G5 suddenly and spontaneously shuts off?!?!?!?

OVERNIGHT · 22nd January 2007

I should preface that I'm not terribly MAC proficient. I'm pretty savy with PC's and I've only owned the MAC for about 6 months.

I've been having problems generally with Logic occasionally crashing and the computer not being able to handle more than about 30 tracks at 92Khz which seems rediculous given the specs (G5 2.3 Ghz, 6Gigs RAM). This has all been a rather disapointing entry into the world of MAC but I've been able to work around the issues until two days ago. While editing some audio the computer just spontaneously cut off. No warning, nothing. Just on one second, off the next. I turned it back on and it was as if nothing had happened except that everything worked on prior to crash was lost. Since then it's happened three times in the last four days prompting major worry.

What should I look for? Do I need to take her in for repair? In a PC this would likely be a fan or heat-sync problem and I have a utility for keeping an eye on the heat in my PC but I don't know where to start with the MAC.

Thanks in advance.

Espiridion · 22nd January 2007

I would advise that you make a backup of anything important ASAP.

A couple of things.
1. What OS are you using?
Make sure you have the latest updates for your OS. Some people recommend running ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ when installing or updating software from Apple, and it’s found in Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Some people also say it doesn’t make a difference, though.

2. Do you run any drive maintenance utilities?
Disk Warrior is one of the essential Mac programs. A newcomer that has worked for me is Drive Genius, by http://www.prosofteng.com/ I mainly use it for defragmenting my hard drives from time to time, but it has many additional features.
The same company makes Data Rescue II. I hope you never need it, but it saved me once when all else failed. OWC (Macsales.com) has good prices on that software.

3. Have you checked your Energy Saver settings?
I doubt this is the problem, since typically you do get a message, but under System Preferences>Energy Saver there’s an option to schedule computer shutdowns.

Regarding performance, do you have a dual-processor Mac, or is it a single processor?
Have you created a specific account or setting specific for recording?

I hope this helps while other more knowledgeable people reply. I have not had that specific issue happen to me.

xist · 22nd January 2007

To me this sounds like bad hardware. Since you should be covered by warranty, I'd call Apple to fix it (or replace it), usually they're very fast at that.

cajonezzz · 22nd January 2007

sounds like the power supply.

theblotted · 22nd January 2007

go make sure your G5 is one of the many that needs to be taken in for Liquid Cooling System recall. the LCS leaks will affect the power supply.

and you better do it soon, unless you wanna keep losing all your time and hard work. i lost a G5 2.5 from the LCS leak, and it ain't pretty.

quincyg · 23rd January 2007

1)overheating
2)power supply
3)logic board

seem like the three possibilities. my guess would be logic board, but hopefully i'm wrong.

MJGreene Audio · 23rd January 2007

As strange as it sounds it could also be a software issue. In the complex where my studio is located they have the exact same G-5 bought about 4-6 months apart. Dual 2.0 before the PCIE cards. I was running Pro-Tools 7.2 with 10.4.3 or .5. They started an upgrade from 7.0 to 7.2. In the process they did a software update to 10.4.7. There were problems with the PT 7.2 upgrade but they finally got it working. Suddenly with nothing else changing the G-5 would shut down at random sometimes only 2 times a day and sometimes every 30 minutes. It was not predictable at all. After spending a week of downtime with the computer in the shop and the tech's not being able to get it to shutdown or act up at all and after it passed all the tests they brought it back in and it eventually developed the same problem. Since they had nothing to loose they tried upgrading to 10.4.8 and the problems only got worse. After another 2 days of frustration they decided to wipe the internal drive, downgrade to 10.4.5, re-instal PT 7.0 and see what would happen. To this day 3 months later the computer has never shut down by itself. They never pinpointed the exact cause but it appears there was some corruption in the system software that was causing the computer to either run hot and shut down or send some kind of shutdown command.
Why it didn't do it on the tech bench? No idea. Does it have something to do with the PT interfaces being attached to the cards since they were not attached at the shop? No idea. But it did fix the problem.

Now the problem is they don't want to do any upgrades for fear that it will bring up the problem again or something worse. I keep telling them I don't think it will but they haven't had a free week yet to burn and try it.

Good luck and let me know how you end up fixing the problem.

Michael Greene

theblotted · 23rd January 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJGreene Audio

They never pinpointed the exact cause but it appears there was some corruption in the system software that was causing the computer to either run hot and shut down or send some kind of shutdown command.

Michael Greene

if it's running hot and shutting itself down; did you change the positioning of G5 after you brought it back and installed 10.4.5? that could contribute to heat flow issues, but still doesn't really explain why G5 would shut itself down (as opposed to fans running faster... unless you got a fan-power issue).

De chromium cob · 23rd January 2007

This whole thread is preposterous! I keep reading post after post about how Macs "just work" and never have any problems.... So how could this be? Oh wait, I must be dreaming....

Sorry, I couldn't resist....

MJGreene Audio · 23rd January 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by theblotted

if it's running hot and shutting itself down; did you change the positioning of G5 after you brought it back and installed 10.4.5? that could contribute to heat flow issues, but still doesn't really explain why G5 would shut itself down (as opposed to fans running faster... unless you got a fan-power issue).

Thats the problem. It wasn't running hot at all. We didn't change the position more than an inch. It is in the exact same place, well ventilated and very open. Good air flow etc. Again the only thing that changed from working to not working to working again is the OS.

I really believe that the OS was corrupted somehow and in someway, and that caused the shutdown issue.

Michael Greene

buzzlegs · 23rd January 2007

Hi, this happened to me and lots and lots of other people, everyone has their own theory but after reading up the numerous reports about it i came to the conclusion that it's nearly always the power supply, this happened to my G5 Quad all the time so i replaced the power supply over a year ago and it's never done it since.

Spaced · 23rd January 2007

Have you looked in the system log (using Console) for any clues as to what might be causing the shut down?- if it is overheating you may see entries that mention 'Thermal Runaway'

If you do find these entries it's a trip to the service centre I'm afraid...

Jonboy79 · 23rd January 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by cajonezzz

sounds like the power supply.

I had this exact same problem with my Imac. Opened it up, took apart the power supply and sure enough there were two popped caps inside. I went to welovemacs.com ordered a new one put it in and I've been running fine ever since.

22nd January 2007	#1
OVERNIGHT Gear addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 437 Thread Starter	G5 suddenly and spontaneously shuts off?!?!?!? I should preface that I'm not terribly MAC proficient. I'm pretty savy with PC's and I've only owned the MAC for about 6 months. I've been having problems generally with Logic occasionally crashing and the computer not being able to handle more than about 30 tracks at 92Khz which seems rediculous given the specs (G5 2.3 Ghz, 6Gigs RAM). This has all been a rather disapointing entry into the world of MAC but I've been able to work around the issues until two days ago. While editing some audio the computer just spontaneously cut off. No warning, nothing. Just on one second, off the next. I turned it back on and it was as if nothing had happened except that everything worked on prior to crash was lost. Since then it's happened three times in the last four days prompting major worry. What should I look for? Do I need to take her in for repair? In a PC this would likely be a fan or heat-sync problem and I have a utility for keeping an eye on the heat in my PC but I don't know where to start with the MAC. Thanks in advance. __________________ 47.6% of all statistics on the internet are made up on the spot.

22nd January 2007	#5
theblotted Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 2,304	go make sure your G5 is one of the many that needs to be taken in for Liquid Cooling System recall. the LCS leaks will affect the power supply. and you better do it soon, unless you wanna keep losing all your time and hard work. i lost a G5 2.5 from the LCS leak, and it ain't pretty. __________________ "You can imagine where it goes from here." "He fixes the cable?"

23rd January 2007	#9
De chromium cob Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Western North Carolina Posts: 3,655	This whole thread is preposterous! I keep reading post after post about how Macs "just work" and never have any problems.... So how could this be? Oh wait, I must be dreaming.... Sorry, I couldn't resist.... __________________ "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." Tolstoy Scott Benson Blue Ridge Mastering

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22nd January 2007	#2
Espiridion Gear interested Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 14	I would advise that you make a backup of anything important ASAP. A couple of things. 1. What OS are you using? Make sure you have the latest updates for your OS. Some people recommend running ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ when installing or updating software from Apple, and it’s found in Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Some people also say it doesn’t make a difference, though. 2. Do you run any drive maintenance utilities? Disk Warrior is one of the essential Mac programs. A newcomer that has worked for me is Drive Genius, by http://www.prosofteng.com/ I mainly use it for defragmenting my hard drives from time to time, but it has many additional features. The same company makes Data Rescue II. I hope you never need it, but it saved me once when all else failed. OWC (Macsales.com) has good prices on that software. 3. Have you checked your Energy Saver settings? I doubt this is the problem, since typically you do get a message, but under System Preferences>Energy Saver there’s an option to schedule computer shutdowns. Regarding performance, do you have a dual-processor Mac, or is it a single processor? Have you created a specific account or setting specific for recording? I hope this helps while other more knowledgeable people reply. I have not had that specific issue happen to me.

22nd January 2007	#3
xist Lives for gear Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 879	To me this sounds like bad hardware. Since you should be covered by warranty, I'd call Apple to fix it (or replace it), usually they're very fast at that.

22nd January 2007	#4
cajonezzz Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Carlsbad Ca. Posts: 1,765	sounds like the power supply.

23rd January 2007	#6
quincyg Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2,127	1)overheating 2)power supply 3)logic board seem like the three possibilities. my guess would be logic board, but hopefully i'm wrong.

23rd January 2007	#7
MJGreene Audio Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: The Land Behind The Zion Curtain Posts: 1,119	As strange as it sounds it could also be a software issue. In the complex where my studio is located they have the exact same G-5 bought about 4-6 months apart. Dual 2.0 before the PCIE cards. I was running Pro-Tools 7.2 with 10.4.3 or .5. They started an upgrade from 7.0 to 7.2. In the process they did a software update to 10.4.7. There were problems with the PT 7.2 upgrade but they finally got it working. Suddenly with nothing else changing the G-5 would shut down at random sometimes only 2 times a day and sometimes every 30 minutes. It was not predictable at all. After spending a week of downtime with the computer in the shop and the tech's not being able to get it to shutdown or act up at all and after it passed all the tests they brought it back in and it eventually developed the same problem. Since they had nothing to loose they tried upgrading to 10.4.8 and the problems only got worse. After another 2 days of frustration they decided to wipe the internal drive, downgrade to 10.4.5, re-instal PT 7.0 and see what would happen. To this day 3 months later the computer has never shut down by itself. They never pinpointed the exact cause but it appears there was some corruption in the system software that was causing the computer to either run hot and shut down or send some kind of shutdown command. Why it didn't do it on the tech bench? No idea. Does it have something to do with the PT interfaces being attached to the cards since they were not attached at the shop? No idea. But it did fix the problem. Now the problem is they don't want to do any upgrades for fear that it will bring up the problem again or something worse. I keep telling them I don't think it will but they haven't had a free week yet to burn and try it. Good luck and let me know how you end up fixing the problem. Michael Greene

23rd January 2007	#11
buzzlegs Gear Head Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 73	Hi, this happened to me and lots and lots of other people, everyone has their own theory but after reading up the numerous reports about it i came to the conclusion that it's nearly always the power supply, this happened to my G5 Quad all the time so i replaced the power supply over a year ago and it's never done it since.

23rd January 2007	#12
Spaced Gear Head Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: London Posts: 38	Have you looked in the system log (using Console) for any clues as to what might be causing the shut down?- if it is overheating you may see entries that mention 'Thermal Runaway' If you do find these entries it's a trip to the service centre I'm afraid...