PowerMac G5 2003 1.8 Ghz PCI-X Freezes

lardon

Hello there. I currently have a problem with my PowerMac G5 not getting past the Apple screen. Currently, its running Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.8. After experiencing some freezing after 30 minutes of use, I took out the processor and tried to reseat it. Then, the result: this mac boots to the Apple logo and stops there. It even freezes trying to load the install DVD. I'm getting sick of this. I had a look right here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/16 ... 0&tstart=0 and it offered little help. I also did the following:

1) Reset the PMU
2) Checked for bad ram (I highly doubt that the ram is bad)
3) Took out and reinserted the CMOS battery.
4) Made sure everything was connected properly.
5) Ran disk utility before (before reseating the cpu) It reported no problems.
6) Made sure the ram was seated properly and confirmed.

After that, I finally had enough. The Trox screws are stripped and I couldn't take them out again to remove the cpu (any help with this would also be appreciated) A look through Google revealed that many had the same symptoms, but not for the model I had. Does anyone know a fix for this? Or, is this a farewell for my G5 and a good old tip of buying a new one? Any help would be gladly appreciated. P.S. I don't have the AHT cd because it didn't came with one. Another look through Google revealed that the cd would be little help as well, so I never bothered with it.

nightice

It doesn't get to the spinner underneath the Apple logo? IIRC that means it can't find the boot device.

Can you boot in verbose mode and see where it stops?

lardon

nightice wrote:

It doesn't get to the spinner underneath the Apple logo? IIRC that means it can't find the boot device.

Can you boot in verbose mode and see where it stops?

This is what I got when I boot in verbose mode:

Standard time slicing quantum is 10000 US
vm_page_boot strap: 762915 free pages
mig_table_max-displ = 70
97 prelinked modules
Copyright (C) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993 The regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.
Using 7864 Buffer headers and 4096 clusters
10 buffer headers
DART enabled

This is where the message stopped and the fans start kicking in! :(
Also, just as a note, I think I tightly screwed the CPU heatsink after trying to reseat it. No fresh thermopaste was added due to lack of experience.

nightice

You probably wouldn't even get that far if the CPU had actual physical damage. Can you reset from Open Firmware (reset-nvram, reset-all)?

I don't know exactly how hot those processors get, but I doubt just reseating the heatsink and fan without redoing the thermal paste would cause issues that early in the boot process. Does it consistently stop at that point?

I Googled around a little for "power mac g5 hang after DART enabled" and most of them suggested some kind of motherboard failure. My only other thought is that maybe you have a bad add-in card. Beyond that unfortunately I don't know much about PowerPC hardware.

lardon

nightice wrote:

You probably wouldn't even get that far if the CPU had actual physical damage. Can you reset from Open Firmware (reset-nvram, reset-all)?

I don't know exactly how hot those processors get, but I doubt just reseating the heatsink and fan without redoing the thermal paste would cause issues that early in the boot process. Does it consistently stop at that point?

I Googled around a little for "power mac g5 hang after DART enabled" and most of them suggested some kind of motherboard failure. My only other thought is that maybe you have a bad add-in card. Beyond that unfortunately I don't know much about PowerPC hardware.

It didn't have any add-in cards. It was left exactly as it was when I bought it from RE-PC. No manuals, no Apple Hardware Test CD's. Other than that, I probably think I'll have to replace the motherboard and the CPU. I also think I didn't remove the CPU properly when I tried to pull it out without realizing that there were other screws to be removed. I did that after experiencing some freezing after 30 minutes of use. It worked like a charm for a month or two. Then, it started to freeze. That is when I searched online and found other people had that problem. One suggests reseating the processor. Now that I did that, it didn't work. I don't want to let my G5 go because Mac Pro's are very expensive computers. But, it seems I caused damage to my motherboard without knowing it. I tried going to openfirmware before, but I think I didn't use the right command. What are the proper commands to get into OpenFirmware?

What I think so far:
1) I probably caused some cracks and damage to the Logic Board by accidentally getting the CPU stuck while lacking experience to remove it.
2) The CPU is at fault.
3) The Logic Board is bad.
4) This is damaged beyond repair unless I'm willing to take my G5 completely apart and do some self-soldering.

What I'll try next.
1) Find a replacement motherboard.
2) Find a replacement CPU
3) Find a G5 good enough for replacement parts.
4) Get a new mac.
5) Do some soldering myself. Although that is very dangerous and unsafe, I'll give that a bet.

It's really sad to see such a pretty G5 suffer. If you have any other suggestions, I'll appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Update:
I tried getting into OpenFirmware once again by pressing Command+Option+O+F keys. The response the G5 gave me: A black screen with fans kicking at full speed.

DeepFriedCookies

Try RAM first. It's nothing with the CPU, and it's unlikely to be the logic board, rather, something attached to it. If the logic board had any real issues, it wouldn't make it THAT far. Try different RAM modules, remove anything except the graphics card then boot it, then hell, try another graphics card if you have one. Logic board issues wouldn't even let it turn on or even load up at all usually.

EDIT: And if it is bad, would you mind sending the case to me? I've been wanting to undergo a project with that case for a while, but I haven't came across any broken models anywhere.

lardon

DeepFriedCookies wrote:

Try RAM first. It's nothing with the CPU, and it's unlikely to be the logic board, rather, something attached to it. If the logic board had any real issues, it wouldn't make it THAT far. Try different RAM modules, remove anything except the graphics card then boot it, then hell, try another graphics card if you have one. Logic board issues wouldn't even let it turn on or even load up at all usually.

EDIT: And if it is bad, would you mind sending the case to me? I've been wanting to undergo a project with that case for a while, but I haven't came across any broken models anywhere.

I did try the ram. That will have to undergo further testing because I don't have 2 pairs of matching ram. I wished I had some spare ram to test with; only one ram matches the ram in my mac. :( It only gave me blinking lights.

By the way, are you trying to create a hackintosh? I promise you, you will find one on ebay for about $50. It isn't that expensive. Just ebay "PowerMac G5 case"

Anonymous

It smells like either RAM or CPU cooling - reseat, repaste, clean.. this is aircooled right? My own 2x2.0 aircooled G5 acted pretty similar until I reseated the RAM.. the order it gets inserted in matters too, these things are a pita. Either way, why bother with a G5... mine largely sits around collecting dust, it's quite pokey for a lot of things these days + eats them watts up.

Also yes, these G5s (especially broken) go for next to nothing on ebay.. I got mine for free. YMMV.

DeepFriedCookies

What kind of RAM does it have?

And yeah but they're usually over 50 in my experiences.. that or they're beat to crap. I want something that's in decent condition, that way my hackintosh can be.. well, new looking. xD

lardon

@varulzZz: It is air cooled. I tried reseating the ram; but, no effect. The only available replacement ram I have is only one stick. Result: flashing power lights when powered on. I think I need to find another stick of the same kind. Too bad the G5s require rams to be installed in pairs.

@DeepFriedCookies: Its DDR 400. Two of them are 1GB and 2 are 512MB.

Sorry for the late reply though, I was busy a few days ago.

DeepFriedCookies

Are both chips the same speed? Same density?

lardon

DeepFriedCookies wrote:

Are both chips the same speed? Same density?

You mean the memory?

DeepFriedCookies

Yes. I have quite a few systems that are so wonky about that sort of thing, it's not even funny. One won't even run with two different sized RAM modules. And that's on a Pentium 4 era machine.

lardon

DeepFriedCookies wrote:

Yes. I have quite a few systems that are so wonky about that sort of thing, it's not even funny. One won't even run with two different sized RAM modules. And that's on a Pentium 4 era machine.

The four memory sticks in my PowerMac G5 are the same pairs; 2 are 1 GB and 2 are 512 MB. I'm sure they were installed correctly. They do get unusually warm, though.

lardon

nikkigreg1974

Is the voltage right to them. Maybe they are getting to much voltage or the memory is bad.

lardon

nikkigreg1974 wrote:

Is the voltage right to them. Maybe they are getting to much voltage or the memory is bad.

I really doubt that is the problem; the memory worked like new. The PowerMac G5 worked right out of the box when I bought it this January.

DeepFriedCookies

If RAM gets abnormally warm, it's probably bad. If the mainboard were fried, I doubt it would even power on.

lardon

It could be. Well, since the mainboard powers on, it couldn't be fried then.

DeepFriedCookies

Not that it couldn't be, just that it's unlikely. There are still some things that COULD be wrong on the planar, but not many. Something like an IDE controller could be wonky, or something like that. Even a dying southbridge will allow the system to boot, but once it tries to actually boot, it'll crash. Still- not very likely.