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Power Mac G4 Found!

W

weezin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 20, 2012
414
359
So I was walking down my alley when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye...a Power Mac G4 next to the garbage! Intrigued (having never owned a PPC before), I took it home, plugged it in and turned it on.

It works!

However, it seems as if the fan is dead as it is rubbing up against the metal and creating a terrible noise (probably the reason the previous owners threw it out).

Knowing nothing about PPCs, I can tell you that it is running the latest version of Tiger, and that it's number is M8705LL/A.

Three questions:
1. Where can I get a new fan and can I replace it myself?
2. Where can I get OSX Leopard?
3. Where can I get an Airport card?

Thanks all! Looking forward to experimenting with this machine.

EDIT: Well, I just read the FAQ and it seems most of my questions were answered there!
 
Last edited:
Looks like you got yourself a G4 800Mhz (Quicksilver 2002) model. Nice find. An even better find than the cheap HP printer/scanner combo I found last week. on the side of the residential road I live on. It too still works though it is missing a black ink cartridge.

The theory is that the house at the end of the road must have dumped it as there have been other dumped items like a busted electric keyboard. That one house is known to sell drugs and the cops have been all over the place and continue to investigate it. It has a gated fence area that is just one big dump pile of junk. They dumpster dive for scrap metal and sell that to buy drugs and then sell the drugs. What a wonderful neighbourhood.
 
weezin said:
So I was walking down my alley when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye...a Power Mac G4 next to the garbage! Intrigued (having never owned a PPC before), I took it home, plugged it in and turned it on.

It works!
Click to expand...

welcome to the family. PowerPC is an architecture worthy of spending some time with as the units manufactured then continue to function today. Many of them can match or even outperform new intel machines running older versions of current software.

I had the opportunity recently to use a QP2.5 system with 8gb ram and a 512mb video card. It confounds me that an 8 year old system has similar specs to a new machine you can purchase today, but is not supported by the manufacturer.
 
You should take the fan out and clean it.

Sometimes they just get dirty and start to make a grinding noise.

Just don't forget the thermal paste when you put the iMac back together.

Congratulations!!!
 
Thanks for the replies!

I opened the case and looked at the fan. I can push it with my finger along it's axis. When I push it away from the grating the noise goes away, but for some reason it always migrates back to the grating (and thus scraping the metal).

I'll try pulling it out to see if there's anything I can do, but I have a feeling that I'll need a new fan :)
 
weezin said:
Thanks for the replies!

I opened the case and looked at the fan. I can push it with my finger along it's axis. When I push it away from the grating the noise goes away, but for some reason it always migrates back to the grating (and thus scraping the metal).
Click to expand...

Which one of the fans is it? The bug one at the bottom or the CPU fan (I'm assuming it isn't the PSU Fan). Ifixit may help you to exchange them: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Power-Mac-G4-Quicksilver-Teardown/1465/1

Pekka
 
weezin said:
Thanks for the replies!

I opened the case and looked at the fan. I can push it with my finger along it's axis. When I push it away from the grating the noise goes away, but for some reason it always migrates back to the grating (and thus scraping the metal).

I'll try pulling it out to see if there's anything I can do, but I have a feeling that I'll need a new fan :)
Click to expand...

Most probably one of fan blades is broken. I had few QSs with such damage.
You need 120/25 mm fan with thermistor (self thermal control) to make it work like stock one. Stock Delta fan was 87 CFM IIRC, so get one with similar specs. Remember to house new fan in the same direction as stock one was mounted.
 
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