my powermac g4

repentix said:

A few days ago I decided to get myself a powermac g4 350 mhz 64 mb sdram. It was priced at 39 euros. Now my question: was it a good deal?

In the store They booted it up for me and after nagging they hooked up a display cable. I then noticed that at first it showed the apple logo but then there came a blank screen with this in grey in the middle Image
the guys there said that they had wiped the drive and that there was no operating system installed. After arguing we agreed that they would install os x on it for me. The price would stay the same. Ive waited for half a week now and popped in the shop virtually everyday, but they keep postponing it.

I've decided that if I can't get them to install the operating system, I'll have to do it myself (I've got a friend who's got a load of old osx installation dvds)

If that doesnt work I've decided to transform my Powermac G4 into a hackintosh.

What do you guys think? What shall I do?Was it a good Price (I can bring it back, haven't paid the full price yet only 25%)?

I hope that you guys can help!

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OK. Some things. As you have discovered this symbol means that no valid version of OSX has been found on the hard drive. This Mac is one of the first G4's made so technically this means that it has the old G3 bus. What that means to you is that the G4 has no Target Disk Mode capability. I have this exact same Mac at work. You mention a friend has install disks. You need retail disks. Gray OSX install disks are system specific and won't work.

OSX 10.3.9 is the highest you can go on this Mac with only 64mb of ram. OSX 10.4 requires a minimum of 128mb. You will need more ram (the Mac can take 1GB). You will not be able to install OSX 10.5 unless you remove the hard drive and put it in a case and attach it to a Mac that can install Leopard as Target Disk Mode is not available to you. There may be another way, such as Leopard Assist, but I would not try this without at least 1GB of ram on this Mac.

Lastly, I think you misunderstand the concept of a Hackintosh. A Hackintosh is a PC computer that has had an Intel version of OSX installed on it. You already have a Mac, not a PC. Note that your Mac has a PowerPC chip and is NOT an Intel Mac. That means, that even if you succeed, OSX 10.5.8 is the MAX version of OSX you can install on this Mac. Any idea you may have of running Lion or Mountain Lion on this Mac you can kiss goodbye.

Honestly, unless you have some specific low intensity use for this Mac I think you are being ripped off in the price. We use our G4/350 for some very specific uses that do not require a lot of it and it's fine for that. Anything more, it's just not capable of anymore.

I am going to speculate here. I may be wrong, but we'll see. I'm thinking that they have delayed because somehow this Mac was represented to you as a Mac capable of running Lion or Mountain Lion or some other current flavor of OSX. They've realized that they can't install that on a PowerPC Mac and are having difficulty finding an old version of OSX to install. Plus they'll have to tell you that they were wrong and risk losing the money. OR, they just aren't motived for only 39 euros because you've only paid them 25% of it.

The worth of the machine is like 1-5,-EUR here, must be the same in the US, I guess. People only buy them, to have the case, to put a PC in. The problem with the 350MHz G4 is, that it is actually a delayed PowerMac G3 with a G4 CPU, Apple sold when they had to bridge the first weeks, until the new technology came.

You might check everymac.com for specs. Also read this (post 12 has a list of the G4 differences) https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1215490/ maybe this https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1175951/ ,too.

Either way you should be set then.

No disrespect meant, but I was covering the bases. A lot of times there are new Mac users that come through thinking that they have just scored an incredible deal on a Mac, but never realizing that it was so cheap because it does not have an Intel processor. There are a lot of new Mac users who aren't aware that the Intel transition ever happened. As far as they know, the Mac has ALWAYS had an Intel processor (if they even stop to think that far about it).

eyoungren said:

Either way you should be set then.

No disrespect meant, but I was covering the bases. A lot of times there are new Mac users that come through thinking that they have just scored an incredible deal on a Mac, but never realizing that it was so cheap because it does not have an Intel processor. There are a lot of new Mac users who aren't aware that the Intel transition ever happened. As far as they know, the Mac has ALWAYS had an Intel processor (if they even stop to think that far about it).

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So true. And many of them come through this forum only after making the purchase.

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Also, before I got my iBook, I knew exactly what I was looking for. It was "only" about five years old at the time, and in pristine condition. And the price wasn't that much more than what people are asking for today. It's worked like a champ for the three years I've had it.

repentix said:

I went there today and they had it finished. They had put osx 10.2.2 on it which seems ok.

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Yeah, it will work fine on 10.2. When you can, update to 10.2.8

repentix said:

And there is more good news he told me that there were two drives which totaled to 90 gbs, and that the computer had been severly upgraded new processor more ram everything I thought of this as a very good deal.

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OK, Cool. You didn't mention how much ram and I'm not sure how they can 'upgrade' the processor. It's not like you can just go and pop in say a G4/450 in to the same slot and boom you have a G4/450.

repentix said:

When I got home I connected the computer up and noticed that my keyboard connection wouldnt fit (ps2)

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Uhm, by previous conversation I assumed you knew a few things. PS/2 is PC. The Mac in all it's incarnations has NEVER supported a PS/2 keyboard. The only thing similar would be ADB and it is only the very, very early G3s that retained that. The later G3s and all G4s and up never had an ADB port.

repentix said:

I then decided to check ram and whilst opening it the lid FELL STRAIGHT ON THE FLOOR WHILE RUNNING CLANK .

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What do you mean? You open the latch and slowly lower the door down. The door has the logic board on it. If you drop it and it just falls flat without you guiding it down by using your hand then the logicboard could possibly be damaged, especially if running. The door is connected by hinges at the bottom. Are you saying it just fell off? That would be something very serious as there are connectors that connect the drives to the logic board at the bottom where the hinge is.
In any case, the door is NOT like a modern door where you just lift it off. It's hinged at the bottom and as I mentioned you lower it down slowly with your hands.

repentix said:

I was very worried the mouse wouldnt work anymore and the screen was static. I the forced the mac to turn off and restarted that worked but the display and mouse didnt work .I got a new keyboard after that and I turned it on again with the same problems. Thankfully the Powermac g4 has got a nice reset button which I thereupon clicked. The mouse and keyboard were working again (Mouse was lit up). But the display didn't want to work .Now after turning the computer on again I could hear a familiar sound the mac setup was working (I was hearing music), but the display wouldnt work. Is it the video card if yes where can I get a new one?

I would be thankfull if you could advise me

Repentix

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You probably damaged the video card by letting the door just drop to the floor without lowering it slowly. You can try reseating it. But if it's toast then the only thing I can suggest is eBay. The G4/350 PCIs came with an ATI Rage 128. Make SURE you get the PCI version because the G4/350 does NOT have AGP!

Ah, ok, you have the 350 AGP model. I just checked Mactracker and apparently (I did not know this) Apple had an AGP model in 350/400/450/500mhz, but only two (350/400mhz) in PCI.

In any case, if the logicboard dropped to the floor like that and you have no video then you probably damaged the video card (if not the logicboard). Try reseating the video card. If that doesn't work then again, eBay is all I can suggest.

If you want a more powerful card ask around here. My knowledge on Mac compatible video cards is very limited.