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LCS Issues Late 2005 Quad

rawweb

rawweb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 7, 2015
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I just picked up an unbelievably mint condition Late 2005 Quad 2.5ghz G5 with a Quadro FX 4500 for an incredible steal. I bought my first G5 new back in 2004 and eventually sold it sometime in 2010, so getting back to nostalgia is great. The only thing is I don't remember is these units being so loud. The fans seem to kick up even when sitting in safari doing some basic web stuff. Something just seems off. Anyone have any thoughts? Attached an iStat screengrab.
 

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Check the "Energy Saver" section of System Preferences, and turn the Processor Settings to reduced. Also, running thermal calibration would't hurt. To fix this issue completely, a LCS overhaul would be recommended
 
It looks like one cpu is running a lot hotter. You could try disabling it, but if you want all 4 running well it looks like it could use some work. Nice find btw!
 
jbarley said:
To run the thermal calibration you'll need the proper ASD disk, which is available here in my DropBox.
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Thanks for the link, I've got it going now. I'll run a battery of tests as well. I'm not kidding folks, this thing doesn't have a single ding on or scratch on her, It even came in it's original box. The original owner appeared to have kept it in pretty good shape. Not much dust either...

I'm not afraid to overhaul the LCS if necessary, however, I was hopeful to not have to dink with it. How much cash does it cost, and how can I definitively tell I need it? Not looking to blow much more money on this old beaut, also, there are no leaks that I can find. Thanks for your help guys.
 
flyrod said:
It looks like one cpu is running a lot hotter. You could try disabling it, but if you want all 4 running well it looks like it could use some work. Nice find btw!
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Didn't take long...already got a fantastic set of errors. What to do?
 

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MacCubed said:
Do you have a fan laying around? My Quad does the exact same thing, I put a fan in front of the computer and it passed
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LOL, literally, face a fan through the front of it? I'll give it a hoot, though it sounds like this may not permanently fix the issue?

I just tore into it and it looks like the delphi lcs. Every time I read about these G5's it seems to be this problem. I'm starting to regret my decision to jump into this.
 

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rawweb said:
LOL, literally, face a fan through the front of it? I'll give it a hoot, though it sounds like this may not permanently fix the issue?

I just tore into it and it looks like the delphi lcs. Every time I read about these G5's it seems to be this problem. I'm starting to regret my decision to jump into this.
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All Quads have Delphi LCSes, yours is a dual pump, which I am pretty sure is the less reliable version. The fan thing should work. It seems crazy, but it actually will make it pass
 
MacCubed said:
All Quads have Delphi LCSes, yours is a dual pump, which I am pretty sure is the less reliable version. The fan thing should work. It seems crazy, but it actually will make it pass
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Still getting the temp errors. I've got a small fan pointed full force into the CPU thermal area from the front. HMMMMMMM.
 
Or open a window? It's freezing where I'm at.

I don't own a G5 but I've seen a few different threads on servicing the LCS. It doesn't look too terrible to work on from what I've seen people post.
 
flyrod said:
Or open a window? It's freezing where I'm at.

I don't own a G5 but I've seen a few different threads on servicing the LCS. It doesn't look too terrible to work on from what I've seen people post.
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I don't think that's the problem, I live in Michigan and it was probably down to 40-50 last night. I tried this morning knowing the room was probably only around 60 and stuck a huge box fan in front of it. It just won't fly. It looks like I got a lemon. I'm going to try and arrange to get my money back from the seller and get out from under this, I read a few things last night that seemed to indicate this job was anything but easy as none of these parts were ever designed to be user serviceable. Is there a definitive guide that I'm missing? I can't seem to find anything other than a few random success stories and not much elaboration.
 

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rawweb said:
I don't think that's the problem, I live in Michigan and it was probably down to 40-50 last night. I tried this morning knowing the room was probably only around 60 and stuck a huge box fan in front of it. It just won't fly. It looks like I got a lemon. I'm going to try and arrange to get my money back from the seller and get out from under this, I read a few things last night that seemed to indicate this job was anything but easy as none of these parts were ever designed to be user serviceable. Is there a definitive guide that I'm missing? I can't seem to find anything other than a few random success stories and not much elaboration.
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You could buy a whole new processor and LCS unit off eBay, but it may have the same problem as the LCS probably hadn't been serviced. The easiest thing is to bring the LCS/Processor assembly to a professional if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself
 
rawweb said:
Based on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lcs-repair-info-for-powermac-g5-dual-2-5.1109014/ I think even a pro would stumble on this. I think I bit off more than I can chew and will attempt to process a return with the seller. From what I'm reading it seems most of these G5 lcs units are lemons! Thanks for your suggestions.
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I think the G5 units that were manufactured earlier had problems but I am on my second Quad and this one also has no issues. Perhaps the seller you bought it from had it laying on its side while in operation? Because the picture of the LCS looked fine and I didn't see evidence of leaks.
 
RedCroissant said:
I think the G5 units that were manufactured earlier had problems but I am on my second Quad and this one also has no issues. Perhaps the seller you bought it from had it laying on its side while in operation? Because the picture of the LCS looked fine and I didn't see evidence of leaks.
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There are no visible leaks. I'm very open to exploring how to get this thing back at peak operating efficiency. Is it possible it was somehow damaged in shipping? What might I need to do to get it working again? Just looking for some hopeful direction. Thanks for your input.

EDIT:
Is there a test I can run to ensure both pumps are working?
 
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I'm willing to bet that the machine was stored on its side and not used for a while which then resulted in either a failing of only partially working pump for CPU A. If anything, disabling that CPU and running it a s a dual 2.5 would make it so that you could still use the machine.

That's what I'm actually doing right now with CPU B disabled and the CPUs running in reduced power mode. I don't know how to disable CPUA since I think that's the default CPU though.

As far as a test to check the pumps I don't know. I have a question for you though, do you see any evidence of cracks in the tubes? I know just from dealing with any issues from any system that requires liquid cooling that the tubes can crack from either decreased use or over exposure to the environment due to improper storage.

And I wanted to say that the thread you read (which is awesome) also shows what you probably shouldn't do when it comes to altering the hardware designed and used for Apple's machines. What the OP did was creative, but it is also very possible that he was just using his Quad for too long with too much demand that caused his computer to eventually fail. I'm pretty sure there have been quite a few G5s and Mac Pros from Disney that have bad CPUs due to the high demand put on them.

Not to say that it's not worth saving, but having a machine running hard for 10 years is awesome in itself.
 
RedCroissant said:
I'm willing to bet that the machine was stored on its side and not used for a while which then resulted in either a failing of only partially working pump for CPU A. If anything, disabling that CPU and running it a s a dual 2.5 would make it so that you could still use the machine.

That's what I'm actually doing right now with CPU B disabled and the CPUs running in reduced power mode. I don't know how to disable CPUA since I think that's the default CPU though.

As far as a test to check the pumps I don't know. I have a question for you though, do you see any evidence of cracks in the tubes? I know just from dealing with any issues from any system that requires liquid cooling that the tubes can crack from either decreased use or over exposure to the environment due to improper storage.

And I wanted to say that the thread you read (which is awesome) also shows what you probably shouldn't do when it comes to altering the hardware designed and used for Apple's machines. What the OP did was creative, but it is also very possible that he was just using his Quad for too long with too much demand that caused his computer to eventually fail. I'm pretty sure there have been quite a few G5s and Mac Pros from Disney that have bad CPUs due to the high demand put on them.

Not to say that it's not worth saving, but having a machine running hard for 10 years is awesome in itself.
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I'll take a close look after work tonight. Is there anywhere specific I should look for potential leaks? Just for education sake, if they did store it on it's side why do you think that would have let to pump failure? Are there any known replacement parts for these units?
 
I would look right behind the seals to see if there are any cracks or at least evidence of the hoses being dry. There might not be any leaks per se, but the system is pressurized so any air at all in the system would cause temperature anomalies and cooling issues.

With any liquid cooling system, improper storage leads to problems just due to the nature of the liquid used to cool the system. Coolant in general is corrosive so it sitting in one spot or area in the system and not being circulated can cause issues.

I just think that it was stored improperly to the point where coolant stayed in the pump and what might be causing the pump to not pump it fully or in the off chance that the coolant has clogged part of the pump. After all, if the pump just wasn't working then the temps for CPU A would be crazy and that CPU would most likely be dead soon.

Yes there are but they are not cheap. If you do decide that replacing the LCS is the way to go, then I would forego using the coolant normally used and instead use mineral oil. It's not corrosive, not conductive, and can handle high temperatures.
 
And just so you know, I would ALMOST kill for that GPU. I have been looking for one and I have not been able to find it for a good price at all. Especially since my finances are extremely limited I am very jealous. It makes sense though if that was used as a production/editing machine for a while which might also explain why one of the CPUs is possibly overheating.
 
RedCroissant said:
And just so you know, I would ALMOST kill for that GPU. I have been looking for one and I have not been able to find it for a good price at all. Especially since my finances are extremely limited I am very jealous. It makes sense though if that was used as a production/editing machine for a while which might also explain why one of the CPUs is possibly overheating.
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Here are some iStat results from a cold boot (been off 8 hours). It really looks like CPU A is the culprit, B looks nominal. I wish there was just a way to flush these things easily. Any idea why iStat doesn't list the pumps specifically? Also, no signs of any leakage. More pics attached. As badly as you would almost kill for this video card, I would almost kill for this thing to be fully functional!

Just ran a test on the CPU's in ASD and they all passed the test. Is there anyone out there that professionally services these LCS's?
 

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rawweb said:
Here are some iStat results from a cold boot (been off 8 hours). It really looks like CPU A is the culprit, B looks nominal. I wish there was just a way to flush these things easily. Any idea why iStat doesn't list the pumps specifically? Also, no signs of any leakage. More pics attached. As badly as you would almost kill for this video card, I would almost kill for this thing to be fully functional!

Just ran a test on the CPU's in ASD and they all passed the test. Is there anyone out there that professionally services these LCS's?
Click to expand...

It does look like that and that I think is normal given the age of the computer and what it was most likely used to do. Could you zoom in on the top pump and the hoses? Something looks weird right after the seal and it seems like the clamp is a little tight on it unless that's just the angle of the photograph.

Do you have the developer tools installed? If so you could always enter the following command and see if it helps: "hwprefs cpu_disable 2"

This will disable the 2nd CPU and leave CPU1 and of course CPU3,4 active. I'm just hoping that if you disable the 2nd CPU and leave the 1st core with only one CPU active, then the pump (if there is an issue with it) will work better to cool it.

And I'm not sure if there is anyone that does but if they're not in your area, then that would make it really expensive to ship there and back AND pay for the service.
 
Is there anyway to freshen the thermal paste application on the processors? I'm not seeming to find any information on whether or not that's possible.
 
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