G5 Tower - dead

Looks like its pretty dead. Try it with a working monitor though to make sure. If it still doesn't work, its dead. Using the case for another machine seems like a good idea, good luck with that!

Oh man- I don't have any suggestions. That's too bad. You just reminded me that I need to clean out my dual core G5. I would cry if it died. I plan on keeping it at least another 1-2 years. I feel your pain.

CawdFour said:

Yes, it does. However, having a case not designed for an intel board is going to be a huge problem. I could get away with leaving the optical and hard drive bays intact (I think) but mounting a motherboard that fits is going to be very difficult (not to mention, arranging the I/O ports that are fixed on the back of the macs case, etc)

In an ideal world, I could find a motherboard that allowed me to leave the internal structure intact, and one that could be mounted to the current points - I have yet to see that, however.

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What sort of computer are you going to put in it?

I picked up a dead Mac G5 tower for almost nothing at a garage sale. I've never owned or used a Mac before, but I've built and repaired PCs for 20 years.

I spent some time on google and found sites showing detailed picture instructions of how to replace the power supply, and so forth. It looks hard, and requires a rather unusual 2.5 mm hex wrench (longer than easily obtainable). But it isn't actually very difficult. Like all such projects, the second time would be much easier. I probably invested eight hours researching it and doing it.

I got an unused Power supply for $140, plus shipping on eBay. Came with a 90 day warranty, backed by eBay. Before buying, I removed the old PSU and got the model number. I made sure I was buying an exact replacement.

I now have a twin 2 ghz G5 with 8 gig memory. After I got it working I added a 750 gig hard drive. My total investment so far is under $250.

So if anyone doubts it is worth it, I'd say yes. Minor problems: the built in ethernet port is dead, but I knew that before buying. I have a USB ethernet adapter and may buy an Airport extreme. Lots of used ones on eBay.

I'd say the chances of converting this case to a PC motherboard are pretty slim. It's worth much more as a Mac.

Now if someone could just convince Apple to sell motherboard upgrades.

Search on Google G5 Hackintosh and all your questions will be answered.
You are doing nothing new that hasn't been done a bunch of times already.