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Powermac G5 HELP

O

ohspecial1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2023
8
0
Hi folks

Have 2 powermacs g5 total junk in my opinion

1 power mac seems to get stuck on apple logo even with no hd

other later g5 powermac just beeps 2 times whatever ram i stick in it
 
Well, two beeps definitely means that it does not like the ram you're trying to use. What machine is this one? Spec decal should be below the door. You also have to install powermac g5 ram in pairs. Instructions on how to do so are here.

Hmm, IIRC you would not get the Apple screen if there is no hard drive installed - instead you'd see a flashing folder icon. I'd put a universal PowerPC/Intel Tiger or leopard disk in the dvd drive & see if it will boot from it. If not, reboot the powermac g5 holding the option key to invoke the boot picker and choose the inserted boot disk. If you don't have a boot disk, you can download the Tiger or Leopard image from Here. Instructions on burning a bootable cd/dvd on a Mac or windows box are a convenient google search away.

Good luck. :)
 
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Hi
I will check i have like 50 sticks of ddr2 ram but maybe the speed is wrong or something or im not getting the pairing
has like 8 slots for ram this is a 2005

This other 1 is a strange 1 when customer hdd is installed stuck on apple
when i stick a hd which did have windows a folder which is fully correct
but when remove hdd still stick on apple logo

Any idea also fan seems to get ready for take off after a while
I know there is 2 sensors i believe
 
If you take ALL the RAM out, then try to boot, you should get only one LED flash (no RAM detected)

RAM, installed correctly, will be in identical pairs, starting from the middle slots (there's 8 slots, middle slots will be slots 4 and 5), try with only one pair, in those slots 4 and 5... Make sure you are not mixing ECC and non-ECC RAM sticks.
Your PMG5 can take either, but must be either completely ECC, or non-ECC -- no mixing with ECC/non-ECC.

Once you have a working set of RAM, then you can boot to ASD (Apple Service Diagnostic). You can get a download for that by searching for ASD 2.6.3 -- and here's a link. Download the dmg and burn a CD from that image. The diagnostic has a utility that will calibrate your PMG5 temp sensors, which will then get your fans under control.
 
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Hi
Any
Certificate of Excellence said:
Well, two beeps definitely means that it does not like the ram you're trying to use. What machine is this one? Spec decal should be below the door. You also have to install powermac g5 ram in pairs. Instructions on how to do so are here.

Hmm, IIRC you would not get the Apple screen if there is no hard drive installed - instead you'd see a flashing folder icon. I'd put a universal PowerPC/Intel Tiger or leopard disk in the dvd drive & see if it will boot from it. If not, reboot the powermac g5 holding the option key to invoke the boot picker and choose the inserted boot disk. If you don't have a boot disk, you can download the Tiger or Leopard image from Here. Instructions on burning a bootable cd/dvd on a Mac or windows box are a convenient google search away.

Good luck. :)
Click to expand...

Any idea on g5 have now got into the disk/hdd by pressing options
when has no hdd i see the disc drive
when putting a sata hd in doesnt see any an just locks up
 
Ok, so boot selector is working and sees your cdrom, so your machine looks to be ok. I’d pop in a Tiger or leopard cd and try to boot the macOS installer. If you can, connect a hdd it likes, format to macOS extended/master boot record & name it. The in osx installer, it should see your drive and you can attempt to install to that newly formatted drive.
 
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Hi
Well works fine if no drive connected
if customer hard drive or a 2nd hand windows drive is connected when pressing options just loads blank screen and freezes up

Cannot connect hard drive after cd has loaded as locks up which is normal

I'm just wondering is it possible because the cd is a ide and hd is a sata
 
If there is no (internal) drive connected - what do you mean by "works fine"?
an internal drive will not appear in the Option boot screen, unless OS X is already installed on that hard drive, AND the version of OS X is supported by the PowerMac G5. The late 2005 has a quite narrow range of versions that are supported, which would be either Tiger or Leopard. Definitely won't boot to a Windows drive, which also won't appear in the Option boot screen. The only way to boot into Windows on a Power Mac is when you are using a VM app that supports that use. Also, your G5 won't boot to anything plugged into USB, without a setup to boot from USB using Open Firmware commands.

Yes, your PowerMac G5 has an ATA optical drive, and 2 SATA hard drive slots. That's how it shipped.

Maybe there is a jumper in the wrong location on the optical drive? Any jumper should be in the cable-select (or CS) position, or if not cable select, then the jumper should be set for "Master"
(I think if there is NO jumper installed, the optical drive would default to master, which should work. The SATA hard drives do not have a master/slave setup, although it could be possible to have a drive jumper installed accidentally, that possibly prevents correctly booting, but you would want to look at your particular drive to see if that is an issue... )
 
The windows install drive wont be seen in the boot picker. Since your customers drive is no longer working, first step would be to verify the health of the hard drive. If the drive tests ok, boot a Tiger or leopard install disk and use Disk Utility to attempt to repair the OSX installation on that hard drive. On the OSX CD, it is located at Tiger disk>Options>Disk Utility>Repair. If the drive is broken, replace with a new one formatted to macOS Extended / Master boot record and reinstall OSX.

Haha, DeltaMac beat me to it :D
 
Hi
Let me go into detail

If no HDS are plugged in
Pressing option at start sees the optical disk an can click it
2- if you plug in any hd an press option key
You don't see the optical disk or hd an just locks up
 
As spoken to earlier, I suspect the original drive. You should be able to boot into the inserted Tiger install disk (with the hard drive connected) and leverage Disk Utility to attempt to repair the original hard drive with the OSX installation.

If for whatever reason that original drive is freezing the pmg5 preventing this, I'd look at reformatting a blank sata harddrive to macOS Extended / Master boot record via Disk Utility, stick it in the pmg5 and see if it will see it - the mac should as the harddrive is correctly formatted to install OSX to. You then can at least whittle down the issue to being present on that hard dive and take steps to repair it or replace with a new harddrive if info on the original is not important.
 
You say the optical drive appears on the Option-boot screen.
What disk do you have in that optical drive then?
Does your G5 successfully boot to that DVD?
 
Hi Well i have original rebuild disk from apple that came with it and
a burned copy of os tiger
 
You did say that you see the optical drive in the Option-boot screen.
You would only see the drive as a choice, if there is a bootable DVD in the drive.
Which disk do you have in your optical drive?
Can you boot successfully to that DVD?
 
Hi well guys still having issues

If i put dvd in the drive it sees the disk in boot screen but when press the like next arrow

Loads apple logo and just sits there
Keyboard and mouse turn off
 
I wonder if your dvd drive is wonky? Like it shows & spins up but then causes an error/hangs when trying to read. Do you have a usb or another pata cd/dvd drive you can try to boot from?

Id also make sure the media you’re trying to install from is ok.
 
"Keyboard and mouse turn off" -- find a wired USB keyboard and mouse for troubleshooting.

What version of OS X installer is on that DVD that you want to boot from?
 
I suspect you need a repaste , my G5-s use to crash or hang during working (true after loading OS X) because of overheat . (main issue is that's a big job to do).
Better try external DVD-RW , should boot from it , or build a usb thumb drive formated + restored from tiger/leopard .dmg(img/iso).

Mount your hdd drive on a windows pc , delete everything(partitions) from Disk Management , create 1 partition , do a chkdsk , then delete the big partion , turn off pc or eject the mac G5 drive , and reinstall it into the MAC G5 , if disc (cd) appears at option key , load the disc , then try moving with the install , it should let you initialize/format in PowerMac mode.

As for the second one , elaborate? 2 beeps? rams?try 2x Identical dims ... clean dimm with eraser or/and contact cleaner +tooth brush , you can use same contact cleaner on slots.
(I am testing G5 for endurance , runing same system since 2008 so 15 years a 20 year old system) they are not building stuff like this anymore.... (sometimes it refuses to powerup , so I smake-it till it cycles-up from powerbuton).
It's still running solid. (yesterday updated a few things software wise-like the elcapitan theme-and some scripts , but turned out it just slowed things down, got lower score than before).
 
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ediflorianus said:
I suspect you need a repaste , my G5-s use to crash or hang during working (true after loading OS X) because of overheat . (main issue is that's a big job to do).
Better try external DVD-RW , should boot from it , or build a usb thumb drive formated + restored from tiger/leopard .dmg(img/iso).

Mount your hdd drive on a windows pc , delete everything(partitions) from Disk Management , create 1 partition , do a chkdsk , then delete the big partion , turn off pc or eject the mac G5 drive , and reinstall it into the MAC G5 , if disc (cd) appears at option key , load the disc , then try moving with the install , it should let you initialize/format in PowerMac mode.

As for the second one , elaborate? 2 beeps? rams?try 2x Identical dims ... clean dimm with eraser or/and contact cleaner +tooth brush , you can use same contact cleaner on slots.
(I am testing G5 for endurance , runing same system since 2008 so 15 years a 20 year old system) they are not building stuff like this anymore.... (sometimes it refuses to powerup , so I smake-it till it cycles-up from powerbuton).
It's still running solid. (yesterday updated a few things software wise-like the elcapitan theme-and some scripts , but turned out it just slowed things down, got lower score than before).
Click to expand...
Yes you are 100% correct no powers up no need for hard drive

Any idea on fan spins is some sensor im guessing but where
 
ohspecial1 said:
Yes you are 100% correct no powers up no need for hard drive

Any idea on fan spins is some sensor im guessing but where
Click to expand...
the sensor for regulating fan spin is somewhere inside the inner-caseing under the interior casing , all fans connect to board and to the sensor , it should be visible it's small like a Bluetooth module in a laptop....
 
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