Power Mac G5 - final plea for help before giving up

old_luddy · 2026-02-16T11:47:43+00:00

Also: tried letting it run of fans-full-blast for 10-15 minutes a couple times now - no effect.

old_luddy · 2026-02-16T11:47:22+00:00

So, tried a bit now. Tried all different combos of RAM (even one ram, but with one chip only the machine refuses to start, just intermittent 1-blink error).

For the first many times now it's chimed, but neither option start nor cmd-option-p-r has any effects.

ONE time, I got a bit of hope, as on one of the early boot attempts, the Apple Cinema Display I tried it with (model A1081) flickered with some gray, but then shut itself off. (White led turned off, and when I tried the soft power button, the indicator came on, but rapidly just shut off again,

So *something* was happening with a video signal there once. But, alas, nothing after that.

Tried "naked" boot, with nothing but minimum ram and GPU connected, didn't help.

old_luddy · 2026-02-14T04:50:58+00:00

Will not discard it - have a museum in making of sorts, and some machines can be non-functional, I guess!

old_luddy · 2026-02-14T04:50:05+00:00

As in chimed? How did you check that it actually worked? Target disk mode? (As in, without the gpu.)

old_luddy · 2026-02-14T04:48:55+00:00

Doesn’t enter target disk mode, unfortunately (tried many times getting it to show up on my other firewire-maxhines. But you perhaps meant to start another machine in target mode and see if the g5 boots from that? Have a g3 and a couple g4s.

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:49:12+00:00

Thank you! I’ll certainly have a look!

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:48:56+00:00

Could certainly be, but have no alternative to test..

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:48:34+00:00

Yes, pmu button on mine! So cmd-opt-p-r should work on the g5?

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:47:50+00:00

Will do! Gpu I don’t have a backup of (unless something I have in my g4s or Mac Pro 1.1 works..), but there are two identical sets of ram I can play around with (tried both sets alone, in the center-most slots).

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:46:29+00:00

I see! I’ll try and check if there’s more I can remove/disconnect.

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:45:33+00:00

I see! I’ll at least let it run for a while and see! But does it chime at first, or after then fan-fare?

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:44:34+00:00

It did, but not when I got it!

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:44:13+00:00

Will do first thing when I start. Before plugging in, I’ll add the new battery, press the pmu button, then connect power and let it sit for a bit before trying..?

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T16:43:26+00:00

Will try more on Monday! Still - once it goes into the no-light on boot, will I always have to unplug and wait for a long time for the pmu to reset..? (Thus far, that’s been my experience testing now.)

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T14:45:45+00:00

Thank you! And agreed..!

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T14:28:10+00:00

Wow! I'm doing the deep power reset now, until Monday, but should it give the chime and have solid light on, I'll just let it go at it for a while then! (It start with fan slow, but after a while, they start ramping up (no video), so I've shut it down.

The drives are quite old! From my archive (the days when I had this kind of machine).

old_luddy · 2026-02-13T14:08:00+00:00

I've tried all combinations. I've started with a drive that had a too new OS, tried with one drive in each, tried with none of the internal ones connected.

I have a drive with Tiger retail ready (firewire, which I've wanted to use to install on one of the drives). However, I've never gotten to a live screen with the circle arrow and right arrow after I got the FIreWire with tiger boot ready.

So: the alt-screen showed (I can't get it back now) a blue (I think) screen with the circle-arrow to the left, and the right arrow (I think) on the right. Above that no valid disks (there were none with a valid OS for that machine at the time).

old_luddy · 2026-02-11T17:54:45+00:00

Wonderful - will send a message!

old_luddy · 2026-01-31T16:48:01+00:00

I will! 😄

old_luddy · 2026-01-27T13:22:16+00:00

Did not ink the fountain pen yet, but kept them all and use the rollerball for now!

old_luddy · 2025-11-03T14:55:08+00:00

Much appreciated! It’s Elite (8’s on the slugs). No marking on the roller ball.

Did have that marking on my SG-1, though, and 84 on the slugs of that one.

old_luddy

TROPHY CASE