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Powermac g5 and hard disks

C

cili0

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 19, 2010
83
0
Italy
Hi all,

I'm considering buying a PowerMac G5 Mid-2004. The owner told me that the computer is working, though he keeps saying that the machine can't be turned on because he removed the hard disk.

I've never had a PPC mac but it sounds *strange* that a computer can't be turned because of the absence of the hard disk.

could anybody please enlight me about this point?

Thanks in advance,
cili0.
 
Last edited:
I smell scam

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But seriously the absence of a hard disc may be an explanation he would give to someone that knows nothing about computers just so that he can take they're money and run before they realize that its actually the power supply
 
Lil Chillbil said:
I smell scam

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But seriously the absence of a hard disc may be an explanation he would give to someone that knows nothing about computers just so that he can take they're money and run before they realize that its actually the power supply
Click to expand...

If we were talking about common PCs, there wouldn't have been any doubt: the computer must turn on with or without the hard drive. I was unsure just because of the PPC architecture.

In the next e-mail with him, I will stress the fact he's basically lying.

thanks,
cili0.
 
There is always the chance he is honest, and just simplifying the fact that the computer can't boot because of the missing Hard drive.
 
The owner is now saying that the computer DOES turn on, but at a certain point during the boot process on the splash screen appears a deny symbol.

This is way more plausible wrt what he was stating a couple of e-mails before. Nevertheless before buying I will insert the Leopard DVD and press ALT at boot time ;) At that point it should definetly boot right into the installation wizard.

thanks,
cili0.
 
cili0 said:
Nevertheless before buying I will insert the Leopard DVD and press ALT at boot time ;) At that point it should definetly boot right into the installation wizard.

thanks,
cili0.
Click to expand...
Press and hold the "C" key while booting from the optical drive is the recommended method.
 
jbarley said:
Press and hold the "C" key while booting from the optical drive is the recommended method.
Click to expand...

That method can often be unreliable and not work if the optical drive has been replaced or reconfigured. For near 100% reliability, one should always use the Alt/Option at boot.
 
Lil Chillbil said:
glad you got that all figured out but just keep in mind of the cost of a hard drive when buying it
Click to expand...

My hope is to take a generic SATA drive. I missed the era where mac hardware was really different from PCs, so I don't know if it's possibile to take a common SATA drive and fit it into the G5.

Lil Chillbil said:
do ^^this^^ if the control c doesn't work and may I ask how much he wants for a non functional g5
Click to expand...

On intel-powered mac I'm used to press ALT. I will try both, thanks to everybody for the suggestions.

I bargained 120€.

The inserction the owner posted on the internet stated Early 2005, 3GB of RAM, 2.3Ghz Dual core. But according to everymac.com the serial points to a Mid-2004 configuration. The owner is not what I would define an 'expert' (at a certain point he was sure that the graphic card was a radeon 4000hd and previously he stated that his model was particular cause when you open the case 'G5' is written twice ).

I will go and check myself on saturday morning.

cheers!
 
Last edited:
It could be a June 2004 with a 2.3Ghz DP. They are still very nice machines and worth getting.
 
Intell said:
It could be a June 2004 with a 2.3Ghz DP. They are still very nice machines and worth getting.
Click to expand...

I'm relying on Matracker to figure out what is the truth, and no 2.3 configuration is reported. Am I missing something?
 
Last edited:
Intell said:
G5 written twice? Definitely sounds like a 2.3Ghz June 2004 model.
Click to expand...

So at the end of the day, it's actually a special model :) I thought that he was referring to the fact that every double processor model has two 'processor boxes' with G5 written on top of each of them. Am I wrong?
 
a computer so nice they wrote it twice

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cili0 said:
So at the end of the day, it's actually a special model :) I thought that he was referring to the fact that every double processor model has two 'processor boxes' with G5 written on top of each of them. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...
actually its every g5 with at least duel cores
 
I'm aware i'm placing myself in the noob area, but i'm quite puzzled by the PPC architecture. Can I boot from DVD by holding C/ALT even if I use a generic USB keyboard?
 
Every G5 with two physical processors has G5 written twice. This includes the quad 2.5Ghz. That would be a special model. .

Generic USB keyboards can be used to boot a Mac with any keyboard combination as a regular keyboard. Just remember that the Option key is the Alt key.
 
I still don't understand why knowing the processor speed and the fact that G5 is written twice helped you disambiguate and point with no doubt to the June-2004 model.
 
cili0 said:
I still don't understand why knowing the processor speed and the fact that G5 is written twice helped you disambiguate and point with no doubt to the June-2004 model.
Click to expand...

Upon reexamination of my sources, it is an early 2005 G5. My mistake was thinking that there was a 2.3Ghz June 2004 PM when there was only 1.8Ghz, 2.0Ghz, and 2.5Ghz at that time. If he says that it has an ATI card in it, it might have an ATI Radeon 9600, Radeon 9650, or Radeon X850 XT card. Hope for the X850, its the best of the three.
 
Goftrey said:
It could always be a June 2004 dual 1.8.

(Yes, with the two 'special' G5 logos on the CPUs)
Click to expand...

The serial points to the Jun-2004 model, while the insertion description states 2.3Ghz DP, Early 2005. As I said, the owner himself is quite confused, so not worth insisting.
Nevertheless, I think 120€ is a good price for a Jun-2004 and a more-than-good price for a Early-2005 (taking into account that on e-bay it's difficult to find EMPTY cases below 100€).

the only remaining open question is about the possibility of using a generic SATA I/II drive into the G5.
 
cili0 said:
The serial points to the Jun-2004 model, while the insertion description states 2.3Ghz DP, Early 2005. As I said, the owner himself is quite confused, so not worth insisting.
Nevertheless, I think 120€ is a good price for a Jun-2004 and a more-than-good price for a Early-2005 (taking into account that on e-bay it's difficult to find EMPTY cases below 100€).

the only remaining open question is about the possibility of using a generic SATA I/II drive into the G5.
Click to expand...

Any mid-2004 or 2005 G5 for EU120 is great.

As for SATA, I believe (I'm not 100%) that you can stick a SATA 2 in there no problem but the drive will throttle down to SATA 1 speeds. I've got two Apple branded drives in mine at the moment but have rammed a load of generic drives in the past. As long as the drive is formatted correctly (Apple Partition Map - different to Intel) it'll do just fine. I believe 32mb cache is the limit on these G5's too.
 
Yes. Any SATA 1 or 2 hard drive will work. SATA 3 doesn't work.

Honestly, if you plan on using this machine as a main computer get an ssd as either a boot drive or the only drive. You will see a huge difference.
 
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