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Blinking power LED on Power Mac G5

H

honam1021

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 4, 2012
242
113
Just got a dead G5 (2.0 DP) off my local market, the case is polluted by chemicals(I believe it's used in a factory before it died). It comes without any memory, hard drive screws, air deflector or PRAM battery.

First thing that I do is to reset PMU while unplugged. It didn't work afterwards then I try again while plugged in and it turned on with no chime (power led blinks quickly).

I noticed that I forgot to install the memory, I salvaged one 512 MB and one 1024 MB DIMM off my old PC, installed it and still not booting.
 
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Some more information:
When I plug in my G5 onto an outlet, I can hear the normal "click" sound, so I am quite sure it'n not caused by the PSU.

Since the G5 seems to be exposed to chemicals for a long amount of time and corroded some of the metals inside(See pics below), can this be the cause of my problem?
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666sheep said:
Preferably but not necessarily. Specs must match.
Click to expand...

Are there any other issues that can cause the 1 blinking light error?

One I get the memory matched, it's possible to boot into the OS X install disc without the air deflector?
 
honam1021 said:
Are there any other issues that can cause the 1 blinking light error?

One I get the memory matched, it's possible to boot into the OS X install disc without the air deflector?
Click to expand...

It will boot without the deflector but you will get some coloured lights on the front as a warning.
 
honam1021 said:
Are there any other issues that can cause the 1 blinking light error?
Click to expand...
Defective solder joints on RAM slots.

Maybe you should read some about computer you have. Get the service manual (google it), check Apple support pages, xlr8yourmac and this forum. Lot of useful info there.

wobegong said:
It will boot without the deflector but you will get some coloured lights on the front as a warning.
Click to expand...

...and fans on full blast.
 
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666sheep said:
Defective solder joints on RAM slots.

Maybe you should read some about computer you have. Get the service manual (google it), check Apple support pages, xlr8yourmac and this forum. Lot of useful info there.



...and fans on full blast.
Click to expand...
It's an A1047 (Dual 2GHz)

It's possible that the solder joints of the dimm slots have been corroded?
 
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I installed a pair of 512 MB DDR 400 and a pram battery from a seldom used Power Mac G4, now the G5 chimes, but I didn't get the gray screen. it may be I have't put a hard drive in yet, but now at least it boots!

Can I use my G4's graphics card (AGP) in my G5?
 
If it chimes, it means that it boots but you don't have any video, memory is good. I am not sure about the gfx from the G4. But this time you really need a working graphics card to output to the screen.
 
Nameci said:
If it chimes, it means that it boots but you don't have any video, memory is good. I am not sure about the gfx from the G4. But this time you really need a working graphics card to output to the screen.
Click to expand...

The GPU from the G4 is a rage 128
 
Once you do all that, the air deflectors can be found relatively cheap on ebay - under $10 shipped. There's a tab on them that basically triggers a switch - if this switch is engaged, the computer runs normally. If it's not engaged, the G5 goes into a mode where the fans run at full speed and the CPUs run slower (and a red LED on the logic board lights up to warn you), so I'd look into that once I knew the machine was functional.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/37078/
 
I messed around and found that the video problem was cause by a defective DVI cable, I replaced it and now I get video output and installed 10.4. I borrowed a burned copy of 10.5 from my friend, but the "Superdrive" doesn't read it since it's burned on a DVD+R DL..

And I'm wondering if it's safe to insect a piece of paper into the hole to foul the sensor?
 
honam1021 said:
I messed around and found that the video problem was cause by a defective DVI cable, I replaced it and now I get video output and installed 10.4. I borrowed a burned copy of 10.5 from my friend, but the "Superdrive" doesn't read it since it's burned on a DVD+R DL..

And I'm wondering if it's safe to insect a piece of paper into the hole to foul the sensor?
Click to expand...

Buy the air deflector, it's extremely important to have one for cooling purposes.

As far as a DVD+R DL goes, the superdrive should definitely read it unless it's a bad copy or the drive is busted, retail copies of OS X ship on DL DVDs. Just get a retail disc and see if that works, if not, replace your DVD drive.

Also, you're probably want to wipe down the internals and clean them of any chemicals if you're keeping the computer, the metal is only going to continue to corrode.
 
kbfr08 said:
Buy the air deflector, it's extremely important to have one for cooling purposes.

As far as a DVD+R DL goes, the superdrive should definitely read it unless it's a bad copy or the drive is busted, retail copies of OS X ship on DL DVDs. Just get a retail disc and see if that works, if not, replace your DVD drive.

Also, you're probably want to wipe down the internals and clean them of any chemicals if you're keeping the computer, the metal is only going to continue to corrode.
Click to expand...

Right now, what should I use to remove the rust on the power button/superdrive EMI shields, as well as the white substance on the CPU heatsink?

I wonder what kind of chemicals can cause such cometic damage (May become structural or hardware damage soon if I ignore it)?
 
honam1021 said:
I messed around and found that the video problem was cause by a defective DVI cable, I replaced it and now I get video output and installed 10.4. I borrowed a burned copy of 10.5 from my friend, but the "Superdrive" doesn't read it since it's burned on a DVD+R DL..

And I'm wondering if it's safe to insect a piece of paper into the hole to foul the sensor?
Click to expand...

Since the computer is messy inside maybe the drive is messy too
1) Grab a cleaning lens cd (I bought one from ebay for about 2dollars I guess), run it.

2)if that doesn't work grab a DVD burner from a pc and install it, it should work (at least in my g4 it does).

3)If you can't get the optical method to run, ask someone with a mac to install osx 10.4 or 10.5 on your hdd using an enclosure or something.
 
skinniezinho said:
Since the computer is messy inside maybe the drive is messy too
1) Grab a cleaning lens cd (I bought one from ebay for about 2dollars I guess), run it.

2)if that doesn't work grab a DVD burner from a pc and install it, it should work (at least in my g4 it does).

3)If you can't get the optical method to run, ask someone with a mac to install osx 10.4 or 10.5 on your hdd using an enclosure or something.
Click to expand...

I put in a Lite-On DVD burner, it fits in without modification. Now the disc can be seen by OS X, but not in open firmware.

UPDATE:I run the installer under OS X, clicked "Restart". After rebooting, the gray screen shows up(No Apple logo), then went black and boot into tiger again
 
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honam1021 said:
I poked around the System Profiler and found that the firmware version is 5.1.5f0, I went on Apple website and the latest one is 5.1.5f2.

But I don't have any Apple memory, it's safe to install the firmware with 3rd party ram?
Click to expand...

I guess so, but it tell uniprocessors only, not dual
 
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