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So I picked this up today...

Totalbearface

Totalbearface

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2019
46
35
United Kingdom
I've been after a PMG4 Quicksilver for a while, just because that's one of the G4 models I've never owned before. Seller said it was a bit faster than a normal G4 and came with a studio display, keyboard and mouse, and with it being quite local I thought I'd go for it.

Wonder why it's a got a bit more poke in it than a regular G4?...

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Very nice, the processor for my Digital Audio cam from one identical to this. I think I saw this one on ebay. With a GPU upgrade they are pretty capable.
 
Yep. :D

Quicksilver was the first PM G4 I ever wanted. I finally got one a few years back and spent a lot of time maxxing it out, including my own Sonnet Dual 1.8.

My advice, be conservative with that you put in the Mac. Turns out that the beautiful exterior design hides an extremely poor internal thermal design. I had every slot loaded and frequently experienced thermal lockup.

By the time I moved on to my G5s my QS had an AGP video card, two PCI video cards (I was driving six displays), a PCI SATA card with 4 SATA drives, a FW800 card and a USB 2.0 card. Despite knocking a hole in the bottom for an additional 120mm fan, pulling out the speaker to put in an 80mm fan and replacing every other fan (including the one in the power supply) with high CFM fans I still had thermal lockup. Additionally, the PSU couldn't handle the load and started eating PCI cards. It got to a point where I was fiddling with the Mac more than I was using it.

This is one of the reasons I have not heavily modified my B&W G3 beyond a PCI SATA card. It's the same interior thermal design up until the G4 MDD.

Congrats on the score. The Sonnet is an awesome CPU.
 
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@eyoungren I'll take that advice before I plan any more for it, haha. I stripped it down and cleaned it before using it, which was a good job really as I found one of the capacitors from the Sonnet not completely attached. Quick solder job later and it's all solid again.

I think the GPU is on it's way out, though. Or maybe the Studio Display, can't put my finger on it - the screen would flicker for a while then show nothing, and the LED on the display would blink 3 times then pause, and repeat. A reboot fixed it for a bit, but now it constantly just shows 3 blinking lights followed by a pause. The machine makes the startup chime as usual, but no display with the Studio Display and the original card, so I'm currently using a PCI 9200 from another G4 and my Cinema Display just to wipe the drives and put a fresh OS on it. Other than a new GPU, I don't think I'll add much else to it.
 
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Totalbearface said:
@eyoungren I'll take that advice before I plan any more for it, haha. I stripped it down and cleaned it before using it, which was a good job really as I found one of the capacitors from the Sonnet not completely attached. Quick solder job later and it's all solid again.

I think the GPU is on it's way out, though. Or maybe the Studio Display, can't put my finger on it - the screen would flicker for a while then show nothing, and the LED on the display would blink 3 times then pause, and repeat. A reboot fixed it for a bit, but now it constantly just shows 3 blinking lights followed by a pause. The machine makes the startup chime as usual, but no display with the Studio Display and the original card, so I'm currently using a PCI 9200 from another G4 and my Cinema Display just to wipe the drives and put a fresh OS on it. Other than a new GPU, I don't think I'll add much else to it.
Click to expand...
I have a 20" CD that I got shortly after picking up my QS. My original intent was to drive six of the HD Cinema Displays. I only got as far as this 20" and two 17" CDs which are now attached to my G5.

But I have seen the problem you describe, only my display just gets a little dimmer. It's a backlight issue I believe. My solution that I found by trial and error is to let the display heat up (by keeping it on for at minimum an hour), then to disconnect the display from the video card, then plug it back in.

Usually that forces the lower backlight back on and the light stops blinking. As long as the display continues to have signal, despite the Mac turning the display off then the fix sticks. But if I have the Mac off for a while the display goes cold and that's when the problem returns. Fortunately, that's not often as my Macs are left on 24/7.

Don't think it's your GPU.
 
eyoungren said:
I have a 20" CD that I got shortly after picking up my QS. My original intent was to drive six of the HD Cinema Displays. I only got as far as this 20" and two 17" CDs which are now attached to my G5.

But I have seen the problem you describe, only my display just gets a little dimmer. It's a backlight issue I believe. My solution that I found by trial and error is to let the display heat up (by keeping it on for at minimum an hour), then to disconnect the display from the video card, then plug it back in.

Usually that forces the lower backlight back on and the light stops blinking. As long as the display continues to have signal, despite the Mac turning the display off then the fix sticks. But if I have the Mac off for a while the display goes cold and that's when the problem returns. Fortunately, that's not often as my Macs are left on 24/7.

Don't think it's your GPU.
Click to expand...

Ah fair enough, thanks for the heads up on that. I've got my eye on a better video card at the moment, so it still may end up getting an upgrade. Glad to know it's more of a display issue than something inside the Quicksilver, though.
 
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Totalbearface said:
Ah fair enough, thanks for the heads up on that. I've got my eye on a better video card at the moment, so it still may end up getting an upgrade. Glad to know it's more of a display issue than something inside the Quicksilver, though.
Click to expand...
I was using an NVIDIA GeForce 68000 GT in my QS, thanks to a member here. He couldn't use it in his G4 because he had an MDD and apparently this card only works in a QS.

Which is another concern. If you run across any flashed Radeon FireXL's don't buy. They are about the best card you can get for a G4, but they won't work in a QS. I bought two of them and sent one to another member here because I couldn't use it.
 
eyoungren said:
I was using an NVIDIA GeForce 68000 GT in my QS, thanks to a member here. He couldn't use it in his G4 because he had an MDD and apparently this card only works in a QS.

Which is another concern. If you run across any flashed Radeon FireXL's don't buy. They are about the best card you can get for a G4, but they won't work in a QS. I bought two of them and sent one to another member here because I couldn't use it.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at a GeForce 4Ti 4600, do you know off the top of your head if that would be compatible?
 
Totalbearface said:
I'm looking at a GeForce 4Ti 4600, do you know off the top of your head if that would be compatible?
Click to expand...
No idea. But it's best when you are searching for video cards to use the term 'Mac' or 'PowerMac' in your search. The FireXL is not the only card I've bought that didn't work in my QS. There's another one I got for $10 (fortunately only that much) that was impossible to flash. Unfortunately, I have no tower PC to use it in.

I don't know what it is about the QS that makes it different than all the other G4s when it comes to video cards, but it makes finding one that works a trial sometimes.

EDIT. Some cards for the G5 can be used in the G4 (you have to tape pins) but that's also a guessing game.
 
eyoungren said:
No idea. But it's best when you are searching for video cards to use the term 'Mac' or 'PowerMac' in your search. The FireXL is not the only card I've bought that didn't work in my QS. There's another one I got for $10 (fortunately only that much) that was impossible to flash. Unfortunately, I have no tower PC to use it in.

I don't know what it is about the QS that makes it different than all the other G4s when it comes to video cards, but it makes finding one that works a trial sometimes.
Click to expand...

Ah fair enough, appreciate all the info. I'm still pretty new to upgrading the G4's so it's all a bit of a journey for me right now!
 
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Totalbearface said:
Ah fair enough, appreciate all the info. I'm still pretty new to upgrading the G4's so it's all a bit of a journey for me right now!
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're going to find that as cool as the QS looks and runs, it's a finicky G4. The DAs (Digital Audios), Sawteeth and PCIs and GEs (Gigabit Ethernet) will take just about anything you throw at them, while the MDDs are more like G5s than anything else. But the QS is it's own entity.

Fortunately, there's still lots of stuff out there that will work.
 
eyoungren said:
My advice, be conservative with that you put in the Mac. Turns out that the beautiful exterior design hides an extremely poor internal thermal design. I had every slot loaded and frequently experienced thermal lockup.
Click to expand...

I'm told Apple shipped those things (or was it the MDD) with one of the fans facing the wrong way, and once it's turned around, it couldn't perform smoother.

Have you tried that?
 
eyoungren said:
No idea. But it's best when you are searching for video cards to use the term 'Mac' or 'PowerMac' in your search. The FireXL is not the only card I've bought that didn't work in my QS. There's another one I got for $10 (fortunately only that much) that was impossible to flash. Unfortunately, I have no tower PC to use it in.
Click to expand...
It can actually work. I had a FireGL working in a QS, before the FireGL itself started developing issues. The QS is a damn picky machine though, I've had it refuse to boot with flashed SATA cards that any other PCI PPC Mac did take.
 
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d-oost said:
It can actually work. I had a FireGL working in a QS, before the FireGL itself started developing issues. The QS is a damn picky machine though, I've had it refuse to boot with flashed SATA cards that any other PCI PPC Mac did take.
Click to expand...
Yes, there were some that did work. It's why I took a shot at getting one from an eBay vendor that was selling brand new ones that he had flashed. His auction had stated that they worked in a QS - and presumably some of them did. Unfortunately, neither one of the two I got from that vendor worked in my QS. After getting the second one, same vendor explicitly exempted the QS from his list of compatible systems.

So, yeah, there are a few compatible ones out there, but no one knows how or why a handfull will work with the QS while the majority won't.

And yeah, it's finicky. I just got tired of playing that game. Moving on to the G5 gave me everything I had tried to get out of the QS while doing it without breaking a sweat.

I love the QS, love it's design and someday will have another one that's only slightly modified - but not as a daily use Mac anymore.
 
eyoungren said:
Don't think it's your GPU.
Click to expand...

I concur.

After a move to my new place, I ran into trouble with my 20" Cinema Display, with only the lower CCFL backlight illuminating the screen and the display’s power LED triple-flashing. I lived with it until one day when moving PCI cards around I disconnected the ACD cable. After powering back on, both CCFL backlights powered on and the triple-flash was restored to a steady light.
 
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B S Magnet said:
I concur.

After a move to my new place, I ran into trouble with my 20" Cinema Display, with only the lower CCFL backlight illuminating the screen and the display’s power LED triple-flashing. I lived with it until one day when moving PCI cards around I disconnected the ACD cable. After powering back on, both CCFL backlights powered on and the triple-flash was restored to a steady light.
Click to expand...

I realised one of my G5's also has a video card with ADC on it, so tried the Studio Display on that and its still doing the same thing of 3 flashes; 2 short and one long, pause, repeat. No amount of unplugging / plugging back in, restarting seems to be making it come back to life. Think it may be a dead one. Shame as it was working earlier.
[doublepost=1556406080][/doublepost]Further update on that Studio Display: Aimed a flashlight at the screen and can see the OS X login window, so backlight failure it would seem as you guys suggested.
 
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Totalbearface said:
I realised one of my G5's also has a video card with ADC on it, so tried the Studio Display on that and its still doing the same thing of 3 flashes; 2 short and one long, pause, repeat. No amount of unplugging / plugging back in, restarting seems to be making it come back to life. Think it may be a dead one. Shame as it was working earlier.
[doublepost=1556406080][/doublepost]Further update on that Studio Display: Aimed a flashlight at the screen and can see the OS X login window, so backlight failure it would seem as you guys suggested.
Click to expand...
I've never done it, but I believe the backlights can be replaced.
 
This seems like a simple wear and tear issue. Something is obviously loose within the ADC connection and/or cable.

Nice pickup on the Quicksilver! I would imagine you would get near dual 1.42GHz MDD performance.
 
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