Hi all, I am in the process of resotring an old Power Mac G4 tower. I got it up and running with some power supply fixes. It has 2 processors, 1.5gb of RAM and along the line sometime a previous owner put in a SSD. I also have the clear bezel 20 inch monitor and mouse to match. It currently boots into Mac OSX 10.1.2. I would to be able to upgrade that to something newer, idealy a version that has Voiceover. Can anyone tell me what the latest Mac OS version is that will run on this computer? Also any hints or tips as to where I can get the install CD/DVDs? Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Restoring an old PowerMac G4 tower
- Thread starter twoheartsinthedark
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eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
Macintosh Garden
Leopard 10.5.8 would be the farthest you can go. Most people will suggest Tiger (not me) and there is an optimized version of Leopard called Sorbet Leopard that you can just search this subforum for.
Might be good for all of us to know just what G4 you have. Most of the later ones were Quicksilvers and MDDs (Mirrored Drive Door).
Leopard 10.5.8 would be the farthest you can go. Most people will suggest Tiger (not me) and there is an optimized version of Leopard called Sorbet Leopard that you can just search this subforum for.
Might be good for all of us to know just what G4 you have. Most of the later ones were Quicksilvers and MDDs (Mirrored Drive Door).
Thank you so much. The model number on the sticker on the back says M8493 and the computer is a silver/gray color. Does any of that help identify it? Thanks
Frank
Frank
Certificate of Excellence
macrumors 68020
Yep, you have a nicely spec'd Quicksilver Powermac G4.
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Thank you so much. Can this model run Leopard? The reason I ask is that I would to take advantage of the Voiceover improvements in Leopard versus Tiger. thanks
Certificate of Excellence
macrumors 68020
Smithwick’s
macrumors regular
I'm pretty sure with this model you could run the optimal blursed setup of dual-booting the Snow Leopard PPC build (available in this forum) and MacOS 9.2.2.
Just a chaotic thought.
Just a chaotic thought.
Certificate of Excellence
macrumors 68020
Welcome @twoheartsinthedark
My favorite G4 case of all. The Mirror drive door model was too "bling" for me, and the earlier graphite case looked like a B&W G3 that faded to a bland color 😉 .
That system will run 10.5.8 quite well. I am running that OS on my Quicksilver cased (pictured above) Digital Audio with only a dual 533 processor and the same amount of RAM as you have. I like the modern feel of 10.5.8, however I prefer 10.4.11 on G3 and G4 systems, and mostly only run 10.5.8 on my G5.
The G4 system you have is quite capable, can run newly supported browsers such as aquafox, and depending on compression, play and edit video well enough to this day.
The quicksilver has nearly identical architecture as the digital audio, both have the faster 133mhz bus, with the Quicksilver getting a boost in cache bus speed over that of the Digital audio.
A digital Audio power supply will also work for a quicksilver board, but you will need to add the quicksilver version of the 12v2 DC 4-pin connector that is used to boost power for the later quicksilver processors. One can use a peripheral (IDE hard drive power plug) to 12v2 DC connector for a PC and swap the pins for GND and +12v.
I did just this to get a friends Quicksilver going again after their power supply died. We used one from a gigabit ethernet model which is still working to this day. I wouldn't recommend that swap for a Quicksilver if the owner intends to put mega powered G4 processor upgrades though!
I am in the process of building an ATX power supply with modified harness as a backup for my system. ATXG4 is a great reference site for doing such work yourself.
My favorite G4 case of all. The Mirror drive door model was too "bling" for me, and the earlier graphite case looked like a B&W G3 that faded to a bland color 😉 .
That system will run 10.5.8 quite well. I am running that OS on my Quicksilver cased (pictured above) Digital Audio with only a dual 533 processor and the same amount of RAM as you have. I like the modern feel of 10.5.8, however I prefer 10.4.11 on G3 and G4 systems, and mostly only run 10.5.8 on my G5.
The G4 system you have is quite capable, can run newly supported browsers such as aquafox, and depending on compression, play and edit video well enough to this day.
The quicksilver has nearly identical architecture as the digital audio, both have the faster 133mhz bus, with the Quicksilver getting a boost in cache bus speed over that of the Digital audio.
My digital Audio system (typing on it now) is in a quicksilver case, utilizing a Digital Audio power supply that fits perfectly.
A digital Audio power supply will also work for a quicksilver board, but you will need to add the quicksilver version of the 12v2 DC 4-pin connector that is used to boost power for the later quicksilver processors. One can use a peripheral (IDE hard drive power plug) to 12v2 DC connector for a PC and swap the pins for GND and +12v.
I did just this to get a friends Quicksilver going again after their power supply died. We used one from a gigabit ethernet model which is still working to this day. I wouldn't recommend that swap for a Quicksilver if the owner intends to put mega powered G4 processor upgrades though!
I am in the process of building an ATX power supply with modified harness as a backup for my system. ATXG4 is a great reference site for doing such work yourself.
Thanks all for some great info and great ideas. I can’t do a dual boot with OS9 since I don’t have a copy of the Outspoken Screen Reader that was put out by Berkley Systems. I am still on the hunt for that since I would like to be able to use OS9. One thing I am considering for this unit is to install a stealth modern Mac in the case. Directly above the super drive there is a space just the size of a M4 Mac mini. I could take one of the PCI blanking plates off the rear to run the power and USB cables. I am also going to try installing OS 10.5.8 and if that works then maybe one of the custom builds later on. That’s about it for now.
rampancy
macrumors 6502a
I remember reading somewhere about this issue on a forum (it might have been either the Apple Support Forums or iFixit). Apparently the reason for PSU failures on the DA and QS G4s is that the PSU was designed such that its main power rail still provided power to the system, even if it was shut down. This was to provide power for the ADC connection, to support Apple display power-on from the host G4. This put additional strain on the PSU components, leading to a shortened lifespan.
I'm no electrical engineer, and I don't have any schematics for the PSUs in question to actually verify this. But it makes some sense to me, as it was Power Macs that supported ADC (the DA, the QS and the MDD) which suffered the most from shortened PSU life. If the reports of MDD owners were any indication, this issue was never fully solved on the MDD as even the revised PSUs provided by Apple still suffered from lower-than-expected lifespans.
I know of various hacks to adapt standard PC ATX PSUs to work with the QS and MDD, but those aren't easy DIY fixes. It's for that reason that I gravitated more towards the Yikes! and Sawtooth G4s when I collected/worked on them.
M.Brane
macrumors member
The whole ADC debacle is a fine example of Apple's good intentions going astray. When I bought my DA G4 it looked like it had lived next to a clothes dryer it's entire life. The vents were so clogged with dust/lint it was a miracle it was still alive. I had to disassemble the PSU, and cover the inside of the case with electrical tape to prevent the board from shorting against it. Also replaced the fan since I figured it was near death, and got rid of most of the grills. I know to not stick my fingers in there.
eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
As a former QS owner with a high end dual CPU and strong ambitions I can also tell you that the G4 case (at least with the Quicksilver) is form over function.
These Macs should have come with a warning, something along the lines of "Despite all the PCI slots present on the logicboard, Apple does not intend for you to use all of them at once! Nor do we intend for you to use all the available power connectors at once!"
You'd think that by having all that stuff present in the case Apple would have planned for it all to be used by designing the inside of the case to be thermally efficient.
Nope.
Thermally the inside is a disaster. Want to load up cards, drives and faster CPUs? Keep the side door down.
rampancy
macrumors 6502a
I wonder if this issue was in part why the MDD's case design seemed to be so aggressively designed around airflow. The Sawtooth (and I assume by extension the DA and QS) seemed to not have any thought given to airflow apart from having fans blowing on stuff and hoping for the best.
eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
It may be. I mean, really all you need to know is that that one 120mm case fan has an immediate 90º turn for pushing out waste heat. That's not a typical design for good airflow. If it was, the PowerMac G5 would have fans installed sideways.
As someone who works in Datacenters, I can also 100% agree with your viewpoint. The G5 Crossflow design (cold front, hot back) has been somewhat of a standard for ages in both high end workstations, as well as rack mounted servers.
The G4 was a cooler operator than its peers, however the airflow design of the system was honestly nonsensical.
I have even modified my PC case designs to pull air from the front and blow out the back, blocking bottom, top, and side openings for better thermals.
The G4 is great to look at, but desin was more important than function.
Hell, even the new Mac Mini pulls cold air from the bottom front, and vents hot out the back. Finally a proper Mini too!