Power Mac G4 Quicksilver turns on but wont boot

[ThisMachine]

I recently acquired a 733mhz Quicksilver secondhand. It came with no ram and OS X 10.1.3 installed. I put my last stick (256mb) of working ram in and it worked just fine, I then ordered 3 sticks of 516mb to upgrade. I upgraded the cd/dvd drive and then proceeded to install Lubuntu and got rid of OS X and it worked fabulous... for about a day...

I went in and cleaned and oiled the CPU fan and the Case fan (to reduce the noise they made) after unplugging them and the motherboard. I put everything back together and turned my beautiful G4 on. The boot process was going great until the machine hung on a white screen. After a minute I turned it off and turned it back on. I noticed there was no characteristic bong/chime on startup and the fans turned on only ran at around half speed. I am not getting any video from it either. It doesn't function whatsoever. I am quite upset, seeing as I had some great plans for this babe.

Specs:
733mhz G4
256mb ram x1
Original 40 gb HDD
ATI Radeon 7500?? (I'm not 100% sure on this one)
344W PSU
Lubuntu PPC 13.10 installed

 

[jrsx]

I recently acquired a 733mhz Quicksilver secondhand. It came with no ram and OS X 10.1.3 installed. I put my last stick (256mb) of working ram in and it worked just fine, I then ordered 3 sticks of 516mb to upgrade. I upgraded the cd/dvd drive and then proceeded to install Lubuntu and got rid of OS X and it worked fabulous... for about a day...

I went in and cleaned and oiled the CPU fan and the Case fan (to reduce the noise they made) after unplugging them and the motherboard. I put everything back together and turned my beautiful G4 on. The boot process was going great until the machine hung on a white screen. After a minute I turned it off and turned it back on. I noticed there was no characteristic bong/chime on startup and the fans turned on only ran at around half speed. I am not getting any video from it either. It doesn't function whatsoever. I am quite upset, seeing as I had some great plans for this babe.

Specs:
733mhz G4
256mb ram x1
Original 40 gb HDD
ATI Radeon 7500?? (I'm not 100% sure on this one)
344W PSU
Lubuntu PPC 13.10 installed

Make sure your RAM is properly seated. Take it out and reseat it to make sure. I don't know QS PowerMacs very well - does it have a removable processor card? If so, make sure it is firmly fitted as well. Best of luck!

EDIT: Upon further research it appears all PowerMacs have removable processor cards, or at least the processors themselves from their connectors.

 

[ThisMachine]

I have just double checked and both my ram AND the processor are seated correctly, I even moved my ram to different slots and attempted to turn it on in each position, but to no avail...

 

[eyoungren]

I went in and cleaned and oiled the CPU fan and the Case fan (to reduce the noise they made)…

This right here worries me. What do you mean by oiled? Do you mean you used WD-40 on the fans? Do you mean you pulled out an old fashioned can of oil or one of those old oilers with the arm on them and actually put OIL into the fans?

Modern fans are sealed units that do not require oiling. If a bearing wears out and causes "noise" you replace the fan. Considering most fans are anywhere from $4 to $15, depending on what type you buy this isn't a big financial hit. But you don't oil the fans!

I would lay even money that if you "oiled" the fans, the fans spun up and dispersed all that oil over the inside of the case. Liquid and electronics do not mix. You have most likely ended up coating the entire inside of your computer with a fine coating of oil. I daresay you've probably shorted everything out.

If I'm reading what you mean about "oiling" wrong please tell me (PLEASE tell me I'm wrong), but if not I am pretty sure you just killed your Mac.

 

[ThisMachine]

This right here worries me. What do you mean by oiled? Do you mean you used WD-40 on the fans? Do you mean you pulled out an old fashioned can of oil or one of those old oilers with the arm on them and actually put OIL into the fans?

Modern fans are sealed units that do not require oiling. If a bearing wears out and causes "noise" you replace the fan. Considering most fans are anywhere from $4 to $15, depending on what type you buy this isn't a big financial hit. But you don't oil the fans!

I would lay even money that if you "oiled" the fans, the fans spun up and dispersed all that oil over the inside of the case. Liquid and electronics do not mix. You have most likely ended up coating the entire inside of your computer with a fine coating of oil. I daresay you've probably shorted everything out.

If I'm reading what you mean about "oiling" wrong please tell me (PLEASE tell me I'm wrong), but if not I am pretty sure you just killed your Mac.

I followed this guide to the T when I lubed the old fans... I don't think this method should have posed any problems. I also did both of the fans at separate times and it worked without a hitch the first time.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/quiet-noisy-computer-fans-with-a-drop-of-oil/

 

[eyoungren]

I don't know man. I can see it based on the link you provided, but that was 2003. Granted, the QS's are 2001 vintage but…IDK. Something strikes me as very odd about this. Maybe I'm wrong and I don't mean to scare you especially if you weren't just wantonly spraying the fans from the outside (which I thought you might have done), but it just seems…odd.

To top it all off, the QS has somewhat of a small reputation for being noisy. It's not the MDD, but even brand new fans will generate some noise in this Mac.

I hope it's coincidental and something else, I really do.

 

[ThisMachine]

I don't know man. I can see it based on the link you provided, but that was 2003. Granted, the QS's are 2001 vintage but…IDK. Something strikes me as very odd about this. Maybe I'm wrong and I don't mean to scare you especially if you weren't just wantonly spraying the fans from the outside (which I thought you might have done), but it just seems…odd.

To top it all off, the QS has somewhat of a small reputation for being noisy. It's not the MDD, but even brand new fans will generate some noise in this Mac.

I hope it's coincidental and something else, I really do.

I thought it was pretty loud in comparison to the quiet bedroom I have it set up in. I only used a wee drop of hair clipper oil in each well and I noticed a definite improvement in how much sound was being pumped out of that bad boy. I think that the lubrication and the problem I am having are merely coincidental.

Lubrication is beside the problem I'm having, and I'm desperate to get my sexy G4 Quicksilver up and running again. Any help at all is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[eyoungren]

I thought it was pretty loud in comparison to the quiet bedroom I have it set up in. I only used a wee drop of hair clipper oil in each well and I noticed a definite improvement in how much sound was being pumped out of that bad boy. I think that the lubrication and the problem I am having are merely coincidental.

Lubrication is beside the problem I'm having, and I'm desperate to get my sexy G4 Quicksilver up and running again. Any help at all is greatly appreciated. Thanks

OK. After poking around a bit, it actually seems this is somewhat common (fan oiling). I was completely unaware of this, having understood that this is not necessary. I myself in the last month or so have replaced all the fans in my QS and added a couple more.

Anyway, next shot to try is the video card. Pull it out and try and boot the Mac. If it chimes and seems to boot, shut it off and put the video card back in. If you have a no boot condition then your video card probably failed. Most likely when it hit that white screen you mentioned.

Do you have another Mac video card you can use to test?

 

[ThisMachine]

OK. After poking around a bit, it actually seems this is somewhat common (fan oiling). I was completely unaware of this, having understood that this is not necessary. I myself in the last month or so have replaced all the fans in my QS and added a couple more.

Anyway, next shot to try is the video card. Pull it out and try and boot the Mac. If it chimes and seems to boot, shut it off and put the video card back in. If you have a no boot condition then your video card probably failed. Most likely when it hit that white screen you mentioned.

Do you have another Mac video card you can use to test?

Tried this, and it unfortunately didn't work... I guess the video card isn't the problem. I don't have another card, so what next?

 

[eyoungren]

Other than the fans, is there ANYTHING else you did?

I really don't want to suspect the CPUs or the logicboard but that seems to be where this is leading…

 

[gavinstubbs09]

My MDD would do the same thing (Power on and run, no video) and it was the graphics card (had a G5 Radeon 9600). Once I figured out the right pins to tape, it booted just fine.

 

[eyoungren]

My MDD would do the same thing (Power on and run, no video) and it was the graphics card (had a G5 Radeon 9600). Once I figured out the right pins to tape, it booted just fine.

But his video card was functioning just fine (presumably with no taping) before he performed this maintenance. If it was just the card that was bad, pulling it should still have allowed the Mac to boot, although he would not have seen anything.

I've got a G4/400 PCI here at work with no video card and it boots normally every time (I use VNC to control it).

 

[gavinstubbs09]

But his video card was functioning just fine (presumably with no taping) before he performed this maintenance. If it was just the card that was bad, pulling it should still have allowed the Mac to boot, although he would not have seen anything.

I've got a G4/400 PCI here at work with no video card and it boots normally every time (I use VNC to control it).

I'm just saying that is what caused it to turn on and act normal with the power light (although the MDD doesn't really have a fan speed controller) but the G4s seem pretty hard to make them not boot up properly.

However, it also did the same thing with the stock Radeon 7000, and it turns out it was a PCI card. So it can't always be the GPU

 

[archtopshop]

I recently acquired a 733mhz Quicksilver secondhand. It came with no ram and OS X 10.1.3 installed. I put my last stick (256mb) of working ram in and it worked just fine, I then ordered 3 sticks of 516mb to upgrade. I upgraded the cd/dvd drive and then proceeded to install Lubuntu and got rid of OS X and it worked fabulous... for about a day...

I went in and cleaned and oiled the CPU fan and the Case fan (to reduce the noise they made) after unplugging them and the motherboard. I put everything back together and turned my beautiful G4 on. The boot process was going great until the machine hung on a white screen. After a minute I turned it off and turned it back on. I noticed there was no characteristic bong/chime on startup and the fans turned on only ran at around half speed. I am not getting any video from it either. It doesn't function whatsoever. I am quite upset, seeing as I had some great plans for this babe.

Specs:
733mhz G4
256mb ram x1
Original 40 gb HDD
ATI Radeon 7500?? (I'm not 100% sure on this one)
344W PSU
Lubuntu PPC 13.10 installed

Since you've got Lubuntu 13.10 installed (and not OSX) I would try to boot off the 13.10 Live CD. At least, that's where I would start.

If that didn't boot, then the next thing I would check would be the voltages being output from the power supply. You'll need a multimeter for that and a pinout for the 733 Quicksilver power supply.

Absent a multimeter, then I would pull the power supply out of the computer, open it up and look for any bulging or leaking capacitors. If you decide to do this, first wait a few hours for the capcitors to disharge so you don't get shocked. If any are visibly failing, then you probably found the problem.

 

[ThisMachine]

Since you've got Lubuntu 13.10 installed (and not OSX) I would try to boot off the 13.10 Live CD. At least, that's where I would start.

If that didn't boot, then the next thing I would check would be the voltages being output from the power supply. You'll need a multimeter for that and a pinout for the 733 Quicksilver power supply.

Absent a multimeter, then I would pull the power supply out of the computer, open it up and look for any bulging or leaking capacitors. If you decide to do this, first wait a few hours for the capcitors to disharge so you don't get shocked. If any are visibly failing, then you probably found the problem.

I dont have a multimeter so I waited and popped the power supply open, but I cant see anything visibly out of the ordinary, no bulging or leaking capacitors at least... No cigar on that one, but thanks for the suggestion

 

[archtopshop]

I dont have a multimeter so I waited and popped the power supply open, but I cant see anything visibly out of the ordinary, no bulging or leaking capacitors at least... No cigar on that one, but thanks for the suggestion

In my mind, not having a startup chime is the most troubling symptom.

Have you tried booting off your Lubuntu CD (Alternate or Live)? Insert DVD and hold down "C" key. If it boots off the CD, then I would reinstall Lubuntu. Worth a try.

 

[Altemose]

I dont have a multimeter so I waited and popped the power supply open, but I cant see anything visibly out of the ordinary, no bulging or leaking capacitors at least... No cigar on that one, but thanks for the suggestion

Try pulling the battery and trying to start. Then with the battery still out, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds with the power cable not connected. Connect back to power and try to start. If it starts reinstall the battery in the mean time and order a new one. They are generally affordable parts.

 

[mark8]

this Machine

try removing the battery press/hold the cuda reset button( next to where the battery was)hold for 30 seconds replace the battery then restart, it should give you a boot chime