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Used Mac Pro G5 no operating system need help!!

minifridge1138 said:
I can't speak for everyone, but I don't think you're an idiot.

What's confusing is you're doing everything you should do, it just isn't working.

I have 3 ideas
1) Failed hardware. You're out of luck.
2) All of the Macs had a firmware password set. I would have expected that to get cleared when you replaced the battery (I thought you said you did that) OR when you changed the ram configuration and tried to boot (I don't remember the exact steps, but it's something like that).
3) you have the wrong install discs. Just like a restore disk from a DELL won't work with an HP, apple restore disks (which absolutely are meant to do a clean install of the OS) only work with the machine they shipped with. The make/model of the machine is included in the firmware, and the install disk has a list of make/models that it is allowed to work with (you can actually modify this list and remove the restriction but that's another thread). I wasn't paying attention one day and tried to use a restore disk from an INTEL mac on a PowerPC mac. It did almost exactly what you're describing (it just hung on a spinning wheel)


What's really a shame is that you're either going to get frustrated and give up on macs OR you're going to get it working and be an expert on an obsolete set of hardware.
Click to expand...

ok, I think i have maybe figured out what's going on here, I believe the logicboard I bought may not support the processors or CPU's that i am running.

I currently have the watercooled cpu's on the board which i believe are 2.7ghz?

here is ther m/b i bought :
Model: 820-1592-A / do i need different cpu's for this?? It seems I keep getting freezing issues upon boot no matter what.. I have some spare cpu's but dont know if they are correct.. any way to check ??
 
Hi
Does the motherboard you've fitted have PCIe slots?
If so it expects to be fitted with G5 dual-core CPUs.

Single-core G5 2.7Ghz CPUs were fitted to the last of the 64-bit PCI-X slot motherboards.

The rather miscellaneous comments you've received here are because 99.9% of G5 users never attempted mix'n'match out of a used parts bin... ;)
 
PaulD-UK said:
Hi
Does the motherboard you've fitted have PCIe slots?
If so it expects to be fitted with G5 dual-core CPUs.

Single-core G5 2.7Ghz CPUs were fitted to the last of the 64-bit PCI-X slot motherboards.

The rather miscellaneous comments you've received here are because 99.9% of G5 users never attempted mix'n'match out of a used parts bin... ;)
Click to expand...

yes it has pcie slots 4 of them next to the video card slot, I believe I found out today the two cpu's are 2.5 dual-core I have, the stats on that logicboard call for the 2.3GHZ... would that make them non-interchangeable? All the parts I have came off of other G5's, only one of them had the watercooled unit, which is what I have on the system. I tried two of the other unit's and couldn't get the chime. I replaced the cpu's with these and got the boot chime, but it keeps freezing within 30 seconds of doing anything...
 
Could this be a factor?

Power Mac G5 Thermal Calibration Service: It is vital for all Power Mac G5 to run thermal calibration after fitting a new logic board or processors, without it, Temperature Control will not be able to detect the system temperature correctly. As a result, it could cause the cooling fans to run at high speed, eventually damaging the logic board or processors. Conversely if the fans are not going fast enough it may cause problems too.

Found some archives on G5 Power Macs, try looking through these links for more clues:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2038811?start=0&tstart=0

http://www.welovemacs.com/powermacg51.html

http://mac.bigresource.com/Power-Mac-Logic-board-swap-G5-2-5hgz-dual-liquid-cool-power-pc--LcXjlRvBD.html

Will keep digging around.
 
Last edited:
gpzjock said:
Power Mac G5 Thermal Calibration Service: It is vital for all Power Mac G5 to run thermal calibration after fitting a new logic board or processors, without it, Temperature Control will not be able to detect the system temperature correctly. As a result, it could cause the cooling fans to run at high speed, eventually damaging the logic board or processors. Conversely if the fans are not going fast enough it may cause problems too.

Found some archives on G5 Power Macs, try looking through these links for more clues:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2038811?start=0&tstart=0

http://www.welovemacs.com/powermacg51.html

http://mac.bigresource.com/Power-Mac-Logic-board-swap-G5-2-5hgz-dual-liquid-cool-power-pc--LcXjlRvBD.html

Will keep digging around.
Click to expand...

I have got my hands on a copy of the ASD 2.5.8 / makes no difference I still can't boot correctly.. I ordered a set of cpu's off ebay that were taken off a working G5 so we will see what happens when they get here this week. I am thinking they are the problem..
 
Thank you everyone for input.

Ok, problem FIXED~!!!!!!!

It was definitely the dual cpu's... I fitted dual 2.3 GHZ into the machine.. it booted up to the alt boot and installed the 10.4 tiger directly from the GREY osx install disc!! I was absolutely pumped up!!

It was definitely a hardware problem, I just wanted to thank everyone here for helping me as all of your input lead to me figuring out the problem.

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!! I am checking out the MAC now and to be honest I'm liking what I'm seeing.. it seems pretty user friendly!!
 
Hardware swappery FTW!

Glad you made it eventually, enjoy your Power Mac. :)

So the 2.5 GHz CPUs were either faulty or just the wrong clockspeed?
 
Congratulations.

I'm glad you finally got that worked out.
I hope the new CPUs didn't set you back too much.

Good Luck!!!
 
gpzjock said:
Glad you made it eventually, enjoy your Power Mac. :)

So the 2.5 GHz CPUs were either faulty or just the wrong clockspeed?
Click to expand...

I believe they were simply faulty... when I pulled the cpu's off the heatsink underneath i found some corrosion that I couldn't see when it was together, it seemed that the liquid cooled heatsink assembly had a small leak IDK if it caused them to become damaged(very good chance).

I bought the set of 2.3 on eBay for 39.99 so i guess It really wasn't that bad off... one down.. I have two more cases here and I think this time I may buy a known working CPU and logic-board combo for each and maybe sell those two as I have no use for all three. I seen some of the combo's going for about 125.00, hey worse comes to worse .. I will have some great XMAS gifts to give the family ;)

I would just hate to see them go to waste.
 
cpu logicboard calibration problems

zpaitsel said:
I have got my hands on a copy of the ASD 2.5.8 / makes no difference I still can't boot correctly.. I ordered a set of cpu's off ebay that were taken off a working G5 so we will see what happens when they get here this week. I am thinking they are the problem..
Click to expand...

ok, maybe you can offer up some help here... i have gotten a copy of asd 2.5.8 / and 2.5.7 and ran the thermal calibration on both versions and keep getting a fan speed error and can't get this thing to complete the calibration...

is there a workaround for this?? The red light goes out when i replace the door and i have removed and replaced the door a few times and still nothing works.

any ideas??
 
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