It's not a normal pulse though. It's a bright flash and then a dull one. It's something with the hardware or something. It won't turn on.
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Power Mac G4 Cube does not turn on. Pulsing Power Light.
I am totally new to Mac computers; a received one today from a friend as a Christmas gift, it is a Power Mac G4 the only problem with it at the time was it would not turn on I opened it up cleaned off the power button removed some scotch tape from one of the cables and then plug it back in and power it up and it turned out just fine; my friend who gave it to be originally thought that there was a problem with the power supply and he said if I could fix it I could have it so I thought I had fixed it and now it's not working again but this time it is a totally different problem.
The problem I am having now is that the computer won't turn on at all but the power button is pulsing: one bright flash, one dull flash over and over again. I opened up the computer and tried re-seating the RAM check the hard drive connections and all seemed fine. Does anybody know how to fix this issue what does the one bright flash, one dull flash over and over again mean?
Thanks a bunch,
Jeff
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Answers
It also depends on how many flashes, there is a KBase article here http://docs.info.apple.com
I have tried reseating the RAM and I checked the hard drive cable and it seems when I move that cable it works for a minute and then as soon as I put the case back on the computer stops working and I cannot get it to turn on again. My problem is that the apple screws are star shaped which is really aggrovating because I do not have a start shaped screwdriver so I am unable to take any of the parts off of the computer that I need to in order to get this issue resolved.
The pulse is 1 bright flash and then a dull flash. I don't see how it can be a memory issue because all of the memory is fine. I even tried taking all but the 512MB chip out of the computer and it still will not boot. I am getting so damn aggrovated.
Thanks for the assistance.
Well have you tried to get it all the way through a boot with case off? Also you can pick up a star bit set for a buck or two at your hardware store. I still think it is worth trying Slylong's advice. Have you tried what he suggested. It sure sounds like sleeping Mac. Try resetting pram press and hold command option p r all at the same time while booting continue holding untill you hear the boot chime a second time.
I have a cube and the blinking light on the top is definitely the SLEEP mode however on an aging cube the top power button can become unresponsive for a range of reasons.
I recommend ....
1. Using the power button UNDERNEATH .. hold it down until the Mac shuts down and then press it again .. doing the PRAM reset thing that pheidius suggests.
2. Check the PRAM battery inside .. on an old computer it could be at the end of its days and due replacement.
Do you know if the Cube has OSX or just OS9 onboard?
Do you have the original OS9 Cube CDs? If so you may be able to boot off the external CDs ..
Good luck
The power won't even turn on. It's like, the power button does absolutely nothing. It just blinks. You can't turn it off, you can't make it stop blinking, once I plug it in, blink blink blink. It does nothing else. I've tried pushing the buttons at the bottom but there's only 2 of them there (reset and programmers) and I tried pushing/holding them both. I read somewhere that the mac does a power-on self test and if something fails it will not start, but this thing won't even let me attempt to turn it on.
I did get it booted fully 1x when I first got it, and I was so excited, I see that it is running the not-so-pretty MacOS, 9.2, I wanted the real pretty one on it and I was told that I could just get a CD, but without this thing working I am not going to invest any money into it. heh But I really do want to get this thing working because I know nothing about MACs so this would help me to learn them. :)
As far as that battery goes, I tried taking it out and it did nothing, the light just keep flickering. Now, one question I do have, is, where is there a power button UNDERNEATH, there are only 2 buttons underneath, the reset and programmers button. The only way I can get it to turn off all the way is to unplug the thing which up to this point has not helped me at all. :(
Thanks for all of your suggestions, I appriciate everything, I am going to try testing that battery to see if I need a new one, but would it being dead make the power button totally unresponsive?
Thanks a bunch,
Jeff
Taking out the battery is just the same as having a flat one - it won't have any positive impact on the problem. And yes, it can cause any manner of problems, including an apparently unresponsive power button. Only once replacing a flat battery can you truly begin to troubleshoot the problem, if indeed there's a different problem.
Here is the full Apple G4 Cube Manual ..
http://manuals.info.apple.
According to the manual ..
The only way to shut off power completely to your computer or display is to disconnect their power plugs from the power source.
If you do this ... then when it is OFF insert a NEW PRAM battery (or the old one if you want to try)
Then when you plug it back in the top power button should not be flashing .. press the button on the top and let us know if it does not boot up?
Remember that the POWER Button on the cube was well known as having problems for many users ... there are several hundred websites out there cataloging the problem .. sometimes they are oversensitive and keep switching off the computer .. others are unresponsive. As it is not a true button but a sensor designed to detect micro currents in the human skin to activate it.
See this article from Apple
http://docs.info.apple.com
Read these forums to see if any of the scenarios match yours
http://www.macintouch.com/
and this page about the power button
http://www.smalldog.com/ne
"It just blinks. You can't turn it off, you can't make it stop blinking, once I plug it in, blink blink blink."
Does it start blinking even before you try to turn it on? As soon as you plug the cube in, the power light begins blinking? If so, you've got issues with your power button. The cube shouldn't turn itself on until you've hit that power button.
If you take it out of the case now, can you get it to boot all the way? If so, it must be the way that you're putting it back into the case. Or, is there anything on top of the case that may be triggering the power button sensor (essentially holding down a normal power button)?
Once I plug it in the power button starts blinking. Even with the case off, it still just blinks when you plug it back into the wall. I have not replaced the battery yet but I am going to go out and get one this weekend and try to see if it fixes the problem or if it is indeed something wrong with the power button.
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by: slyongPosted on 2006-12-29 at 01:42:21ID: 18213393
According to http://manuals.info.apple.