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Newbie needs help with G5 please

T

tomyg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2014
18
0
South-east England, UK
Hi,
I'm new to this forum so any assistance most appreciated.

I've just bought an old G5 Quad off E-bay. Obviously its a few years old but very highly spec'd. I want to use it as a standalone DAW for music production based on Logic 8/9 which I have used previously. It powers up fine and I've seen in working with its previous owner.

I also have a Apple Cinema Display monitor M8537ZM/A which I know works fine and is complete with its power/usb/ADC connector.

Unfortunately I can't get any signal to the Apple monitor. Neither can I get any signal to a DVI monitor via the DVI port in the G5.

My question is do I need to change the graphics card or am I missing something obvious as my research and checks would suggest everything is compatible?
Any assistance much appreciated. Thanks
 
Maybe try reseating the video card?

Is it possible the video card is dead?
 
tomyg said:
Hi,
I'm new to this forum so any assistance most appreciated.

I've just bought an old G5 Quad off E-bay. Obviously its a few years old but very highly spec'd. I want to use it as a standalone DAW for music production based on Logic 8/9 which I have used previously. It powers up fine and I've seen in working with its previous owner.

I also have a Apple Cinema Display monitor M8537ZM/A which I know works fine and is complete with its power/usb/ADC connector.

Unfortunately I can't get any signal to the Apple monitor. Neither can I get any signal to a DVI monitor via the DVI port in the G5.

My question is do I need to change the graphics card or am I missing something obvious as my research and checks would suggest everything is compatible?
Any assistance much appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...

Does the power button light up on the ADC Studio Display when the machine is started? If not then you have a contact problem through the GPU to the Logic Board. ADC power is carried through the GPU. Try reseating the card and ensuring that it was not knocked around during shipment. To do this simply remove and reinstall the card while ensuring the slot for the card is clean and free of dust.
 
Hi thanks for the response.
I'm fairly sure the G5 was connected to an Apple 20" HD LCD Cinema Display Monitor A1081 M9177LL/A.
My monitor is an M8537ZM/A and was connected to a G4.
Any assistance most appreciated, thanks

----------

Thanks Altemose, I check the graphic card is seated properly and report back
 
You may also want to check the pins on the ADC connector. My main display had a slightly off pin when I first got it and while it worked, I didn't get USB. Fiddling around with it is when I noticed the bent pin. It can happen if you don't push the connector in right.

A jeweler's screwdriver set the pin straight and now the connector goes in just fine and everything works. But getting to that little pin was difficult.
 
eyoungren said:
You may also want to check the pins on the ADC connector. My main display had a slightly off pin when I first got it and while it worked, I didn't get USB. Fiddling around with it is when I noticed the bent pin. It can happen if you don't push the connector in right.

A jeweler's screwdriver set the pin straight and now the connector goes in just fine and everything works. But getting to that little pin was difficult.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, DVI ports shouldn't have that problem.
 
Altemose said:
Does the power button light up on the ADC Studio Display when the machine is started? If not then you have a contact problem through the GPU to the Logic Board. ADC power is carried through the GPU. Try reseating the card and ensuring that it was not knocked around during shipment. To do this simply remove and reinstall the card while ensuring the slot for the card is clean and free of dust.
Click to expand...

tomyg's G5 is a late-2005 and doesn't power an ADC display through the video card.
 
Success!

What a great forum! Thanks guys for all the help, I removed the graphics card, gave the slots a blast with air and reinserted. Hey presto, everything fired up and despite its age, it looks great. Thanks to all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

Now how do I get the cd/dvd drive open without a Apple standard keyboard as the its open/closing is controlled via a keyboard button?

I have a USB plug wireless keyboard and mouse working beautifully but no open/shut button....any suggestions please, thanks
 
tomyg said:
What a great forum! Thanks guys for all the help, I removed the graphics card, gave the slots a blast with air and reinserted. Hey presto, everything fired up and despite its age, it looks great. Thanks to all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

Now how do I get the cd/dvd drive open without a Apple standard keyboard as the its open/closing is controlled via a keyboard button?

I have a USB plug wireless keyboard and mouse working beautifully but no open/shut button....any suggestions please, thanks
Click to expand...

Try F12 on the keyboard.

At least under Leopard, I also always get an icon on the menu bar that will allow me to open it when I plug in a keyboard without an eject key.
 
bunnspecial said:
Try F12 on the keyboard.

At least under Leopard, I also always get an icon on the menu bar that will allow me to open it when I plug in a keyboard without an eject key.
Click to expand...

I do believe that is a feature Tiger and onward.
 
128keaton said:
I do believe that is a feature Tiger and onward.
Click to expand...

I've yet to run across it in Tiger, and spent a little while last night looking for a place to turn it on in system preferences.

I do know that it happens automatically for me in Lion when I plug in a keyboard without a media eject key, although all of my computers currently running Lion are actually running off the same install(I did not do the install) that's been cloned a couple of times so it's entirely possible that it's a feature that has to be turned on and I just don't know to do it.
 
Bugger! After initial success, now failure..

After everyones help yesterday resulting in a working G5 with both graphics and cd driver operating beautifully, I carefully tidied up and positioned the G5 below my desk, complete in the knowledge everything worked.

Spoke too soon.

The G5 again failed to trigger the ACD monitor this morning which was working fine for over two hours yesterday prior to my switching off.
After much messing about with cards, contacts, cables, plugs etc. its got to be a dodgy graphic card as the connections all are clean, intact and the fitting of the card is snug.

Thoughts most welcome.
 
tomyg said:
Now how do I get the cd/dvd drive open without a Apple standard keyboard as the its open/closing is controlled via a keyboard button?

I have a USB plug wireless keyboard and mouse working beautifully but no open/shut button....any suggestions please, thanks
Click to expand...

If it is anything like mine, just use a wireless keyboard. Something about certain usb devices like those makes the G5 spit the SD tray open on bootup. It seems to be a recognised quirk of the PMG5.

Once in, you can have a menu option to open the SD without recourse to a keyboard.

http://macs.about.com/od/macoperatingsystems/qt/ejectcdmenu.htm
 
tomyg said:
After everyones help yesterday resulting in a working G5 with both graphics and cd driver operating beautifully, I carefully tidied up and positioned the G5 below my desk, complete in the knowledge everything worked.

Spoke too soon.

The G5 again failed to trigger the ACD monitor this morning which was working fine for over two hours yesterday prior to my switching off.
After much messing about with cards, contacts, cables, plugs etc. its got to be a dodgy graphic card as the connections all are clean, intact and the fitting of the card is snug.

Thoughts most welcome.
Click to expand...

Stupid question, but have u tried the computer with another monitor?

Anyway, it's probably the graphic card. See if you can find another one on eBay? I hope u get it working. :)
 
Graphic card clarification-G5

Hi,
This is the Nvidia graphics card out of my G5. Its a PCI-Express fitting.
In the picture I've outlined a section of the connection which is different from the rest.
Should this be like this or has something broken away hence my connection problems?
Comments please, thanks
 

Attachments

  • Nvidia Graphics Card PCI-e MacG5rev1.jpg
    Nvidia Graphics Card PCI-e MacG5rev1.jpg
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