G5 Quad music room purchase

[ziphur]

Hi, have just won a Powermac G5 Quad on ebay which I intend to use for recording work, the model identifier is PowerMac 11,2
Processor name Power PC G5 9(1.1) I am trying to work out what build and what age it is but have been on a few identifier pages to no avail.

Reason for asking is that I would very much like to take this online! I have checked the network and can see no modem, Airport card etc., I can see lots of well priced wifi cards etc.,on ebay but a lot are stating that there's a particular model G5 that looks super hard to get a card for and would very much like to ascertain of this is mine ASAP.

Thoughts please!

 

[Intell]

There's only one model PowerMac G5 that is called a quad. It does have the very hard to find card.

 

[Cox Orange]

If you still want to know the exact production date you can type your serial here http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

You find the serial, when you open the case and look at the bottom. something beginning with S# or S/N or serial#

Or, you can click on the apple icon (up left) -> about this Mac -> more info -> hardware (for the serialnumber)
or -> networking -> airport.
If you want to know, if it is recognized.

 

[BaddestArvai]

If you still want to know the exact production date you can type your serial here http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

You find the serial, when you open the case and look at the bottom. something beginning with S# or S/N or serial#

Or, you can click on the apple icon (up left) -> about this Mac -> more info -> hardware (for the serialnumber)
or -> networking -> airport.
If you want to know, if it is recognized.

If its the "Quad" G5, it was made in 2005, since they only made one model of it. Here are all the original specs of the G5 "Quad".

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

The wifi Bluetooth combo card is quite common to find as it was in a broad range of Macs at the time, it's that riser card that is much harder to find and costs much more.

 

[Cox Orange]

If its the "Quad" G5, it was made in 2005, since they only made one model of it. Here are all the original specs of the G5 "Quad".

I know.
October 2005 is only the introduction date. He asked for the exact date and that can be seen from the serial number.
Furthermore, though I don't think it was the intention of the OP, some like to know, if the late2005 model was produced at the beginning or at the end of the product-cycle (which would be in 2006), because there are rumors, that the later units have the other water cooling pipe system or that there was put more thermal compound on the CPUs of the later ones. Though it seems they used the Dual and single pump LCS at the same time.
Also, on the everymac specs (which I often use myself), you will not see, if you got it with or without the CTO Upgrades. Sometimes, if I see defective G4s on Ebay, I ask for the serial and, if appleserialnumberinfo.com says it is CTO, I go to everymac.com to remember what graphics card upgrade was available for this model as CTO.

 

[ziphur]

Cheers all, I have all of the relevant details about my Powermac G5 now, am just looking for parts. On the networking section that AppleSerialNumberInfo gave, it states I would need Airport extreme, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR Combo card, I will start trawling for parts Nos for these, or ancient tutorials! Cheers

 

[ziphur]

This looks useful!!

Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers are designed to work with a combination AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card, which combines AirPort and Bluetooth wireless technologies on one card. Please note that other versions of AirPort cards cannot be used with Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers. Although the connector on the computer's logic board will fit an AirPort Extreme card, it is meant for the AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card only. Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers will not recognize an AirPort Extreme card if you attempt to install one

The antennas in the Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) also differ from previous Power Mac G5 models, which had an external antenna that attached to the back of the computer. All Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers have internal wireless antennas that come preinstalled, regardless of whether or not the computer has an AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card installed.

The AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card is available either as a factory-installed option at the time you purchased your Power Mac G5 (Late 2005), or you can add wireless capability post purchase1 by having an Apple Authorized Service Provider or a retail Apple Store install the AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card for you. The AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card is not a DIY (do-it-yourself) part.

 

[VanneDC]

wouldent worry about the airport card/antenna.. grab a usb wifi stick, no worries with that, just make sure you get a supported chipset.

 

[Cox Orange]

I would, too use a usb-wifi-stick. OP, if you want the original one look here under number 4 http://www.ebay.de/itm/Apple-AirPor...ng_Interne_Netzwerkkarten&hash=item257e09fecc

Did you look in the "about this Mac" networking column? Your Quad may already have an airport card.

 

[ziphur]

I would, too use a usb-wifi-stick. OP, if you want the original one look here under number 4 http://www.ebay.de/itm/Apple-AirPor...ng_Interne_Netzwerkkarten&hash=item257e09fecc

Did you look in the "about this Mac" networking column? Your Quad may already have an airport card.

Hi there, cheers for your reply. I've had a look and Network yields 'No information found' for Airport card and modems. Cheers for the link on ebay, so from what I can see it appears that I would need a combination and that's No.4 on their page- will follow that one up, fingers crossed!

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wouldent worry about the airport card/antenna.. grab a usb wifi stick, no worries with that, just make sure you get a supported chipset.

Cheers for your reply - I am considering that but a lot of people seem to be saying that they are somewhat inconsistent and keep loosing signal- I can't speak from experience as I haven't tried one yet but I shall see what I can find out.

 

[ziphur]

What about something like the Edimax http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Edimax/EW7811UN/ I take it that I wouldn't require anything else such as Airport etc?

 

[Cox Orange]

You might want to compare prices on this specific model (Why buy costly at OWC, when it is a normal non-Mac thing, you can get everywhere).

Though I would say you can use almost every USB-wifi-stick. I would read the user comments on amazon, to get an idea, of what you will get (read some 5 and some 1 star comments).

 

[yangdh]

Well, on contrary to Apple info you could use the Airport Extreme card in your PM G5. You could just plug the card in the slot assumed for combo card, and connect the card with the antenna built-in. It works well. The only glitch is that you need a connector linking the card(MC card female) and the antenna(IPX female), which could be difficult to find. In my case I used a MC card to SMA connector and a SMA to IPX one, then combined them together to form the converter needed. Or you could also find an old antenna cable with MC card connector and do soldering.

 

[ziphur]

Bear extender

I purchased this http://store.bearextender.com/products/bearextender-turbo-for-mac but apart from nothing actually happening I can foresee several problems- perhaps you guys can shed some light, again, please

Firstly I put the Bear Extender disc in and the earliest software to run the extender is 10.6.3 and my Powermac has 10.5.8.. So I put the Mac OSX Snow Leopard disc in and I got the following: You can't install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on this computer....etc...you need an intel based Mac..

So that seems like a massive first set back.

Next is, well there isn't a next yet as I think I would need to address this first surely?

Any help much appreciated, TIA Zip

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

I purchased this http://store.bearextender.com/products/bearextender-turbo-for-mac but apart from nothing actually happening I can foresee several problems- perhaps you guys can shed some light, again, please

Firstly I put the Bear Extender disc in and the earliest software to run the extender is 10.6.3 and my Powermac has 10.5.8.. So I put the Mac OSX Snow Leopard disc in and I got the following: You can't install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on this computer....etc...you need an intel based Mac..

So that seems like a massive first set back.

Next is, well there isn't a next yet as I think I would need to address this first surely?

Any help much appreciated, TIA Zip

Sadly doesn't show support for PPC or anything less than snow leopard 10.6

 

[Cox Orange]

Funny that they list PowerMacs as supported machines, but say the minimum OS is 10.6. I think the manufacturer doesn't know their stuff, themselves.

@ ziphur, you might want to argue wit the manufacturer, why they put PowerMac on the list, when they do provide no drivers for PPC-Macs, nor does any PowerMac support an OS higher than 10.5.

Can you send the thing back for refund?


You can use a PCIe Wifi card, if that really works, I found it in a forum. http://bluescale.co.uk/products/Wireless-WiFi-11n-PCI%2dE-Card-for-G5-Mac-Pro-Airport-300Mbps.html see here and read through the thread http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/226170-power-mac-g5-wifi-card.html

I am too tired (bedtime here) to look further, but you might want to check these threads:
- About the card above (you might want to ask the member, if he finally bought it) https://discussions.apple.com/message/13206927#13206927
- USB alternative https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17171940/ (though again, I would say there are a lot cheap USB wifi sticks, that would do it and you can still use a hub, if you want to put the USB stick on a higher position (desk or shelf))
- (interesting) https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1632632/
- see post from Graham J. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.comp.sys.mac/PzPYTFdkm7s
- solution with repeater http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/124285/airport-compatible-11n-card-for-power-mac-g5
- if you in the end want to use a USB wifi stick and want to be super sure, you can search for "wifi mac 10.4" which will yield two results. (I personally used a Dlink and a hama usb stick on my iMac G3 in the past, but I think they are uncommon in UK and US shops).