Power Mac G5 Ethernet Ports Suddenly Dead

[z970]

Hey folks...

I dug my DC G5 back up after several months in storage, and I found out that neither of its Ethernet ports will detect a connection. I just had another computer here in its place with the exact same configuration, and it worked without a hitch, which verifies that it's not the cable, or the switch.

In fact, when the cable is plugged in to either port, I'm not even getting a light on my switch for the corresponding port, as if nothing was plugged in. Plus, Leopard thinks that there is no Ethernet cable plugged into either port one or two in System Preferences.

However, lspci | grep Ethernet on the Void Linux Live system gives back two duplicate entries of:

Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5780 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 03)

So apparently, the system can see both ports, however neither it or my switch can detect any connection when hooked up.

Ideas?

 

[weckart]

I have a similar problem on an MDD. In fact, I cannot even get any PCI network card up and running on that machine and I have tried reinstallation, booting from a Leopard disk and checking SysProfiler etc. I think it's just cursed.

 

[AphoticD]

Maybe try a little IPA on a cotton bud to clean the port contacts?

Or a PRAM / PMU reset?

 

[z970]

Despite the fact that the contacts were already pristine, I used a brush to IPA them both.

I reset the NVRAM and set OF defaults, still nothing.

How did you do a PMU reset in the Late 2005's, again? Didn't they use an SMU?

 

[1042686]

The Ethernet on my A1047 PMG5 was dead too when I got it. It was also missing the APE card which I installed - $10 USD IIRC on ebay and then fashioned a homemade antenna out of a bread bag tie (as $30 USD for one of those OEM T antennas is just stupid) and was good to go. Still rocks it out in the garage connected wirelessly to my apple APE box above it upstairs.

 

[z970]

Dang, SMU reset didn't do it either.

Is there any reason as to why the Ethernet ports on these things just up and fail?

 

[1042686]

Is technological old age not a worthy answer?

I've had componentry like this fail because of municipal electrical surges but who knows.

 

[z970]

To me, it is not. As long as something is built well from the ground up (which the Late 2005 G5s in particular are more or less renowned for, as they are industrial-class), every component should have the durability to last for decades. And as it happens for the majority of cases, this has been proving itself correct with each passing year.

What I can't understand is why both ports would go out like this out of nowhere, yet still be detected by the system. It simply makes no sense.

 

[1042686]

I think 15 years is a good lifespan for components. Luckily for a1047s there are good, low cost fixes.

I do agree that it is Very weird.

 

[sparty411]

To me, it is not. As long as something is built well from the ground up (which the Late 2005 G5s in particular are more or less renowned for, as they are industrial-class), every component should have the durability to last for decades. And as it happens for the majority of cases, this has been proving itself correct with each passing year.

What I can't understand is why both ports would go out like this out of nowhere, yet still be detected by the system. It simply makes no sense.

G5's are notoriously unreliable. At least that's what I thought the consensus was.

 

[AphoticD]

Maybe something fried on the logic board? You should be able to drop in almost any cheap PCIe 1000bT ethernet card to use in Linux. For OS X compatibility, check this list: http://xlr8yourmac.com/OSX/os_x_network_cards.html

 

[z970]

Good news all. I pulled the G5 back out, got it into a Tiger environment, and Ethernet works again. No need for a network card after all. ...I KNEW things didn't add up.

It seems that the problem was Void Linux itself, as that's all I had running at the time.

So then, it looks like they've got more debugging to do before anything is ready for mass use...

 

[Jeroen Diederen]

Very strange, you would think that ethernet would work across all environments, be it in OSX or Linux. Good that you have it working again.

 

[z970]

Odd... Connectivity cut out again several times even while in Tiger. However, after adjusting the Ethernet plug, it regains the connection. It seems to be an intermittent link, though I have yet to try with port 2.

I don't believe this happened in Linux; it just cut out entirely there.

 

[davisdelo]

The Late 05 ethernet ports run over the pcie bus. I've had third party PCIe cards kill the ethernet on my DC 2.3. If you have any third party PCIe cards I'd try removing or rearranging them.

 

[z970]

I did not have any third party PCIe cards installed when the connection first dropped out, except for perhaps a flashed Radeon X1900 GT for a short time before that.

Good suggestion, though.

 

[z970]

@davisdelo That did it! I took out the FirePro V5800 in Slot 1 I was trying to use with Linux, and Ethernet has been restored, good as new! My switch even saw the connection right away!

I suppose then that there must remain either a Mac card in Slot 1 at all times, or it be left empty, lest the Ethernet ports be disabled.

Thanks again!

 

[davisdelo]

Glad to help. I only wish I knew the root cause of the issue. The card that gives me grief is a SATA controller, unfortunately it misbehaves no matter what slot it resides in.

 

[z970]

My guess is that the non-PPC BIOS of the cards are probably interfering with the Late 05's Ethernet lane or controller in some kind of strange fashion that temporarily breaks functionality.

I'd have to get out the board diagram to get a better visualization of this, though.