Troubleshooting a Power Mac G5 - Where to start?

Mac
#1

Hi there,

Recently @PO15KA very kindly donated me a PowerMac G5 for my collection. I’ve never had a cheese grater Mac and have very little idea on how to troubleshoot them.

This one does nothing when plugged into power. No lights no fans no nothing when I try to boot it. Ive tried holding the power button in and also replacing the PRAM battery.

It is a dual processor model (not a water cooled model).

Does anyone have any hints? It is complete other than the graphics card + HDD. Does it need a graphics card to even turn on? I’m tempted to try buying a PSU on eBay but don’t want to spend anything on it till I know that the logic board is ok.

1 Like
#2

Not sounding good for the PSU…

From memory, when you connect the power cord and turn on the power point, you should hear a relay click inside the power supply. So - just with an ear near the computer, you should hear something when the machine receives power.

If there’s nothing… you could try pull the PSU out and make sure it’s seated properly etc… but it may well need replacing.

I bought a 1.8ghz dual G5 from Cashies in about 2008. Its power supply died in 2012. I ended up buying a bare bones grater from AppleBits and transferring my components over rather than trying to buy a PSU on its own, as they tended to be more expensive as a single component… :frowning:

1 Like
#3

Good advice! I’ll give that a try.

I’ve eyed a $37 working PSU on Ebay so that might be a possibility!

1 Like
#4

If you were local, you could have my machine - still sitting here in my office… Looks like they don’t go for much on eBay these days being antiquated door stops… :wink:

#5

Road trip to Geelong? :wink: :smiley:

On a more serious note… would you ever be looking to part yours out? Or is it a working machine still?

#6

I’m working toward photographing all my surplus Apple gear inc this beast (har), ready for sale here / eBay.

If I can’t sell it intact, I’d part it…

1 Like