Power-Mac G5 not booting?

[comradecommie]

Anytime, pal.

Should you be concerned? Probably.

At this point, I would just salvage what you can, ditch it, and buy an air cooled model. One of the dual core revisions, specifically. Much less problems.

How much are air-cooled models? I dont have much to work with right now, and if the brown things are just resistors I heard you can put a small bit of solder over them to get the job done.

Without a doubt, the seller knew all about this.. that's why it was a dollar!

You've got a bit of a big job to clean it all up. Take your time and pull EVERYTHING apart, especially the Power Supply Unit, open it up, carefully blow out all of the loose dust with a compressor (or canned air) and clean all the components with cotton tips and a couple of old toothbrushes. Be sure to leave the PSU unplugged for a couple of hours before opening it up though, you don't want a zap from any residual power.

Pull the main board out and clean in behind as well. It can take a few hours to get into the G5 on your first attempt. It's not like working on a PC (or a G4). You'll need the right tools. I went full McGyver on this and fashioned a long-handled hex-key from whatever I could find in my toolboxes (imagine a straightened out smaller L-shaped Hex-key, joined with cable-ties to another larger hex key for leverage). This is required to remove the CPUs and heatsinks on the air-cooled units. I'm not sure if you can use a shorter tool on the LCS.

For cleaning components, I've always used Isopropyl Alcohol (99%). I don't know about mixing this with the leaked coolant though, maybe someone with a chemistry background could chime in on this. You don't want to turn your logic board into soup.

On the corroded panels and screws, you could possibly rub the rust back a bit with some fine wet and dry sandpaper then use a water dispersing product to protect it from any further corrosive ingress (I'd use WD-40 here in Australia, not sure if it exists in other countries). If you wanted to go the extra mile, coat the areas in a rust converting paint, or just find replacement parts from another cheap (non-rusted) G5.

I bet the most the seller knew was it didn't and he didn't want it. Anyways, I do have a big job doing this but if it goes over- say- 30 bucks I'll just cut my losses. I think the hardest part would likely be the main board, seeing as its connected in so many nonstandard ways- atleast compared to every other computer that I have ever worked on. I do have an extended, uh, whatever its called, so it should be good enough to get to all the little screws. I'm still puzzled on how to flush and redo the liquid in the CPU cooler, but I do have distilled water somewhere, which makes thing easier. The rust doesn't bother me so much as the corrosion does, and yes WD-40 exists in America. Buying any other G5's would be out of my league, seeing how long it took to lug the monster down a level of stairs and into my room.

Honestly, I'm thinking of straight up taking out everything, and doing an old fashioned refurb and "pirating" a leopard disk to use alongside the 160 gig I stuck inside the thing. This is my 1st experience even owning an Apple computer, so I'm still stuck at dead ends by general confusion. This computer might've been used at a harsh place, too, seeing how much dust was caked inside and how the outside of it was covered in dried liquid, dirt, and other stuff I still don't know what it is. I'm just gonna see if redoing the cooler and swapping processors will do it, after cleaning the power supply so it doesn't just explode when it has to provide power to a properly (hopefully) functioning processor.
EDIT: ha, 2nd page

 

[AphoticD]

Sounds like a plan. You inadvertently chose possibly the most difficult entry point to owning a Mac! They are not all like this.

Whoever thought of putting a liquid cooling system in a Mac was extremely short sighted. Most Mac users wouldn't even think of taking the side door off to blow the dust out, let alone consider manually servicing the LCS every few years to prevent the machine from destroying itself.

I imagine it went down something like this:

Apple Marketing: "We need to push the G5 to 3Ghz! We need to get there before Intel does!"
IBM/Engineering: "It's not going to happen. The highest stable speed we've gotten to is 2.7Ghz, but you would need some kind of crazy cooling system, like an engine radiator, just to keep it from going up in flames."
iCEO: "Put a radiator in it! I want the fastest 64-bit computer on earth!"
IBM/Engineering: "Yes boss. Good idea boss."
Marketing: "Introducing the new Liquid Cooled Power Mac G5. The fastest Mac EVER."
IBM/Engineering: "*facepalm*"​

It's a bit different for PC modders who are hands on with actually building their systems and tend to make conscious, well researched decisions when putting cooling systems in their PCs. Often knowing what's involved in servicing, replacing and rebuilding components in the future.

 

[z970]

I don't know about mixing this with the leaked coolant though, maybe someone with a chemistry background could chime in on this.

In that case, I'd think about getting @bunnspecial involved...

You inadvertently chose possibly the most difficult entry point to owning a Mac! They are not all like this.

None of them are like this.

...Well... Except for maybe the 2006/2007 MacBook Pros and 2006 iMacs...

But even then, the parts are replaceable and unlike the LCS G5s, failure won't cause total system destruction. And most would say they are more useful, however, that can be subjective.

How much are air-cooled models?

Start with "powermac g5 2005" on eBay. Just avoid all 2.5 and 2.7 GHz machines, which have the LCSs. All 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, and 2.3 GHz models are safe and rely exclusively on fans. Good luck.

 

[comradecommie]

Start with "powermac g5 2005" on eBay. Just avoid all 2.5 and 2.7 GHz machines, which have the LCSs. All 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, and 2.3 GHz models are safe and rely exclusively on fans. Good luck.

Would it be possible to just completely rebuild the water cooling here, or at the very least convert it to air?

The thing looks easy to take apart from where I got it right now, so I doubt it'll kill me to try and rebuild it, and if that doesn't work I'll do what I usually do and ziptie a fan somewhere and jerry-rig into running.

 

[weckart]

The 2.7GHz CPUs run super hot, which is why Apple plumped for LCS. Perhaps you could cobble together something with modern coolers but getting everything to fit in that case with that logic board is part of the problem. Nothing is standard fit.

 

[z970]

Would it be possible to just completely rebuild the water cooling here, or at the very least convert it to air?

The thing looks easy to take apart from where I got it right now, so I doubt it'll kill me to try and rebuild it, and if that doesn't work I'll do what I usually do and ziptie a fan somewhere and jerry-rig into running.

You could redo the LCS, though I'd imagine it would be very hard. You could also get a Power Mac G5 (Early 2005) 2.3 GHz logic board and processors, and swap it all out with the LCS taken out.

But not before washing all the corrosion off the case if it did touch it, of course. But even after that, I'd be most wary of the power supply for the possibility of the fluid getting into it, although you could go ahead and replace it with one of the early 2005 ones.

So if you do decide to go through with that, I wish you good luck.

EDIT: I just realized you might also have to replace the front I/O board with one from a 2.3 if you go along with that idea, although I may be wrong.

 

[AphoticD]

I think I'll agree with the general consensus here and say it'll be a pain to repair and you may not get the results you are hoping for once it's all back together (after you've spent the time and money on repairing the LCS).

I'd revisit the idea of converting it to a Hackintosh. You mentioned you have a motherboard ready to rock. It'll be a bit of a job cutting out the rear panel to suit the ports, but in the end you'll have a far more capable mock-G5 system than you would with a 2.3Ghz air-cooled overhaul. (And likely for less money).

Fortunately, the top level bays are ready to use (ODD and HDD), you just need to squeeze in an ATX power supply and a GPU.

You can probably resell that 6800 GT for good money. I (over)paid ~US$150 for the same card last year shipped to me out of Hong Kong.

Clean up and try to sell the CPUs, logic board, LCS and power supply, etc for cheap(-ish). Just forewarn your buyer(s) about the leaked coolant and unknown state of operation. Let them assess and perform their own repairs.

Either way, you will come out with more than $1.00

 

[comradecommie]

You could redo the LCS, though I'd imagine it would be very hard. You could also get a Power Mac G5 (Early 2005) 2.3 GHz logic board and processors, and swap it all out with the LCS taken out.

But not before washing all the corrosion off the case if it did touch it, of course. But even after that, I'd be most wary of the power supply for the possibility of the fluid getting into it, although you could go ahead and replace it with one of the early 2005 ones.

So if you do decide to go through with that, I wish you good luck.

EDIT: I just realized you might also have to replace the front I/O board with one from a 2.3 if you go along with that idea, although I may be wrong.

I'd really not like to mess around with another mac, I'm just gonna try to repair this, and if all fails and the Hackintosh is too confsuinging, I'll just cut my losses, make some profit online, and try to buy into a new Mac Pro, but atleast with the same case style, I ****ing love this aluminum case.

 

[z970]

I'd really not like to mess around with another mac, I'm just gonna try to repair this, and if all fails and the Hackintosh is too confsuinging, I'll just cut my losses, make some profit online, and try to buy into a new Mac Pro, but atleast with the same case style, I ****ing love this aluminum case.

Took the words right out of my mind.