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Looks like I ruined 2 working PowerMacs G5

JulienBerthelot

JulienBerthelot

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 13, 2012
66
74
Canada
Alright so I had 2 PowerMac G5 of the same model, A1047. One was in good shape but not really powerful (1.6GHz) and the other in bad shape but kinda powerful (2GHz dual). I had an idea, exchanging each other's insides. Turns out, it isn't possible and I shouldn't have done that. Now I've replaced the logic boards in their correct enclosures, and they both won't start. One doesn't even have an LED that lights up, the other, the LED shines only when the button is pressed.

Did I ruined them both? I've tried reseating the CPUs to no avail.

More info:
When I put my dual back up, it started the first time but no chime and no display (fans, I could hear the HD), I thought the processors were in the wrong slots, so I exchanged the processors of place; worsened the situation, so put them back the way they were, and now, not even an LED. (I think the first time, it was a PMU issue, and now it's a processor issue)
 
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Did you ground yourself correctly? Static electricity can go up to 25,000 volts and can damage the motherboard (chips to be exact) if you aren't careful enough.
I hope that that's not the problem the Macs won't turn on!

Cheers, Nikola!
 
Reinstalling the CPU daughter cards on the logic board is an absolute nightmare. It's possible that they aren't making good contact. Apple couldn't just make the CPU's socketed via LGA or PGA CPU like AMD, or Intel 🙄. Does anyone know why they used the silly daughter card modules?
 
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NikolaPPC said:
Did you ground yourself correctly? Static electricity can go up to 25,000 volts and can damage the motherboard (chips to be exact) if you aren't careful enough.
I hope that that's not the problem the Macs won't turn on!

Cheers, Nikola!
Click to expand...
That's what I'm worried, no I did not ground myself, never ended up buying a strap... It's now that it occurs to me I should've spent that 10 bucks...
 
dajuberthelot said:
That's what I'm worried, no I did not ground myself, never ended up buying a strap... It's now that it occurs to me I should've spent that 10 bucks...
Click to expand...
I don’t know the details of where you are, how much static there is and what not. But I’ve worked on carpets numerous times and worn things that are definitely capable of carrying static electricity. Never have I fried anything, and no I don’t have one of those static bands either. Of course I’m not encouraging to do that, but I’m just doubting that’s the cause.

I’m gonna put my money on something just not making contact correctly. Or maybe something damaged from combining the systems? I’m not sure how incompatible they are, just a guess.
 
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iModFrenzy said:
I’m gonna put my money on something just not making contact correctly.
Click to expand...

I would suggest the same to the OP - carefully strip everything back down and reassemble. Ensuring clean, firm contacts for all connectors, especially the CPU(s).

You could also try pressing the little PMU reset button on the logic board.
 
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UPDATE: Y'all were right, the CPUs must've been badly connected, they are tricky to reconnect. Now, I can't boot. The computer starts, I hear the chime, then, before the loading icon appears, (but after I see the Apple logo, so about 7 secs), the computer shuts down. I've tried booting on a different HD, booting a OS X Tiger install CD (that I burned myself if ever that can be an issue) and tried resetting NVRAM in Open Firmware, and set defaults. I've also tried a PRAM reset 3 times in a row.

When booting, I've also tried
cmd+S = stops at "Local FireWire GUID = 0xd..." and shuts down really fast, I had to film it so I could see
cmd+V = stops at the same place as cmd+s

At one point I remember getting: Extension "com.apple.driver.ApplePMU" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.

I've also tried cmd+s when booting using the Tiger install CD to which I get: Unable to find driver for this platform: "PowerMac7,2"

Important to know:
I don't have a 3.6 V lithium battery currently installed.

UPDATE2: Tried repairing disk using Target Disk Mode, Disk Utility did not find any errors.
UPDATE3: Just ran Apple Hardware Test, it didn't find any errors. Even in the extended test... So I guess it's PMU error...
 
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dajuberthelot said:
UPDATE: Y'all were right, the CPUs must've been badly connected, they are tricky to reconnect. Now, I can't boot. The computer starts, I hear the chime, then, before the loading icon appears, (but after I see the Apple logo, so about 7 secs), the computer shuts down. I've tried booting on a different HD, booting a OS X Tiger install CD (that I burned myself if ever that can be an issue) and tried resetting NVRAM in Open Firmware, and set defaults. I've also tried a PRAM reset 3 times in a row.

When booting, I've also tried
cmd+S = stops at "Local FireWire GUID = 0xd..." and shuts down really fast, I had to film it so I could see
cmd+V = stops at the same place as cmd+s

At one point I remember getting: Extension "com.apple.driver.ApplePMU" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.

I've also tried cmd+s when booting using the Tiger install CD to which I get: Unable to find driver for this platform: "PowerMac7,2"

Important to know:
I don't have a 3.6 V lithium battery currently installed.

UPDATE2: Tried repairing disk using Target Disk Mode, Disk Utility did not find any errors.
UPDATE3: Just ran Apple Hardware Test, it didn't find any errors. Even in the extended test... So I guess it's PMU error...
Click to expand...

Good progress. You could try dropping into Open Firmware by holding cmd-opt-O-F then at the prompt:
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

I would try installing a PRAM battery next.
 
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so when screwing the CPU back you have to do it steadily in X mode.... Hope you had some good CPU paste and a electronic contact cleaning agent. I changed a few CPUs and rebuilt a few G5 and never had a problem. Once a CPU had problems. Changed it. but that it.
You can always try changeing the positions of the 2 CPU. it wont effect anything.
Resetting the PMU/PRAM should be done with battery and all energy/power pulled from the board.
Try with 2 memory only.(switch them around - had much more problems with ram than CPU)
Try staring in (shift) safe mode first. or alt (option mode)
 
dajuberthelot said:
Alright so I had 2 PowerMac G5 of the same model, A1047. One was in good shape but not really powerful (1.6GHz) and the other in bad shape but kinda powerful (2GHz dual). I had an idea, exchanging each other's insides. Turns out, it isn't possible and I shouldn't have done that. Now I've replaced the logic boards in their correct enclosures, and they both won't start. One doesn't even have an LED that lights up, the other, the LED shines only when the button is pressed.

Did I ruined them both? I've tried reseating the CPUs to no avail.

More info:
When I put my dual back up, it started the first time but no chime and no display (fans, I could hear the HD), I thought the processors were in the wrong slots, so I exchanged the processors of place; worsened the situation, so put them back the way they were, and now, not even an LED. (I think the first time, it was a PMU issue, and now it's a processor issue)
Click to expand...

Do you have a battery?

Ah, I know who you are LOL- Im on the other forum @ChristianReal
 
christiann said:
Do you have a battery?

Ah, I know who you are LOL- Im on the other forum @ChristianReal
Click to expand...
Yup, just tried today, first time booting it "worked" meaning I got the (\) logo upon boot up, I've tried reset-nvram once again, CUDA button, AHT, PRAM... What's weird is that everything works until boot up. (Option boot to see bootable HDs, AHT, OF...)

I get the error: extension "com.apple.driver.applepmu" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style

Yeah on ARM Macs haha @christiann
 
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If you remove CPUs on a G5, chances are you need to recalibrate them using the appropriate Apple Service Diagnostic disc or you won't get far with fans and thermal loads. That might be partly responsible for the shutdowns.
 
weckart said:
If you remove CPUs on a G5, chances are you need to recalibrate them using the appropriate Apple Service Diagnostic disc or you won't get far with fans and thermal loads. That might be partly responsible for the shutdowns.
Click to expand...
Just tried that, to no avail... it said they were already calibrated. Still ran the calibration just in case, and also did a Hardware test once again. Nothing found and not booting. Tried all the pram, nvram resets... nothing worked.
 
If you swap the CPUs around then Calibration should become available.

Might be worth testing RAM with ASD too.
 
you could try to see if it boots from older OS CD... like some version of 10.2.8...something or 10.3 or maybe a 9.?
If it boots up with a CD , try installing it on a fresh drive see what happens...
 
ediflorianus said:
you could try to see if it boots from older OS CD... like some version of 10.2.8...something or 10.3 or maybe a 9.?
If it boots up with a CD , try installing it on a fresh drive see what happens...
Click to expand...
My PowerMacs G5 can't boot anything earlier than 10.2.x I think... I could try, but at this point I'm pretty sure the issue is based on something else. Will also try to test RAM, maybe there's something wrong with the RAM slots...
 
JulienBerthelot said:
My PowerMacs G5 can't boot anything earlier than 10.2.x I think... I could try, but at this point I'm pretty sure the issue is based on something else. Will also try to test RAM, maybe there's something wrong with the RAM slots...
Click to expand...
I had many problems with ram , got 8x1gb DDR400 Kingmax bluechip and problems disappeared...
PS. you can try booting live PPC linux distro.... if that boots ok than problem is not with ram most likely....
 
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