac OS X replacements. Unfortunately, it has yet to actually work. Just consider the case of Ubuntu, who by my judgement is by far the closest to meeting this goal, yet it's market share barely registers on any graph and OEMs who offer it alongside Windows find that pretty much nobody knowingly selects the Ubuntu option. If MorphOS isn't as useful and robust as Ubuntu, which I comfortably presume it is not, then I don't think it's something you should be recommending to end users.