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so I picked up a used g5...

J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
hey guys,

haven't posted much. it been lurking for a year.. I've been though many Mac mini's and currently own a 2011 early MacBook pro 15" i7 quad, ATV 1 and 3, thecus 7 bay raid system... so enjoy my toys.

I felt like tinkering, so managed to find a partially complete powermac g5, dual 2.5, sadly it's an LCS unit. it's almost complete (or not?) missing ram. sd, hd, and video card. I purchased it to tinker and eventually gut and turn into a hackintosh case.

I only paid 40$ for it, so not a huge loss.

I verified the moisture pad under the LCS system, it is wet. I can see a fluid track from the single pump down to the power supply.. so far not looking good.

I plugged it in, and powered it on. surprisingly it has power! all the fans turned on, white led the front turns on. red led near the front face plate. no beeps, white led not flashing.

I can assume the power supply is working, can I assume motherboard is still good??

I guess I need some hope before spending any money on it.

I will need to remove the LCS system, looks like I need a new pump or seals?

thanks! looking fwd to this little project!

by the way, how can I confirm if it's a late or early unit?

SuperDrive is IDE, harddrive is sata, 8 ram slots.. single pump LCS..
 
Last edited:
D

drorpheus

macrumors regular
Nov 20, 2010
160
1
it definately sounds like the lcs is emtying out. The difference between the dual 2.5 and the dualcore 2.5 easiest way to see is do you have 1 g5 logo or 2 g5 logos over the cpus? 2 logos were on the dual 2.5 june2004 the quad 2.5 had one centered logo.

its not too hard to fix, but you'll need to learn how to diassemble the whole rig and clean all the crystalized coolant that are bridging connections on the cpu cards and then yeah replace the o rings seal them with gasket sealant, clear out and refill the cooling supply perhapse replace the hoses too. Its not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.

If your willing to spend money, for $150-$200 you could buy a panasonic cooling system thats sealed and will never leak, then if the logic board is good, youd just drop it in, calibrate it and done. But most dont want to put any money into non brand new machines.

Once you learn to take it completely apart, you'll see what got soaked in coolant, be it the logic board, cpu, or power supply.
 
D

drorpheus

macrumors regular
Nov 20, 2010
160
1
yeah it still works if he got it to fire up, im sure it is rusted and partially eaten through though. Its normal automotive coolant.
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
drorpheus said:
it definately sounds like the lcs is emtying out. The difference between the dual 2.5 and the dualcore 2.5 easiest way to see is do you have 1 g5 logo or 2 g5 logos over the cpus? 2 logos were on the dual 2.5 june2004 the quad 2.5 had one centered logo.

its not too hard to fix, but you'll need to learn how to diassemble the whole rig and clean all the crystalized coolant that are bridging connections on the cpu cards and then yeah replace the o rings seal them with gasket sealant, clear out and refill the cooling supply perhapse replace the hoses too. Its not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.

If your willing to spend money, for $150-$200 you could buy a panasonic cooling system thats sealed and will never leak, then if the logic board is good, youd just drop it in, calibrate it and done. But most dont want to put any money into non brand new machines.

Once you learn to take it completely apart, you'll see what got soaked in coolant, be it the logic board, cpu, or power supply.
Click to expand...

thanks for th support!

I've ripped apart the LCS unit. removed the hoses (pointless in my opinion), ended up cracking one of the plastic barbs on one of the processor cooling plate. found a replacement for 10$ shipped, luckily.

I also bought some used ram 20$ for 2gb, and a cheapo video card for 12$ shipped too! as I don't know if the motherboard is alive, I won't spent too much in parts at this time

I also ordered replacement LCS o-rings, sadly a bag of 100! so I will have o-rings for those who have dual 2.5 units cpu's. I also ordered replacement hoses

I noticed the single pump also as an o-ring. anyone replace this? I may glue this pump together to seal it..

can anyone off me the calibration software? I can't seem to find a seed or nzb anywhere.

I should have subbed to my thread! ;)

yes, I had a TON of leakage/ (white rice) around the processor. nothing got to the motherboard, psu has been wet, but still works. no rust. I think I caught this in time.

Ill update as I go!

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drorpheus said:
yeah it still works if he got it to fire up, im sure it is rusted and partially eaten through though. Its normal automotive coolant.
Click to expand...

is it really automotive coolant?

----------
California said:
Apple might still fix it. Call them.
Click to expand...

even if I'm not the original owner and no bill? sadly I opened it.. changes anything?

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drorpheus said:
yeah it still works if he got it to fire up, im sure it is rusted and partially eaten through though. Its normal automotive coolant.
Click to expand...

btw, how can I tell if motherboard is still good without ram, video card?
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
So just to follow up on my thread.

I've completed the LCS overhaul, new o-rings, new tubes (horrible job, never again).. and re-filled it with new liquid coolant.

Slapped in a video card I got for 10$ from ebay, I managed to find some DDR 400mhz from an old Pentium 4 I had lying around..

Pushed power... and it worked! Booted right up! Works great !

Just ordered a 6800 video card (40$) for it as well.

And, just the other day, I got a FREE 1.8 dual processor system ! not working, didn't bother to troubleshoot. I gutted it and is now ready for converting to a hackintosh case.. (mountainmod tray and front IO harness is underway!) I got a free superdrive and 4GB out of it for my 2.5 unit !
 
VanneDC

VanneDC

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2010
860
92
Dubai, UAE
nice job Jezzy, congrats on getting it to boot after the LCS fixup. :D

let us know what you end up maxing the system out to. :D

cheers
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
VanneDC said:
nice job Jezzy, congrats on getting it to boot after the LCS fixup. :D

let us know what you end up maxing the system out to. :D

cheers
Click to expand...

got the 6800 ultra, wow beautiful card! 40$ to my door with original box and software. 6-7 years ago.. 800$ was it? ;) purring nicely in my g5.. I was thinking of getting a jive setup for 3 more drives.. not sure. I'd like to sell my thecus nas 7 bay and either use the g5 or hack tosh as my media server..l still thinking.
 
Orange Furball

Orange Furball

macrumors 65816
May 18, 2012
1,325
6
Scranton, PA, USA
jezzy said:
got the 6800 ultra, wow beautiful card! 40$ to my door with original box and software. 6-7 years ago.. 800$ was it? ;) purring nicely in my g5.. I was thinking of getting a jive setup for 3 more drives.. not sure. I'd like to sell my thecus nas 7 bay and either use the g5 or hack tosh as my media server..l still thinking.
Click to expand...

If you are going to do that, I think there is a hard drive expansion rack available. It adds 3 more drive cages for a total of 5.
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
anyone here with jive experience? I have a deal for the jive tray, but the controller card is so expensive and wondering if there's alternatives?

btw, LCS overhaul isn't bad, but if I were to do it again, I'd leave the tubes in place and swap out the orings. quite sure it's possible.

I have a bag of 98 rings here for those with dp 2.5's!
 
P

phillystudent

macrumors newbie
Jul 28, 2012
4
0
jezzy said:
got the 6800 ultra, wow beautiful card! 40$ to my door with original box and software. 6-7 years ago.. 800$ was it? ;) purring nicely in my g5.. I was thinking of getting a jive setup for 3 more drives.. not sure. I'd like to sell my thecus nas 7 bay and either use the g5 or hack tosh as my media server..l still thinking.
Click to expand...

I'm curious, where'd you grab the 6800 from? I just got my PM11.2 Dual 2.3 G5 today. :)
 
M

mike457

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2010
278
0
Ontario
jezzy said:
anyone here with jive experience? I have a deal for the jive tray, but the controller card is so expensive and wondering if there's alternatives?

btw, LCS overhaul isn't bad, but if I were to do it again, I'd leave the tubes in place and swap out the orings. quite sure it's possible.

I have a bag of 98 rings here for those with dp 2.5's!
Click to expand...

I have used the Jive, and found it was great. The tray itself is cheap, but (as you say) the controller card is the big expense. You would need some form of SATA (preferably at least level 2) controller card with three internal ports. Does your deal on the jive include the sata cables and the power cables? Those are vital. BTW, jezzy, haven't I met you on ehMac? :)
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
mike457 said:
I have used the Jive, and found it was great. The tray itself is cheap, but (as you say) the controller card is the big expense. You would need some form of SATA (preferably at least level 2) controller card with three internal ports. Does your deal on the jive include the sata cables and the power cables? Those are vital. BTW, jezzy, haven't I met you on ehMac? :)
Click to expand...

mike, yup it's me! I'm still thinking about that jive.. darn controller card is pricy! unless I get another make thatll do the job?
 
J

jezzy

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 12, 2012
85
1
Montreal, Quebec
just an update.. sadly the g5 I fixed has now kicked the bucket last night. The system was running, I heard a pop.. the ups shutdown, the g5 lost power, then smelled a burning electronics smell. I'm assuming the power supply finally died? chances are my LCS repair leaked or the former leak finally killed the unit. in any case, it's not being repaired this time around. I got myself another hackintosh case i guess!

I've got 4gb (8x512mb) up for grabs and a fantastic 6800 ultra agp too! if anyone needs spare parts, I may let some go. I've got parts from two machines now..

it was fun while it lasted ;)
 
Zeke D

Zeke D

macrumors 65816
Nov 18, 2011
1,024
168
Arizona
jezzy said:
just an update.. sadly the g5 I fixed has now kicked the bucket last night. The system was running, I heard a pop.. the ups shutdown, the g5 lost power, then smelled a burning electronics smell. I'm assuming the power supply finally died? chances are my LCS repair leaked or the former leak finally killed the unit. in any case, it's not being repaired this time around. I got myself another hackintosh case i guess!

I've got 4gb (8x512mb) up for grabs and a fantastic 6800 ultra agp too! if anyone needs spare parts, I may let some go. I've got parts from two machines now..

it was fun while it lasted ;)
Click to expand...

I sent you a PM.
 
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