Mac Mini PowerPC won't shut down when asked

pfhannan · 11-26-2012, 07:50 AM

I have had this problem for a few years, and lived with it. The only way to shut it down is to hold the power button until it shuts down. Now I have a new Mac Mini Power PC, and with "SuperDuper" i have cloned my new machine, and now have the same issue with it. is there a fix?

DeltaMac · 11-26-2012, 08:24 AM

Are those both G4 (PPC) minis?
Max RAM memory is 1GB. That's a great first step.

There's several things to try.
1. Wait longer for the shutdown. I have an eMac, running OS X 10.5.8 - which occasionally will take 5 to 10 minutes to shut down. However, I seldom shut it down, and just sleep. At the moment, this eMac has been up for 2 weeks, 4 days.
2. If shutdown is not quick, or you don't want to wait it out, try a force quit. There might be apps that are struggling in that force quit list. Force Quit everything, including Finder. That might then result in a full shutdown.
3. Download and reinstall your current combined OS X installer, which will take 20 or 30 minutes. After that completes, and your Mac reboots, run a permissions repair. Final step would be OnyX, or some other system utility that will clear out your user and system caches.
4. Final step, boot into Safe Boot mode, which does some other internal "stuff", clearing system font caches, etc. and, finally
5. Restart normally.
And, I boot to Disk Warrior, and rebuild that final partition.

Or, you might help your issue by running fsck in single user mode, or running Repair Disk from Disk Utility, while you are booted to another drive.

pfhannan · 11-26-2012, 09:05 AM

yes, both are G4 (PPC) Mini's, and the new shut down properly before I cloned it with my old PPC, so I believe its a software issue, not a disk issue. The new has 2GB RAM

DeltaMac · 11-26-2012, 10:51 AM

Yes, I agree. It's likely software - which includes the disk directory.
That's why I listed checking the disk as part of the steps to help your mini operate more reliably.
Test (Repair Disk) the drive directory.
Reinstall the combined OS X updater.
Clean caches, with whatever method you like. I use several.
Repair permissions. (technically shouldn't be part of a fix, but often does help)
Check for "hanging" apps or apps that stop responding when quitting or shutting down.

Where did you find a 2GB RAM stick that would work in a PPC mini, which has only one memory slot?
I have tried several different brands of 2GB, and found (along with RAM web sites) that 2GB is not recognized in the PPC mini - so - are you sure?
If your mini has two RAM slots, then it's not a PPC mini (which is probably a Good Thing™...) which has just one slot.
Also, the PPC mini has 2 USB ports. If yours has 4 or 5, then it's an intel.
Intel or PPC doesn't really change your issue. The potential fix is much the same.

Does your mini behave more "nicely" after those various maintenance tasks?

pfhannan · 11-26-2012, 11:05 AM

Ops, my mistake it has only 1GB of Ram

DeltaMac · 11-26-2012, 11:40 AM

If you do the various tips, and you still have long shutdowns, then I should mention that I have fairly long shutdowns, up to 4 or 5 minutes is quite ordinary.

On the other hand - do you need to shut down that often? I may shut down once or twice a month. Sleep uses virtually no power, and enables you to get back to use within a couple of seconds.

11-26-2012, 07:50 AM	#1
pfhannan Major Leaguer Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 421	Mac Mini PowerPC won't shut down when asked I have had this problem for a few years, and lived with it. The only way to shut it down is to hold the power button until it shuts down. Now I have a new Mac Mini Power PC, and with "SuperDuper" i have cloned my new machine, and now have the same issue with it. is there a fix?

11-26-2012, 09:05 AM	#3
pfhannan Major Leaguer Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 421	yes, both are G4 (PPC) Mini's, and the new shut down properly before I cloned it with my old PPC, so I believe its a software issue, not a disk issue. The new has 2GB RAM Last edited by pfhannan; 11-26-2012 at 09:23 AM.

11-26-2012, 10:51 AM	#4
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,993	Yes, I agree. It's likely software - which includes the disk directory. That's why I listed checking the disk as part of the steps to help your mini operate more reliably. Test (Repair Disk) the drive directory. Reinstall the combined OS X updater. Clean caches, with whatever method you like. I use several. Repair permissions. (technically shouldn't be part of a fix, but often does help) Check for "hanging" apps or apps that stop responding when quitting or shutting down. Where did you find a 2GB RAM stick that would work in a PPC mini, which has only one memory slot? I have tried several different brands of 2GB, and found (along with RAM web sites) that 2GB is not recognized in the PPC mini - so - are you sure? If your mini has two RAM slots, then it's not a PPC mini (which is probably a Good Thing™...) which has just one slot. Also, the PPC mini has 2 USB ports. If yours has 4 or 5, then it's an intel. Intel or PPC doesn't really change your issue. The potential fix is much the same. Does your mini behave more "nicely" after those various maintenance tasks? Last edited by DeltaMac; 11-26-2012 at 10:54 AM.

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11-26-2012, 08:24 AM	#2
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,993	Are those both G4 (PPC) minis? Max RAM memory is 1GB. That's a great first step. There's several things to try. 1. Wait longer for the shutdown. I have an eMac, running OS X 10.5.8 - which occasionally will take 5 to 10 minutes to shut down. However, I seldom shut it down, and just sleep. At the moment, this eMac has been up for 2 weeks, 4 days. 2. If shutdown is not quick, or you don't want to wait it out, try a force quit. There might be apps that are struggling in that force quit list. Force Quit everything, including Finder. That might then result in a full shutdown. 3. Download and reinstall your current combined OS X installer, which will take 20 or 30 minutes. After that completes, and your Mac reboots, run a permissions repair. Final step would be OnyX, or some other system utility that will clear out your user and system caches. 4. Final step, boot into Safe Boot mode, which does some other internal "stuff", clearing system font caches, etc. and, finally 5. Restart normally. And, I boot to Disk Warrior, and rebuild that final partition. Or, you might help your issue by running fsck in single user mode, or running Repair Disk from Disk Utility, while you are booted to another drive.

11-26-2012, 11:05 AM	#5
pfhannan Major Leaguer Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 421	Ops, my mistake it has only 1GB of Ram

11-26-2012, 11:40 AM	#6
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,993	If you do the various tips, and you still have long shutdowns, then I should mention that I have fairly long shutdowns, up to 4 or 5 minutes is quite ordinary. On the other hand - do you need to shut down that often? I may shut down once or twice a month. Sleep uses virtually no power, and enables you to get back to use within a couple of seconds.