Thread: G4 and Shock - Crashes A Lot

Originally Posted by IandI

I was just trying to figure out why the hour glass hangs when turning on or off. It either hangs for a very long time before booting (10-15 minutes) or doesn't boot at all. The problem has gotten much worse over time.

IandI, I am having very similar symptoms after a system crash (the hourglass forever), but in my case crashes definitely do not come from mechanical shocks. I was sure that my crashes come from overheating before I read your next passage:

I know it's not a thermal problem because I saw the thermometer icon at boot for the first time today after the sun was beating on my dash for a while.

I've yet to see the thermometer. Could you describe it in more detail - is it a BIOS thing? Does it appear before Windows boot, in place of the hour glass?

Originally Posted by Marassa

IandI, I am having very similar symptoms after a system crash (the hourglass forever), but in my case crashes definitely do not come from mechanical shocks. I was sure that my crashes come from overheating before I read your next passage:
I've yet to see the thermometer. Could you describe it in more detail - is it a BIOS thing? Does it appear before Windows boot, in place of the hour glass?

Sorry to hear that you are having a similar issue, as you know how frustrating it is trying to see anything but an hour glass on the screen. I thought maybe it was a low battery or thermal issue at first also. When I put the top down yesterday, the dash was in the 100 degree sun for about 15 minutes. The G4 turned on and I immediately saw an animated thermometer icon where the hourglass icon should be. It did not boot past that. I then put the air conditioning vent aimed at it for a minute and rebooted and saw the hour glass again. So that's what would happen if there is a thermal issue on boot.

I believe there are 2 "bioses" in the G4, one that boots the G4 firmware as you see the hourglass and the revision code in the upper left corner of the screen, and the regular PC bios that boots after that one. We are having an issue with the first one and no one seems to know anything about it. Did this problem arise for you with v1.0.0.0 of SD? I never had this problem before that, but it could be just coinsidence. I am also having a problem with the mute button not doing anything, but not all the time.

My two problems may be separate problems, as I definitely have problems with shock and also hanging at the hourglass. I called the store and they don't seem to know much about what happens at the hourglass. They told me to do a sector check on the hard drive and reload with the restore dvd, which I will try tonight when I get home. I asked if the G4 would hang if the HD was disconnected and they could not answer that question. I'd think that if they had a G4 apart, they could try it with the HD disconnected and also test how the G4 responds to hard drive shock so I could diagnose the issue. I will let you know if the reload solves the hanging issue

To be more specific with the hanging issue, mine seems to hang at both system on and system off hourglass. I turn off manually, press reset, remove power and nothing seems to fix it. If I leave the G4 sitting at the hourglass it sometimes eventually boots, most of the time it takes 10-15 minutes. Are these the same observations you are having?

Originally Posted by IandI

Did this problem arise for you with v1.0.0.0 of SD?

No, I am mostly running Infill Station or no front end at all, and my problems started right after I bought it, when it was sitting upon my desk. Sometimes it would just hang, even while playing radio with me in another room not even touching it.

I am also having a problem with the mute button not doing anything, but not all the time.

Happened to me too a couple of tmes.

To be more specific with the hanging issue, mine seems to hang at both system on and system off hourglass.

Mine too. But there seems to be a time-out for the system off hourglass - it turns off after 1 minute in any case. As for the system on, I have never been patient enough to wait 10-15 minutes - I just switch it off if it doesn't get past the system on hourglass in a minute or so.

Originally Posted by JasonMK

got two really grainy pix using my cell phone

Thanks a lot Jason, no need to take better photos - I am sure I will now recognize it when I see it

It's nowhere near 100 degrees Fahrehheit in Moscow now, so it cannot be the case of too hot an environment, but I still suspect that some component of my G4 (memory?) is hypersensitive to temperature.

Before I went home today I checked some settings in the bios. I changed a couple settings, but I think it was this one (see picture) that fixed the hanging for me. I haven't had it hang yet and I have cycled it many times. I saw that the keyboard not enabled was listed in the event log, so I tried this and it seems to work. I never changed this setting before, so I don't know why it would fix the problem all of a sudden, but it did work for me. No more hanging at the hourglass. I do still have the shock problem, but at least it boots again after it happens.

JasonMK--Thanks for the pics. At least I know I wasn't hallucinating

I made a movie of my shock problem. I wonder if the mp3car staff will take a look to see if this is caused by the hard drive or not.

Marassa--Let me know if that fixes the hanging for you too.

Man, that sucks having such problems. Having all those things in there in the dash, heat, etc. I would rather have the PC as a seperate unit and I don't have such problems

I've had my PC under my seat since the beginning and have no such problems even in 100 degree heat. The PC boots up everything wihout acting weird, freezing, or anything of that sort. You get what you paid for, wait, nevermind.

Originally Posted by IandI

Before I went home today I checked some settings in the bios. I changed a couple settings, but I think it was this one (see picture) that fixed the hanging for me.

Tried it - seems like it does not hang on "system on" hourglass any more - it just crashes immediately (unless I wait for some time before restarting it)

While exploring BIOS I found "System Thermal" setting somewhere under APM and it was Disabled on my system. I wonder if it has something to do with the thermometer icon mentioned above. Is System Thermal Enabled on your G4?