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Got Dual G5 2.3Ghz for free

Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
Got PowerMac G5 for free (without hard disk but I had one spare). Very well preserved externally but very much dust inside. Apparently it has never been cleaned or if it has, probably rarely.

At first the machine would not chime but it did display picture, booted from Leopard disc (scratched) but the machine hung. Second attempt got me to installation process but installer failed because it couldn't find something. This might very well be because the disc is so scratched. After this first somewhat succesful booting attempt the machine suddenly started to chime but failed in installation again.

Previous owner said that there has been problems with the machine so I expect that there are, but so far I have small amount of hope that the problem could be cured by simple tricks. I do know that motherboards fail very often on these..

So far I have removed almost all RAM, reset SMU and I took the battery out for a while.
It would awesome if I could make this work, this would be tje fastest PPC Mac I have ever owned and for amazing price :)

I will try inspect more tomorrow.

Edit: this has two CPU's and Radeon 9600, uses DDR400 RAM.
 
Zotaccian said:
So far I have removed almost all RAM, reset SMU and I took the battery out for a while.
It would awesome if I could make this work, this would be tje fastest PPC Mac I have ever owned and for amazing price :)
Click to expand...

Resetting the SMC does nothing on a PowerPC Mac as they do not have one. You should reset the PMU. You may want to look at getting fresh thermal paste for the CPUs if it runs hot. Check all the RAM as it can cause it not to chime.
 
Very nice. I have one that I got free also, just havent taken the time to boot up and get going.
 
Altemose said:
Resetting the SMC does nothing on a PowerPC Mac as they do not have one. You should reset the PMU. You may want to look at getting fresh thermal paste for the CPUs if it runs hot. Check all the RAM as it can cause it not to chime.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I never remember which one it is called in Intel Macs and which one it is in PowerMacs :)
Weird thing is that it started to chime only after one succesful boot to installer (even though installation did eventually fail). Proper cleaning would be great, it seems like no one has disassembled this machine since the plastic lock tab on the "G5"-plate looks like new.
 
Zotaccian said:
Yeah, I never remember which one it is called in Intel Macs and which one it is in PowerMacs :)
Weird thing is that it started to chime only after one succesful boot to installer (even though installation did eventually fail). Proper cleaning would be great, it seems like no one has disassembled this machine since the plastic lock tab on the "G5"-plate looks like new.
Click to expand...

I come across older machines (both PC and Mac) that clearly have been never touched for a cleaning. The PMU (Power Management Unit) is in PPC Macs, there is the SMC (System Management Controller) on Intel Macs.
 
If the G5 is that dirty inside you should pull it apart to clean it thoroughly. There are heat sinks on the back of the motherboard that might need cleaning, and the power supply in those G5's gets clogged with dust bunnies easily since its in the bottom of the case.
 
Well this is weird. The machine has not booted succesfully today at all and even the front led doesn't lit most of the time. Two times it has and there has also been the chime but nothing on the screen. This is weird. I guess the logic board is to blame. I have tried reattaching graphics card and memory sticks but i's still the same. I don't know if power supply can be blamed in these kind of situations since it has no problems powering on and there are no strange noises etc.
 
Congrats on your find!

Based on my previous experience, it sounds like some of your memory is not compatible. (Will boot but no chime)

The other issue (chime but no picture) makes me suspect the video card... though I have seen that from the PSU. Often reseating all of the PSU connectors on the mobo has cleared up these issues for me.

But since the previous owner said there were (potentially logic board) issues, here's what I would do:
-Tear down the machine
-Put new thermal paste on the U3 and on both CPU's
-Put in known good RAM, and known good video card
-Press the CUDA switch
-Cross your fingers and hope for the best. :)
 
Altemose said:
What are your plans for it? Is yours a 2.3 as well?
Click to expand...
I was thinking about trying it out as a file server. Hope I can get good enough throughput the hard drives. I sure as heck wont save any money on electricity :D
 
I have slowly started to tinker with the machine, just battled with the lock pin on the G5 plate :) I'm sick at the moment so interest to tinkering is much lower than usual..

One thing which I forgot to mention is that when the power cord is connected (and disconnected), the PSU does not make those two quick clicks like all other PM G5s have made that I have owned. Is this "feature" supposed to be present in all G5s regardless model?

This sudden death is very strange because I was able to power on and partition my hard disk etc. and now suddenly the machine appears like no one's home. Power but no lights.
 
No the machine does not chime anymore and the front led does not stay lit. The machine kind of died all of sudden. In the beginning I was able to boot from installation disx and go to installation which however failed. Then I shut the machine off and forgot it since I had visitors. Next day at first it did not chime but front led was on, I turned the machine sideways and got it to chime once but no boot. After that it only powers on but no chime, no led.
 
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Could someone point me to correct type of screwdriver for removing the heatsinks? It has to be vero long since some of the screws are located so that only with long screwdriver you can remove them. I have PayPal -account so I prefer that as payment option.
 
Okay, I think I have confirmed that this machine has failed the same way these usually do: Appe U3 chip has detached from the motherboard. After using heat gun to heat under the chip for less than a minute with 160C setting and then pushing power button there was chime and the light was lit. No picture still but that small thing atleast brought the machine out from vegetable state, altough temporarily most likely. Real fixing would require disassembly and proper reflowing.

EDIT: Yup, after writing text above and then trying the G5 is vegetable again.
EDIT2: After repeating the process the G5 again chimes and light is lit, no picture but it opens disc tray if left click is held.
 
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Disassembled the machine and heated the U3 chip without making any difference.


The machine has difficulties even chiming and led light doesn't lit, however after I heated between memory slots the machine started to chime and lit the light, but no picture. However I could eject the disc tray by pressing left mouse button and after I put the disc in it seems like the machine is reading it once it has first chimed, after some time it apparenly crashes and fans start to rev up. I know disc drives do identify discs even when just power is connected to them but because eject works and it really sounds like disc is being read it seems that there is some signs of functionality. Whatever the problem is it might not be related directly to the U3 chip. It might be motherboard or even power supply because previous owner said the machine had started to shut down suddenly at some point when he had it.
 
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