G5 Quad corrupted ATA bus?

[socom_22]

So I have a fully working G5 Quad, with the exception of one small annoyance - any IDE devices I try to connect to the ATA/100 port do not appear correctly in OS X. They also will not mount (cannot access files or format the drives).

The devices appear in System Profiler and Disk Utility but with scrambled/corrupted information. For example, I connected a 500GB Hitachi HDS725050KLAT80 and this is what appears:

The drive capacity is also reported incorrectly as this drive should have approx. 465 GB formatted, not 401 GB.

I have tried swapping device jumpers (master/slave/CS) and also tried with different IDE cables, but no change. Sometimes the scrambled characters change a bit, which is also really bizarre.

If anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated!

 

[philgxxd]

Try another cable

 

[sailorMH]

I am sorry, I never try connect PATA/IDE HDD to Powermac G5 Quad. Quad has two SATA bays and PCIe SATA controller should be added.
ATA bus is by default connected to Superdrive DVD only.

I agree with @philgxxd you shoul try other cable.
And do your have working DVD, if is alone on the ATA cable? Try it before HDD testing.

 

[socom_22]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I should clarify that I have tried several IDE optical drives/superdrives and they exhibit similar issues with the corrupted info in System Profiler and the inability to read CDs/DVDs.

It's true that the cables I've tried have 2 connectors (master/slave) on them, not one connector. I will try to find the original cable for the machine and test it out. I doubt it will make a difference but will report back.

 

[socom_22]

I'm just reporting back to say that I did locate the original G5 Quad IDE cable which was intended for only one device - the optical drive.

Sadly, the results with this cable are the same as with any other IDE cable I've tried. The cables are not the issue unfortunately.

I suspect there is either a bad/broken solder joint on the logic board, or perhaps a dead SMD component on the logic board which is causing this strange corruption issue.

I'm open to any further ideas, but for now I have simply connected a SATA Mac Pro superdrive to a PCI eSATA card. Works fine for most uses but is not bootable.

If I ever have a good reason to disassemble the machine I can try to reflow the area around the ATA connector and see if anything changes.

 

[socom_22]

System Profiler with the Optical Drive installed. Very strange.

 

[PowerPC Punk]

Really strange, ´cause System Profiler sees it.
Does the DVD-RW drive shows up in other apps, may be:
Toast, itunes...etc. bla,bla as a burn option ?
PPC Punk

 

[ADunsmuir]

Really strange, ´cause System Profiler sees it.
Does the DVD-RW drive shows up in other apps, may be:
Toast, itunes...etc. bla,bla as a burn option ?
PPC Punk

It sees it, but the string returned by the drive looks corrupted.

 

[sailorMH]

It is really strange.
Do you have on your G5 linux installed? To check drivers+DVD under linux...
Or try to test it with some live DVD/USB - old Ubuntu, Fienix or MintPPC should be OK.

If it also not works, I am afraid about something bad with controller. If it under linux works, you can try to re-install OSX.

 

[socom_22]

Really strange, ´cause System Profiler sees it.
Does the DVD-RW drive shows up in other apps, may be:
Toast, itunes...etc. bla,bla as a burn option ?
PPC Punk

Yes, the drive showed up under 'Disc Burning' in System Profiler and listed the various supported disc formats. It was also available to applications such as iTunes and burn folders in Finder.

 

[socom_22]

It is really strange.
Do you have on your G5 linux installed? To check drivers+DVD under linux...
Or try to test it with some live DVD/USB - old Ubuntu, Fienix or MintPPC should be OK.

If it also not works, I am afraid about something bad with controller. If it under linux works, you can try to re-install OSX.

No, I am dual booting Tiger and Leopard on it. As I do a lot of PowerPC hardware and software experiments with the machine, I re-install the OS quite often. Surely this must be a hardware issue, not a software one.

I will have to closely inspect the components on the logic board one day to try and find a failed solder joint or possibly a dead resistor or capacitor which is causing corruption of the data passed over the ATA bus. Honestly though, this is the only issue with the machine - it is perfect otherwise. Mac Pro SATA optical drive it will have for now.

If I ever do solve this issue, I will post here in case it helps someone. I appreciate everyone's comments, thanks.

 

[simie]

How I would diagnose this fault is to do the following;

Disconnect everything except your primary HD (the one with OSX on it)

Plug in the failing device

Boot the Mac

Now check the system profiler.

I would check the connectors on the back of the failing device for obstructions or corrosion. I would give it a spray in any case with a can or air to clean it.

You reset the PRAM and the SMC and then boot the Mac.

I would also check that the cables are not getting trapped or that they have been previously trapped and there is breaks in them. You could replace all the suspect cables with branded new cables that are known to work.

I would also check the socket where the cables attach to the logic board in case of corrosion or debris which could be preventing a good connection.

My next step would be to use a SATA DVDRW and plug it into one of the SATA ports.

I hope that this helps.

I must say that I would use a fresh copy of OSX while testing.