I have a new G5 dual 2.0 ghz with 1.5 gig ram, a ATI 64 mb card (2) 150 gig sata drives. I am also using a 23" cinema display.

My problem is... 9 times out of 10 when I push the power button it doesnt boot, I mean it will power up and begin to spin but then stops and there is also no boot sound. When it does decide to boot it works great as long as I am at it. If I leave and goes to sleep or screen saver comes on it gets totally hung, usually with a black screen as if sleeping and I can not bring it out. A few times I have ben working on it watching a video or just looking around and it has locked. I have to reboot. The software installed is Final Cut Express, Garage Band and the iStuff. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! I received this mac off ebay, it is about 3 months old.

Hello,

When you purchased the computer off Ebay, did you re-format it and start over? You might have morsels leftover from the last guy, and it is always advisible to clean house when starting a new setup / environment. Think of buying a car-- you would want the dealer to vacuume it out, right?

I am leaning towards a software problem here.

You might also have a hardware problem. RAM could be dirty/flaky and needing a cleanout, or it could be the hard drive.

Let us know,

Christian

Dodgy memory could definitely be a problem, although the fact that it's stable once booted makes me think it may be something else. Before making any suggestions let me just say - Backup your data before trying anything! Having said that I would try the following:

1. Zap PRAM. Turn on, immediately after you hear the startup chord hold down Cmd-Opt-P-R keys together. Wait until you hear at least two more startup chimes and then release the keys. The system will now continue to boot.

2. Open Disk Utility, select your boot drive and run 'repair permissions'. Disk Utility is in the utilities folder inside the applications folder.

3. Invest in Disk Warrior, an excellent utility for fixing hard disk problems.