Options for Power Mac CPU repair/replacement

[jktwice]

Hello,

I have a PMG4 in dire need of a new CPU seemingly. Whenever it boots it claims external cache failure and oftentimes reports an incorrect cpu speed, and most of the time it doesn't boot into OpenFirmware even. RAM has cleared many a Hardware Tests and nothing has pinged as faulty. So I put the machine aside until today when I noticed an eBay listing for a FastMac upgrade card for a couple hundred bucks.

Before I commit to such a replacement, I have heard that someone does 2GHz CPU repairs/units but they're only on the 68kMLA forums. Has anyone dealt with them before and do they still do repairs? Are there other options out there?

 

[Project Alice]

Hello,

I have a PMG4 in dire need of a new CPU seemingly. Whenever it boots it claims external cache failure and oftentimes reports an incorrect cpu speed, and most of the time it doesn't boot into OpenFirmware even. RAM has cleared many a Hardware Tests and nothing has pinged as faulty. So I put the machine aside until today when I noticed an eBay listing for a FastMac upgrade card for a couple hundred bucks.

Before I commit to such a replacement, I have heard that someone does 2GHz CPU repairs/units but they're only on the 68kMLA forums. Has anyone dealt with them before and do they still do repairs? Are there other options out there?

What kind of PowerMac G4? The factory CPU cards are usually available on eBay. I'm pretty sure I have a big box with like 20 CPU cards, they're either for an MDD or a QS I'll have to dig them out and see. I've been meaning to sell them eventually. They're all OEM Apple cards.

If you are looking for an actual upgrade, the 3rd party upgrade cards are really expensive and pretty rare. Unless you get lucky, it's best to just get the top spec of whatever card Apple shipped in that model. IE, if you have a FW400 single 867MHz MDD you can put in the card from the later FW800 dual 1.42GHz model that they sold.

 

[jktwice]

What kind of PowerMac G4? The factory CPU cards are usually available on eBay. I'm pretty sure I have a big box with like 20 CPU cards, they're either for an MDD or a QS I'll have to dig them out and see. I've been meaning to sell them eventually. They're all OEM Apple cards.

If you are looking for an actual upgrade, the 3rd party upgrade cards are really expensive and pretty rare. Unless you get lucky, it's best to just get the top spec of whatever card Apple shipped in that model. IE, if you have a FW400 single 867MHz MDD you can put in the card from the later FW800 dual 1.42GHz model that they sold.

I have a QS 2002 with a dual 1GHz cpu.

I guess I could just drop some cash on a 867MHz card and call it a done deal. I really just need to run some specific software that requires pci cards

 

[Project Alice]

I have a QS 2002 with a dual 1GHz cpu.

I guess I could just drop some cash on a 867MHz card and call it a done deal. I really just need to run some specific software that requires pci cards

There's probably dual 1GHz cards on eBay right now. What software is it?

 

[jktwice]

There's probably dual 1GHz cards on eBay right now. What software is it?

Media 100i. Requires some PCI cards that do not work in any of my other machines.

It’s either get a replacement CPU card or get another Power Mac

 

[ToniCH]

There is at least 3 Quicksilver single cpu cards in ebay and located in USA right now. A week ago there was a dual 1GHz too but I cannot find it now, it was probably sold.

So, keep your eyes open and you will find one. be creative with your search terms, people list this stuff in various ways, which are not always obvious.