When my main G5 Dual 2.0, (hereafter named Gretzky) crashed on me, I had a second Dual 2.0 (named Alison) on standby doing DVD encoding.
After ensuring the data on Gretzky was safe and determining that it was truly a dead Mac, I transferred the drives to Alison and re-organized the RAM between the two machines.
When I tried to swap the video cards, replacing Alison's stock 64MB card with the Gretzky 128MB card, I could not get the retaining screw for the mounting bracket to come out. It took almost an hour to finally get that thing off, and by doing so, I had to remove all of the slot covers, then pried it off using pliers and the flimsy sheet metal frame that stands in front of the slot covers. This was the only way I could get the screw out of the hole, and it was a surprise to find that no matter how many turns I could get that screw to make, it would not come out of the hole. It seemed to be glued or fastened in the hole and pulling the sheet metal was how I was able to get it out.
Now there is no hole to screw the mounting bracket for the video card to the Mac. I have been able to devise a workaround by taping a group of popsicle sticks together and tying them to a spare slot cover and sliding it directly underneath the video card so that the sticks push up against the card and push the mounting bracket up against the next slot cover's screw.
It's not perfect, but it works for now.
My question is this: how would I go about fastening the video card's mounting bracket to the Mac itself as it was intended to be? With no hole there, would I have to drill another hole, then use a screw and nut to keep the card secure? What other options could I have for keeping the video card secure?
After ensuring the data on Gretzky was safe and determining that it was truly a dead Mac, I transferred the drives to Alison and re-organized the RAM between the two machines.
When I tried to swap the video cards, replacing Alison's stock 64MB card with the Gretzky 128MB card, I could not get the retaining screw for the mounting bracket to come out. It took almost an hour to finally get that thing off, and by doing so, I had to remove all of the slot covers, then pried it off using pliers and the flimsy sheet metal frame that stands in front of the slot covers. This was the only way I could get the screw out of the hole, and it was a surprise to find that no matter how many turns I could get that screw to make, it would not come out of the hole. It seemed to be glued or fastened in the hole and pulling the sheet metal was how I was able to get it out.
Now there is no hole to screw the mounting bracket for the video card to the Mac. I have been able to devise a workaround by taping a group of popsicle sticks together and tying them to a spare slot cover and sliding it directly underneath the video card so that the sticks push up against the card and push the mounting bracket up against the next slot cover's screw.
It's not perfect, but it works for now.
My question is this: how would I go about fastening the video card's mounting bracket to the Mac itself as it was intended to be? With no hole there, would I have to drill another hole, then use a screw and nut to keep the card secure? What other options could I have for keeping the video card secure?