Question

MAC G5 Goes to Black Screen Standy

Asked by: FASTECHS

I have a G5 mac that will periodically just go to black screen after working on it. I then have to hit the power button and it brings me back for a little while then happens again. It is really annoying. I changed out the power supply and it is still happening.

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Asked On
2009-09-29 at 16:04:15ID24771962
Topics

Apple Desktop

,

Apple Hardware

,

Mac OS X

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: vallisPosted on 2009-09-29 at 16:19:09ID: 25454339

A high probability is a defective RAM module. It's easy to check. If you have more than one module, remove them sequentially, preferably in pairs, until you isolate the culprit.

If you don't wish to open it up you can use the free memtest86:
http://www.memtestosx.org/joomla/index.php

I had exactly this problem with a G5.

:)

 

by: FASTECHSPosted on 2009-10-01 at 14:31:56ID: 25473409

We ran applejack and it completed fine. Restarted and then as soon as it went into os x it froze. It seems like it might not be hardware since applejacks didn't freeze running low level tests. I will try the memtest you mentioned to see if that fixes.

 

by: FASTECHSPosted on 2009-10-02 at 05:00:01ID: 25477007

Vallis, thanks for your help. Was your problem the ram? We couldn't even get the unit to stay on enough to run the ram test. It just kept going into standby. The bizarre part those is the applejacks test ran on command line and had no problem.

 

by: vallisPosted on 2009-10-02 at 09:16:45ID: 25479350

Yes, my problem was the RAM. Of course it could be a motherboard fault, overheating, or a number of other things.

RAM is the easiest thing to eliminate. Just remove half your modules, test, then swap modules and test again.

Have you checked that all fans are running? Dust build-up internally?

If you can keep it running long enough you can check temperatures with these utilities:
Freeware: http://islayer.net/apps/istatpro/
Donationware: http://www.bresink.de/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

 

by: vallisPosted on 2009-10-02 at 09:20:25ID: 25479383

Have you checked the log using Console?

Applications >> Utilities >> Console  (or, in Finder, get to Utiliites with the keyboard shortcut Cmd+Shift+U)

 

by: vallisPosted on 2009-10-02 at 09:26:07ID: 25479441

PS
The iSlayer free utility I linked to above is a widget and it will also show your fan speeds.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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