Tips for finding a NICE Power Mac G5
I am currently searching for a late 2005 model G5 in _nice condition_. I've come across numerous scuffed up and battered machines on Ebay, but did find a seller who has 'refurbished' Power Macs that are supposed to be in excellent "near-new condition" (both outer-case and internal unit). Has anyone bought one of these refurbished units, or does anyone know what kind of condition they are really in operation wise? They look clean, but one does not really know where these Power Macs come from or how they were used.. (It's difficult to tell how hard they've been worked just by looking at images of the machine..)
Basically, I'd like to find a G5 that not only looks clean, but that I can be reasonably confident has been well taken care of. Am I just dreamin'? Does anyone know about the above-mentioned refurbished machines, or otherwise know how to find a seller who took good care of his/her Power Mac G5?? I'd really appreciate any tips/advice. There's got to be a few people out there who appreciate those that treat their Macs well!!
Thanks much!!
I do a lot of buying and selling on ebay. I am a certified Macintosh technician, doing mac repairs and reselling on ebay. This year I have done three G5's. I sold one to my brother in law who fell in love with it the moment he saw it. I am taking one for myself because they are so nice. The key to finding a nice machine on ebay is to buy from original owners. Usually these are people who take care of their machines, take lots of pictures, and have a lengthy description. Check out their feedback and contact them with any questions. If they say they are the original owner, check their feedback - if they have a billion computer parts recently sold or you see they just recently bought a palette of broken G5's, then you can be sure they are lying; don't buy from them! If you are going to buy from a reseller who sells refurbs, make sure they are certified by Apple and check their feedback scores. Really the only way to be certain about the machine you are getting is to do research - not just on the machine being sold but the one selling it too.
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GeForce 7800 GTX... the best card for a PCIe G5 Power Mac?
I have started out on the rocky road to upgrade the graphics card on my Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5GHz running Mac OS X 10.5.8. The standard card, a GeForce 6600, does not do justice to this wonderful computer, and struggles with any serious video work.
The first step is easy – deciding on the best card. A little Googling shows that the GeForce 7800 GTX wins hands down over the competition.
The next needs patience – these cards appear from time to time on eBay; I will need a 512 MB PCI-e version (not 256 MB) as I am running 10.5.
I've waited a month or two, put in a winning bid and the card has arrived. Now all I need is the code to flash the ROM to make it work in myG5. Not so fast! I'll need a 128kb ROM chip! The idea of using a soldering iron terrifies me, so I'll have to find someone, who does this sort of thing for a living, to remove the 64kb ROM from my 7800 GTX and solder on a 128kb ROM.
But what's is the right spec/manufacturer/supplier for the 128 kb ROM?
If I am lucky my friend with the soldering iron may know. If not, I'm stuck. I've not been able to find this information anywhere on the Internet.
Now all I need is the right code for the ROM. It seems that there are two versions that people have used: one, which seems quite common, is lightly edited Quadro FX 4500 ROM code which does not use the full power of the 7800 GTX, which after flashing reports itself as a FX 4500; the other, which seems to be as rare as gold dust, has been fine-tuned to use the 7800 GTXs full potential. Cards flashed with this version report correctly as 7800 GTX. I really want this optimised code, but neither version is available from any of the usual places.
Can anyone please help?I've waited a month or two, put in a winning bid and the card has arrived. Now all I need is the code to flash the ROM to make it work in my G5. Not so fast! I'll need a 128kb ROM chip! The idea of using a soldering iron terrifies me, so I'll have to find someone, who does this sort of thing for a living, to remove the 64kb ROM from my 7800 GTX and solder on a 128kb ROM.
Many thanks to japamac, who kindly sent me an e-mail which put me on the right track re finding the ROM code, editing it and flashing.
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Upgrade options for my new old Power Mac G4?
So I just got a free Power Mac G4 MDD. It has dual G4 1.25 GHz cpus, 2 GB RAM, 4x80 GB Seagate Cheetah SCSI hard drives in RAID 0, Airport wireless, 2 Super drives, and a Geforce4 Ti 4600 GPU. It has a fresh install of Tiger, and I am wondering what upgrades are available for it; it feels smooth most of the time, but high res videos on youtube are pretty much unwatchable. I have done some research of my own, and I found a few pci-x cards that look useful, like for SATA ports, Firewire 800, usb 2.0, etc. I have also read about cpu upgrades up to 1.8 Ghz, and that it is possible to flash a pc graphics card to work on a mac, but all of the examples I've seen are with PCI Express graphics cards. Should I get the Sata card and use faster hard drives? Is there, in your experience, a good graphics card upgrade for my PowerMac? Is there a CPU upgrade faster the 1.42 GHz that I can get, and where? And what about overclocking my cpu? I got this for free, and I am willing to pay a few hundred dollars to upgrade it. I know its pretty old, but fixing up and upgrading old computers to there best is a hobby of mine.
Should I get the Sata card and use faster hard drives?
PCI or PCI-X controllers provide for good perfomance with SATA drives.
The Firmtek Seritek cards have excellent compatibility, are bootable to connected drives, and will help provide performance beyond that possible with ATA drives on the native bus.
BTW, PCI-X cards are backwards compatible to PCI.
Is there, in your experience, a good graphics card upgrade for my PowerMac?
The three best options for a MDD are a flashed Radeon 9800 XT, Radeon X800XT (flashed FireGL X3) or flashed Geforce 7800 GS.
If one upgrades to Leopard, the FireGL/X800 is best.
In Tiger, the 7800 GS is best.
Is there a CPU upgrade faster the 1.42 GHz that I can get, and where?
Sonnet used to make one (MDX Duet), but you'll be hard pressed to find one on eBay or such.
IMHO, overclocking the 1.42 GHz processor to 1.58 GHz provides for a much more powerful machine.
Heck, even at 1.42 GHz, the 7445 processor and 2 MB L3 cache are stronger, overall, than the 7447 processor used in the MDX Duet.
And what about overclocking my cpu?
http://bitsandpieces.info/Multipliers.htm
OC'ing the MDD adds to heat issues.
There are some great mods like this one:
http://www.s155158671.websitehome.co.uk/watercoolyourmdd.html -
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 (& other 1TB drives) for my Early 2005 Power Mac G5
Hello there:
Like everyone and there grandmother I want a terrabyte drive! But I'm a little concerned.
The Power Mac G5 only supports the first SATA spec (1.5 Gb/s) and all the of the new drives being sold these days are of the SATA II spec (3.0 Gb/s) and use NCQ or TCQ technologies.
I’m really trying to avoid having to install a host bus adapter of any sort to use my new drive(s).
I would like to here from G5 mac users that have installed these drives or other terrabyte drives:
Did you have performance problems, did you have to do “special stuff” to get them to work???
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB (HDS721010KLA330) - from what I’ve read this drive does not auto-negotiate to the slower SATA I spec and you have to do something to the firmware in Windows- scarry!
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB (ST31000340AS)- users of other seagate products have reported a stiff performance penalty when installed in Power Mac G5
And while I’m at I like to here about experiences with the Samsung HD103UJ- I hear lots DOA drives but when these do work their faster that Raptors and that’s super fast!!!
Hopefully my trepidation is unfounded. I just don’t want computer drama... that’s for Windows users ;op
Thanks,
Mike DiazHi-
Welcome to Discussions!
A good place to check on drives, is the Drive Compatibility Data base at Xlr8yourmac.
The Hitachi is reported to be a great drive in the G5, and I have heard/read nothing of this so called "do something to the firmware in Windows" stuff. Mike, the main man at Xlr8 speaks very highly of the Hitachi in his G5.
Another drive that gets great reviews is the Western Digital SE16, and RE2 series. The Green Power also shows to be an excellent drive....
Here's how the "big boys" stack up in a MacPro, tests run by Barefeats, an excellent source on Mac performance related topics. This article tests various drives in the G5.
This article compares the Hitachi, Samsung and WD GP drives. -
HT1752 looking for support on the Power Mac G4
I have a Power Mac G4 Mac 0SX version 10.4.11
Recently, when turning on, the keyboard and mouse don't work.
Is there any way to fix this or will I have to put my Mac to rest?
Thank you.Have you tried just unplugging and plugging them in, again?
Tried using different USB ports?
Have you tried a PRAM reset?
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys. -
Tip for Finding Lost Photos from iPhoto
Wow, what a surprise. After rebuilding my library and still not finding my lost photos, I installed Picasa for Mac, and voila, it found every photo on my hard drive I'd ever done and in warp speed! I couldn't believe it, I had just about given up! It was easy then to transfer them to iPhoto which I am much more familiar with for editing and emailing.
Bonnie,
thanks for your answer here about picasa which I have downloaded and watching all my images flash by. And I think I am through with iphoto. The hours I have spent every time it decides not to open and even all the hints here about rebuilding etc. nothing was useful or it was for one or two times. I'll just have to get used to picasa. I am sure the time will be better spent there than hours lost like today. I wanted to add pictures to a pages document only to find iphoto library empty and the one I had copied stopped at 2010. I am a photographer so you know I've done lots since 2010. You are a lifesaver. Much gratitude for you. -
A Tip for finding your Product Key
>Regedit>HKLocalMAchine>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>Current Version>Win8
Cheers,
Drew
Drew MS Partner / MS Beta Tester / Pres. Computer Issues Pres. Computer Issues www.drewsci.comHi Drew,
Are you sharing the experiencing of finding the machine`s product key?
Thanks for the sharing.
To get the product ,we also can refer to this link:
How To Find Out Your Windows 8 Product Key
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/20346.how-to-find-out-your-windows-8-product-key.aspx
Best regards -
What kind of wireless card I need for my Power Mac G5 (late 2005) Dual 2 GH
hi there,
I have for sometime now a "Power Mac G5 (late 2005) Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5", and recently I have been thinking to get an Airport extreme wireless card with a bluetooth on it, which could work on my machine.
I have already try to deal with apple representatives and Apple sales people to give me a hand on the matter and so far is been a nightmare to approach this guys, tired of wasting time and effort, so that is way I am posting a topic on this section to see if you guys could give a hand on the matter.
All what I would like to know is what kind of wireless card I need for my Power Mac G5 (late 2005) Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 (version 10.4.11) and where I could buy one on line to install myself.
This is the mac unit I have.
Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5.
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac11,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 4.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1
Thanks for you time.
regards
Toyko koykoYou're welcome. Funny how Apple works isn't it? If it's any consolation, that Airport/Bluetooth card doesn't show up on the Apple U.S. store either. I don't think they ever intended it to be a user installable part, so perhaps that's why they don't offer it for sale. Do you have any Apple Authorized Service providers in your area? I'd think they'd be able to order the card as a replacement part.
Can you give a little more detail or a link to the gadget you're referring to? It sounds like a USB dongle to enable Wi-Fi, but that must be a third party solution, since I don't believe Apple ever offered something like that. -
Sound Card for Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Hi folks, I'm sure this question has probably been asked here before but I'll appreciate it if someone could give me some info on pci-e sound cards for the late 2005 Power Mac G5.
Hi Joe Goes;
Instead of going to PCIe cards which I think would be extreme expensive, I would suggest connecting the optical cables to a receiver or amp and then connecting the multiple set of speakers to it. Which is what I did. I picked up an amp at used equipment table at the local sound store for nearly nothing. In fact the optical cables I needed cost me more the amp if you can believe that.
Allan -
Internal usb port for Power Mac G5
Hi guys, I need an internal USB port to plug an iLok.
Is there any options?
This thing is kind of VERY IMPORTANT and I don't want
it disappear.
Thank you for your help.
Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)USB 2.0 5-Port PCI Card one port is internal
<http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=122162> -
Power Mac G5 disks # 2Z691-5025-A
Was trying to find 10.4 for my iMac and accidentally purchased the incorrect software on Ebay. The discs are system specific -- part number in subject. I am trying to re-sell now and someone asked if they could use them for an Intel based Mac. What should I tell them? Is there some way to find out which Power Mac G5 that these discs are for? Don't want to lead someone wrong, like I felt I was on Ebay.... Thanks so much!
Thank you so much. Do you think anyone will want these? (I mean are there many G5 computers where someone would want to install 10.4?)
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Jaguar on Power Mac G3 what to do?
Hello,
I have a nice Power Mac G3 and i would like to install Mac OS 10.2. I have tried to install before but almost everything "unexpectidly quit". I have a cd-rw so i need to install patchburn (unless you have another sugesstion, i do not know what brand the cd-rw is) I will also have to install "wireless card bus" app for my belkin wireless f5d7000 (version 3000). so is there a firmware i need to install before i do anything. I do not have mac os 9 on it. please take me step by step to install 10.2. Thanks!
TheMacGuy 12step by step to install 10.2
• First, assume that 10.2 hates you, and thinks your dog is ugly, too. It will not be polite or cooperative. If your Mac goes to sleep or you try to install too much at once, or you do not repair permissions often during the update process, it will fail.
• Remove any PCI cards that did not ship in your Mac. Reduce the memory below 192 MB, preferably all Apple original.
• Open the Energy Saver Control Panel and set Sleep to Never.
• Insert the Mac OS X Install CD and click on the Install Mac OS X (or similar) Icon. Your Mac should restart, boot from the CD, and bring up the Install Opening Screen, inviting you to choose English or another language.
At this point, If you need to use Disk Utility, it is available on the Installer Menu. Remember that re-partitioning your Hard Drive will Erase your Hard drive. But partitions can be erased individually using Disk Utility, and some users insist they have better luck installing 10.2 on its own newly-erased partition. It is not proven.
• De-select the extraneous languages and Printer Drivers you do not need, and any Applications you know you will never use. Proceed with the installation.
• After the installed stuff is automatically optimized, your Mac will re-boot from the newly-installed image on the Hard drive. Sometimes it gets lost at this step and has to be led back to re-boot from the newly-installed image on the Hard Drive. It should enter the Set-up program to establish the Owner account and set various parameters. [In 10.3, it did not all fit on one CD, so after your Mac re-boots, there is still more installing to do, and a CD swap is required.]
• Set Energy Saver settings to Sleep Never. You should assume that permissions are corrupted. At your earliest opportunity, run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions.
• If you want to bring your Mac up to 10.2.8, apply the 10.2.8 Combo update [only] and then Repair Permissions.
• Apply additional updates a few at a time and Repair Permissions after each batch.
• Once you can run the version of Mac OS X 10.2 you desire, you are free to add your removed Hardware back in, and install any additional drivers you may need.
That's my version of what to do. Be sure to read the directions in the read-me files that come with it, too. -
Okay looks like I didn't understand the format for these questions. I have used my Mac BookPro almost exclusively for work and my Power Mac for my home recording studio but now want the Power Mac to be a second computer for my work. So I need to upgrade to Lion and install office 2011. So, considering my subject line, any help offered is appreciated.
Thanks.The max OS for all Macs with a PowerPC processor is Leopard OS 10.5.x.
If you are going to consider getting a newer, but used, Mac, here's the requirements for Lion.
Lion 10.7 System Requirements
• Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor (most models released since late 2006 - early Intel-based Macs with Core Solo or Core Duo processors aren't compatible)
• 2GB of memory (recommend at least 4GB -- and ideally even more, as you'll see benefits in many computing tasks)
• OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended) for Lion download from Apple App Store; or Leopard 10.5.x if using Lion on USB drive
• 7GB of available space (10GB recommended)
Cheers, Tom -
Power Mac G5 Dual Core freezing
Hi,
Everything works fine with my G5 with 4GB RAM, except one thing:
Sometimes when I work for a long time, my mouse justs freeze,
The red light near the RAM slots appears and the fans start being noisy ! (LED 7—Checkstop: red—contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider)
I reboot and all just works fine until the next freeze
I ran Hardware test and apple diagnotics many times but all the tests including the ram test passed successfully.
It happens like 1 or 2 time by day. I couldn't identify the cause or the frequency of the problem (maybe Eyetv usb box, or a spécific app that causes the computer freezing ??? !)
Thanks for the help !
Power Mac G5 Dual Core 2,3 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)Curiously - we have two new Dual 2.3 G5s and they exhibit this same behavior. Suddenly freezing - and not necessarily while we have a lot of apps running. iTunes is always going in the background though. I'll start monitoring the temps on these machines and we'll see what happens. Does anyone know of a menubar app that might display CPU temp on the fly? Could be useful if we see a spike in temperature and then a crash.
One notable thing though, when it does crash, it crashes hard. Everything freezes, the audio (since iTunes is usually running) begins to skip on the last section of the track it was playing, sort of like a skipping record - only much faster. It also appears to have happened to one of the machines last night while it was asleep. I came in the morning the the fans were going crazy - and yes, the little red LED was on. What does that mean?
Dual 2.3 PM G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 4 GB RAM, etc.
iMac Intel Core Duo 20" Mac OS X (10.4.6) iBook G4, iBook G3, iPod Video 30GB, iPod Nano 2GB, iPod Mini, 2G iPod 20G -
Please Help - Power Mac G4 Startup/Application Issues
My Dad was using Adobe Illustrator CS2 on his Power Mac G4. He is running 10.3.9. He went to change a font in the font menu, everything froze, and the beach ball started spinning. He force quit Illustrator, reopened it, and the same thing happened. He tried restarting the computer, and it wouldn't power up. There was no chime, just a fan noise. Finally, it turned on, but no applications work correctly. As soon as we open any program, it freezes and the beach ball starts spinning. Does anyone know what we can do to fix this? Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is his business computer and he needs it for his work.
Power Mac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)Nevermind, it was a font issue.
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