Hello Power Mac G4 issues

Discussion in 'PowerPC Macs' started by AceAOH, Jul 1, 2008.

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  1. AceAOH, Jul 1, 2008

    AceAOH macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2008
    #1
    Hello all,

    I have a power mac g4 unkown edition. I think it is the gigabit edition.That I got 2 years ago and stopped working 6 months ago and did not know what was wrong with it at the time until now I decided to tinker with it. Also just to let you know I am an Avid PC user CompTIA A+ certifited so dont shun me please. But I am not Mac intelligent but hoping to be. So if you could try to explain it in lamest terms.

    Specs of what I remember
    1.5GB Ram
    10GB Quantum
    64MB ATi Rage
    Single Core

    So heres what I have done to it to see if I could fix it.

    Changed Power Supplies
    Changed IDE Cables on HDD
    Reseated GFX Card
    Took out all ram and tested all sticks
    Done the PRM thing one by apple and the 30 min one
    Tried different monitors
    Tried the 2nd IDE port
    Buying a new battery (Is on its way)
    Also done a thing were u press some keys on the keyboard until you get like 3 chimes

    It turns on and gives me the usual chine. Monitor is blank and for like 30 seconds there is a darker box inside the monitor. The Caps lock blinks for a second after a few seconds. Also none of the boot commands work like holding down mouse to release the DVD drive.

    I have none of the disk that came with it just a manual about Panther.

    So if you can give me anything to do before the battery gets here I will try it. I also have an old ATi 9550 that I can flash it to work if there is a way.

    Thanks for all your help
     
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  2. matt321, Jul 2, 2008

    matt321 macrumors member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2007
    #2
    Do you have another Mac? If you do, you can hold down the "T" key on the keyboard to put it in target mode. Then take a firewire cable and bridge this power mac to the other mac. If the power mac hard drive shows up on the desktop of the other mac OR you can open Disk Utility and verify a new disk, then I would point to the video card as the culprit.

    Are any of the Capacitors bulging or blown?

    Also, have you tried booting it up without the CD-rom or Hard drive attached? Old macs should be able to post with only a video card connected (just like a pc.)


    These are the only things I can think of. It should still boot even with a bad battery.
     
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  3. AceAOH, Jul 2, 2008

    AceAOH thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Jul 1, 2008
    #3
    No I do not have a second mac :( . I am going to see if my windows based computer can detect the hard drive since it can detect unix based os but not boot them but it can verify the drive is safe.

    There are no bulging capacitors on the logic board.

    I have tried booting without everything only things that were plugged in was the PSU, Keyboard and the main componets on the logic board.
     
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  4. Firefly2002, Jul 2, 2008

    Firefly2002 macrumors 65816

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    #4
    Well, you could try an NVRAM reset, which is like a PRAM reset except that you hold down apple+option+P+R until you hear the chime twice in a row.

    But I'm guessing it's one of two things.... your hard drive or your video card.

    I'm guessing you mean Radeon though, since they never made any 64 MB variation of the Rage or Rage 128 for Mac or PC.... I don't think even the Fury MaXX had 64MB, and that was their dual-chip solution (which sucked, btw, lol).

    If it's your video card, that would definitely explain why you're not getting any video signal.

    If it's your hard drive... well, that shouldn't prevent you from seeing a screen, but I guess maybe it would in certain circumstances. You could try booting from CD.
     
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  5. Consultant, Jul 2, 2008

    Consultant macrumors G5

    Consultant

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2007
    #5
    PMU reset (press a button)
    New Harddrive? A 10gb HD is ancient and likely to fail due to age.

    To determine the mac model, go to everymac.com
     
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  6. AceAOH, Jul 2, 2008

    AceAOH thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Jul 1, 2008
    #6
    Well I do know its a rage but I do not remember the total specs for it since its been a while since I have seen an os.

    Now my monitor is getting some kind of input since if it was not getting input it would flash between DVI and D-Sub.

    Hard drive is fine tested it in another comp not mac based though.

    I do remember that I told it to boot to OS9 and then turned off the computer booted it up and started having these problems maybe something to do with it.
     
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  7. velocityg4, Jul 2, 2008

    velocityg4 macrumors 68040

    velocityg4

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2004
    Location:
    Georgia
    #7
    Whether or not the HD works or is even connected you would at least get a screen that flashes a folder with a question mark indicating no OS found.

    After the startup chime can you hear the hard drive grinding away like it is reading data. If so then I would decidedly side with a bad video card. If not the HD may also be bad so try putting in a Mac OS CD and hold the C key while booting. Does the CD drive spin up? If so the Video card is likely bad.

    Fortunately you can find most any Rage card for next to nothing on eBay in the Apple components section. Maybe a Radeon 7000, plain Radeon or GeForce 2 for cheap. At those speeds PCI or AGP preference does not really matter. For AGP make sure it is 2x compatible.

    What is the CPU speed listed on the back of the Tower? That is one way to help identify the model.

    Edit:
    You would still get a few seconds of video when first booting then the screen would go blank if the video was being set at a refresh rate the monitor does not support. Or if no driver was found.
     
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  8. AceAOH, Jul 2, 2008

    AceAOH thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Jul 1, 2008
    #8
    Well it a 500MHz processor. So correct me if I am wrong it is a Mac Server G4 500 (AGP).

    So what most people are saying its the video card.

    So if you guys can tell me videos cards that will work with this comp would be helpful I dont care if they need to be flashed to work with the mac.

    **edit**
    If you guys give me a thumbs up I will purchase this card.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Rage-128-Pr...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
     
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  9. velocityg4, Jul 3, 2008

    velocityg4 macrumors 68040

    velocityg4

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2004
    Location:
    Georgia
    #9
    That card uses an ADC connector and if your Mac is a Single 500 then it would be based on the Sawtooth design which does not have support for ADC as it powers the monitor as well.

    If you just want a cheap card that should work try this one. Unlike the one you listed it has a standard DVI connector and should not have issues. This Radeon 7000 is only $10 more and far superior VGA only though. This PCI Rage 128 may go for less than $10, people rarely want them.
     
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