5 dollar Quicksilver

[mistermr]

I recently purchased an 867 MHz Quicksilver at a local university surplus sale for $5. It had no hard drive, they weren't certain if it worked. For 5 bucks, I couldn't pass it up.

Once home I popped in a 12 Gig hard drive (not wanting to risk a larger one) and it fired right up and worked for a couple hours as I fiddled with it.

The next day I installed a 120 Gig HD and it wouldn't power up. I put the 12 Gig back in and still no dice. It hasn't powered up since.

I found that the battery was dead. I replaced it with one from another working Mac but it still won't power up. The power button lights briefly when depressed but nothing else.

Any ideas?

[javiercr]

Originally Posted by mistermr

I recently purchased an 867 MHz Quicksilver at a local university surplus sale for $5. It had no hard drive, they weren't certain if it worked. For 5 bucks, I couldn't pass it up.

Once home I popped in a 12 Gig hard drive (not wanting to risk a larger one) and it fired right up and worked for a couple hours as I fiddled with it.

The next day I installed a 120 Gig HD and it wouldn't power up. I put the 12 Gig back in and still no dice. It hasn't powered up since.

I found that the battery was dead. I replaced it with one from another working Mac but it still won't power up. The power button lights briefly when depressed but nothing else.

Any ideas?

for $5....
can you try to boot form an external firewire hd?

[Nermal]

Reset the power manager. There's a button on the logic board that does this. I think you're supposed to unplug the system before pressing the button (press it once only!)

Edit: According to Apple, you should disconnect the power cord, press the reset button once, then wait 10 seconds before reconnecting the power cord and turning the system back on.

[Zeke]

And don't hold the button down forever, if I recall it's 3 seconds.

[shadowmoses]

I had a simular problem with an old powermac G4, i just replaced the battery and pressed the button on the motherboard and it worked fine, give that a try, Hold it down for 3 seconds leave the computer for 20 seconds, then re-plug the power in and it should boot.....

SHadOW

[mistermr]

OK, I put the good battery in, pressed the reset button for 3 seconds, waited 20 seconds then plugged in the power - same thing.

The caps lock light on the keyboard blinks and the fan even spun a few revolutions on one attempt but nothing more.

My next move would be to sell it off in pieces on eBay if I can't get it up and running.

Anyone have any other ideas?

[AmigoMac]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Anyone have any other ideas?

P-P-P-Powermac?

you still can have a nice trash on a G4 design...

[Counterfit]

I say give up. And then send it to me.


Seriously.


I'll give you $6 plus shipping.

[shadowmoses]

Keep trying these powermacs do weird things, just keep reseting the PRAM and leave it unplugged for 24 hours then try again...

SHadOW

[joecool85]

Geesh...$6, thats silly. I'll give you $10 plus shipping.

[mistermr]

$6? That's tempting, Counterfit, but I may keep trying for a while.

Shadowmoses may be on to something. I left it plugged in for a couple of hours, tried it again and it actually started up long enough to make the tone and then whirred to a stop again.

The longer interval leading to a result closer to success may just be coincidence, but coupling that with what little knowledge of electronics I have makes it appear to me as though a capacitor has discharged and is recharging itself until it reaches a point where it has the boost it needs to start up. Maybe the power supply is a little whacked. That may be way off base but it's a theory worth testing for what stands to be gained in the balance.

I'll leave it plugged in for 24 hours and see if that does the trick. If not, I'll give it 24 hours unplugged and try again. If that doesn't work, I may just leave it an offering of fruit and flowers while burning some incense and chanting. I'll post the results.

A working Quicksilver for five bucks is worth at least a couple more days of patience. I'm in no hurry.

Thanks again for the offer, Counterfit.

[joecool85]

pff...I offered more. lol. Anyway, yeah seriously though, that quick silver is worth about a grand...so even if it did need a power suppy, it'd be worth the money. Since you only spent $5! getting it.

[ReanimationLP]

How much you looking for it?

[krimson]

it sounds wierd, but try it if you want.

unplug, hit the PMU for the 3 secs, then hold down the power button for about 5 seconds, if yours acts like mine did, then the power light (and PSU fan) should come on for about a second. Plug in the power cord and wait about an hour before you try to power it up.

[stevey500]

From what i know ( which isnt much ) it sounds like a short... many power supplies that try to power up that has a detected short will only turn on for a split second. Check all the power cables, anything that may have fallen on the logic board or under it, like a screw or some other metal conductive object. Try unplugging devices one after another till it boots

[rickvanr]

Could be a bad PRAM battery?

[dsharits]

Wow, $5! The case alone is worth at least 20x that much!

This exact same thing happened with my B&W when I first got it. I'm 99% sure from this side of the screen that it needs a new PSU.

[keysersoze]

Originally Posted by dsharits

Wow, $5! The case alone is worth at least 20x that much!

This exact same thing happened with my B&W when I first got it. I'm 99% sure from this side of the screen that it needs a new PSU.

I think I read somewhere that PC power supplies can work in some (like maybe 1) Mac out there, but not any others. Anyone clarify this?

[dsharits]

Originally Posted by keysersoze

I think I read somewhere that PC power supplies can work in some (like maybe 1) Mac out there, but not any others. Anyone clarify this?

I know you can use a regular old ATX PSU in the B&W and the Yikes! G4 (and possibly the Sawtooth), but I'm not sure about the Quicksilver. I'll have to check on that. Now, the ATX PSU has to be modified before slapping it in any Mac, because you will fry the logic board if you try to drop in an unmoded PSU. The directions for doing that are located here (you need to scroll down a bit).

[dsharits]

Aha! I just found my answer. You can use the modded ATX PSU in any of the 100 MHz bus Power Macs. This would include the B&W, the Yikes! (PCI Graphics) G4, the Sawtooth (AGP Graphics) G4 and the Gigabit Ethernet G4. The Digital Audios and the Quicksilvers were bumped up to a 133 MHz bus, so they require more power than the ATX can supply. And the MDD's are a completely different beast.....

[Daveway]

I'll get it off your hands. $10+s/h.

Try booting with just the motherboard.

[keysersoze]

Originally Posted by dsharits

Aha! I just found my answer. You can use the modded ATX PSU in any of the 100 MHz bus Power Macs. This would include the B&W, the Yikes! (PCI Graphics) G4, the Sawtooth (AGP Graphics) G4 and the Gigabit Ethernet G4. The Digital Audios and the Quicksilvers were bumped up to a 133 MHz bus, so they require more power than the ATX can supply. And the MDD's are a completely different beast.....

Thanks for answering my question!

[dsharits]

Originally Posted by keysersoze

Thanks for answering my question!

You are quite welcome.

[Edge]

Originally Posted by dsharits

Aha! I just found my answer. You can use the modded ATX PSU in any of the 100 MHz bus Power Macs. This would include the B&W, the Yikes! (PCI Graphics) G4, the Sawtooth (AGP Graphics) G4 and the Gigabit Ethernet G4. The Digital Audios and the Quicksilvers were bumped up to a 133 MHz bus, so they require more power than the ATX can supply. And the MDD's are a completely different beast.....

Any G4 tower that has an ADC connector with the AGP port needs 24-28V to boot, usually 25V.

[Edge]

Originally Posted by Edge

Any G4 tower that has an ADC connector with the AGP port needs 24-28V to boot, usually 25V.

Otherwise, they use the same voltages as PC ATX supplies.