[G4] Dual 1.25 MDD G4 won't boot OS X. Any ideas?

[Harry Freeman]

Greetings Mark ( + )!( + )

I understand that your platform will boot off of the CD/DVD system  
test disk so I have to believe that there isn't anything wrong with  
the hardware. Well at least most of the hardware.

My first question is have you done any maintenance operations that  
could have lead to your problems. And what I'm referring to, is have  
you opened the case and moved any of the cables? I had a similar  
problem once and it was because the cable to the startup disk had came  
off by just opening the case. I have a G4 Sawtooth 1999 version and  
when you open the case there is a little strain on the ribbon cable  
that connects to the bottom disk.

You might also want to reset Non-Volatile RAM. If you don't know how  
please post for help.

Best regards,

Harry
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On Dec 11, 2008, at 10:27 AM, Mark Steele wrote:

> This is a dual 1.25GHz MDD G4 (I think it has FW800, not sure, how  
> to tell???)
> 1.25 Gigs RAM.
> Couple of HDs and two internal optical drives.
>
> Problem: When booting into OS X (10.5.x) the machine locks up at the  
> grey screen with the Apple logo.
> Booting into the Hardware test disk (supplied with the machine)  
> works fine and all tests pass, even letting
> it loop overnight.
> Booting, installing and running linux does work (but can be somewhat  
> flakey) The ones I've tried are
> Fedora 7(?), some version of Ubuntu (which doesn't seem to be  
> supported with the latest version so
> it is probably one back from that).
>
> I've re-arraged the RAM chips (using the same slots as before) and  
> the problem still exists. Any attempts
> to boot into OS X fails. This machine has had the same hardware for  
> several years and booted and worked
> just fine, then one day it just locked up and wouldn't boot again.
>
> Any ideas on what to try next??
> Thanks,
> -Mark _______________________________________________