New Power Mac G4 can't boot into os

[musicbeats]

Hi Chris,

So I was able to boot to the hardware test cd and I ran the tests and it stopped at the Memory saying Error detected, ***ERROR*CODE***ERROR*CODE***mem_/2/4

This must mean then that the RAM is bad? and I need to get a new 512mb stick?

[supernova777]

yep i would say thats the problem for sure!! try swapping out diff sticks of the ram untill u can boot up
its most likely just one ram stick thats causing the problem!!

u only need 1gb of ram for mac os 9
so u would only need 2 x 512mb sticks = 1gb
or even 3 x 256 = 768mb is still plenty of ram for mac os 9

anywhere from 500mb-1.5gb is usable in your machine
u could even booth with just 256mb ram if u really had to

be sure that the ram is actually bad.. u could have a bad slot (ie whatever ram chip is put in that slot would come up as bad)
or perhaps it was not seated properly as diehard suggested..
keep using the hardware test to ascertain what the real problem is by running multiple tests with ram in different slots
if u get a result that its continually showing as bad in different slots.. then the chip must be bad.
make sure its actually the chip that is bad.

[musicbeats]

I tired the ram in all 3 slots ran the tests twice in each slot and I get the same memory error, therefore I have just ordered a new 1 512mb stick of ram for the G4 and it will be here tomorrow.

Also just out of curiousity do you think it's also possible that this ram error can be occurring from the battery just wondering... Is there a way to test the battery.

P.S. I just want to let you know that I GREATLY appreciate yours and everyone else's help with my issue so far. Awesome forum Great Community!

[supernova777]

some people attribute all kinds of wierd things to the battery.
ive never had a problem with the battery personally.

[DieHard]

You could remove the battery all together and you will not get the errors you are getting...

I suspected the RAM as I mentioned earlier, especially since one of your boots went into Open firmware, that was the "Big Clue"... if RAM was OK, then the system board

I should have told you, as Chris did, to download the diagnostics CD we have here, I make way too many assumptions, sorry I forgot to mention it

[filipetolhuizen]

Have you tried the CUDA button?

[supernova777]

could it be also that there is some type of corrosion on the contacts of the ram??
diehard mentioned something about this.. gold vs silver + contacts.. but i think that was in reference to an earlier type of ram (the type used on awe32 ISA graphic cards, old samplers such as the s2000 akai) not sure if that is relevant to SDRAM.. but maybe its just dirty?

[DieHard]

The CUDA Button will NOT help here and is definitely NOT recommended to randomly try, many people have screwed their board by CUDAing when NOT needed.

Power on issues are reserved for a CUDA reset IMO

[musicbeats]

I'm EXTREMELY happy to say that the new ram I got today, I put into the G4 and it fixed the problems. I was now able to boot from the restore discs and I restored my Power Mac to factory settings ...which installed OSX 10.1.  Afterwards I booted to the OS 9.2 CD reformatted the drive and now I'm  able to boot to the OS with no problems. Also, before I did the restore discs I ran the hardware tests again and everything passed, so the problem the whole time was a bad ram stick.
I just wanted to say again thanks to everyone that helped me with this problem  [Chris. DieHard, Mactron and everyone else] I really appreciate the help.

Chris, DieHard, thanks for sticking with me all the way till the end on this issue...you guys are the best.

[supernova777]

awesome.. now u can partake in all the other goodness that we have here...
welcome to the party!! 

re: ram, as i have said on other posts, i like to make sure that i have matched pairs of ram in my macs.. and i try not to mix double sided chips with single sided chips aswell.. so its always best to try to use 2,3, or 4 chips that are identical or as identical as possible..  if u really want to be a stickler to make sure they are the same rated speed as well (this shows up under system profiler i think)

this may have been an expensive thing in the past but now.. buying a set of sdram should be really cheap. like 20-30$ no more then 40$ and in some cases u can score them even cheaper (or free)