Exrended Desktop in Tiger/PowerMac G4 MDD

Hi, I just made the switch full time into OSX, running Tiger 10.4.3. Previously I was running 9.2 and switching into OSX 10.2 as needed. I was running an extra monitor with an extended desktop for my pallettes, etc that worked in both systems. Now in 10.4 I am not even given the option to extended the desktop in displays, nor does it detect anything when "Detect Display" is clicked. The big question is Why doesn;t it work?, but in light of that could it be the extra video card is no longer compatable perhaps? I'd really like to get the extended desktop back.
iBook 900 (14) 9.2/PowerMac G4 MDD 10.4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Just to add if the computer has an old OS installed (older than the version that shipped with the MDD), I guess it's possible the drive lacks full support at the OS level. Like Dave says, I expect it's just the jumper settings and changing them from cable select to master should get the drive working. If the drive still can't be used when burning discs via the OS disc burner and iTunes etc though, it may be an OS/application problem. Third party applications like Toast etc should still work though.

Similar Messages

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb or 256mb for PowerMac G4 MDD

I hane just a bought a PowerMac G4 MDD dual core 1.25 GHZ. I t has the old ATI Radeon 9000 pro. I am definately going to buy a 9800 Pro. But, I would like to know wether or not to spend the extra $70 on the 256mb card, rather than pay only $90 for the 128MB edition. I am not going to be doing anything CRAZY like photoshoping, or final cut pro or anything like that, bu I am going to be playing the casual 2002-2004 game here and there (Half-Life 2). And, I would also be running emulators. So, I have compared the two cards and have not noticed anything different as far as specs go. Except for 128MB more ram. I am on a budget, but would like the extra performance.
Thanks for repsonding,
Tanner (armadaskier4123)

There is virtually NO performance difference between the 256 MB version and the 128 MB version of the 9800 Pro.
Even with a digital monitor of 23" at full, native resolution of 1920x1200, the 256 MB version shows NO benefit.
In actual tests, the 256 MB version shows slightly slower, but mostly equal.
IMHO, it is NOT worth an extra $70.
See my Graphics Benchmarks pages and decide for yourself:
http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/All_Things_PPC.html
If a G4 is a Digital Audio, Quicksilver or MDD, the 7800 GS is worth the money for use in Tiger.
For Leopard, a Geforce 6800 GT may be better due to better driver support and OpenGL performance.
The 6800 GT, sadly, cannot be used in a MDD.
Still, the 7800 GS does perform very well in Leopard, and is the best choice for a MDD.
If a G4 is a Sawtooth or Gigabit Ethernet machine, the 7800 GS (or the 6800 GT) cannot be used.

PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1.42 not recognizing hard drives

I have a PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1.42 GHz, and I just moved across country, and it was working before the move, now it won't start up. It goes right to a grey screen with a blinking question mark and finder icon. I have 2 hard drives in it. One with Leopard, and the other with Tiger, and it won't recognize either. I reset the PRAM, I checked all the connections inside, started it up holding the option key and it doesn't show either hard drive. I also started it up with the Leopard install disc and using Disk Utility it still couldn't find the drives! Next thing I am going to try is resetting the PMU and see if that works...otherwise both hard drives went bad or possibly the cable for both of them went bad??

operati0n69er wrote:
... I checked all the connections inside...
When you checked the cable connections, did you check both ends of all cables? For example, if the moving loosened the ATA cable at the logicboard/controller end, checking the drives' connectors won't reveal much.
Do the drives spin up when you power the machine on (you may need to open the side panel and gently touch the drives while booting to test this)? If not, suspect a power cable connection issue. If they do, suspect an ATA cable connection issue.
Best way to confirm a cable connection is sound is to undo it and redo it - they can look okay when they are not okay. Do this with the machine shut down, of course.

Installing Leopard 10.5.1 on PowerMac G4 MDD

I have a PowerMac G4 MDD dual processor 1.25 Ghz, 1.024 GB Ram, with 115 GB internal Apple issued hard drive. The ram, keyboard and mouse are Apple original issue.
I am running Mac OS X 10.2.1 (6R73) on the original hard drive.
I am attempting to install Leopard 10.5.1 from an Apple DVD. (The Family 5 pack license) and have not been successful despite many attempts.
The Apple Studio display is connected to an Apple issued video card. The Mac came with an Ultra SCSI card. I removed it.
I installed a new Seagate Barracuda 320 GB ATA/6 7200 RPM 3.5 16 MB on the same buss as the original hard drive. I did not move the original hard drive from its original position. The Seagate hard drive jumpers are set to Cable Select. This drive would not accept installation of Mac OS 10.5. It also would not Verify or Repair. “Invalid B-Tree Header” was an unrepairable error. I exchanged that drive for another identically rated drive, and began again.
I verified the 10.5.1 install disk media twice. No error messages. Visual inspection of disk shows some minor scuffs, but they were on the disk when received. The disk package was sealed.
I have formatted the target drive using Apple Disk Utility--the Mac OS 10.2.1. compatible version. It has passed the Verify routine many times.
I have run the “Install New System and the “Erase and Install” many times.
I have run a CD/DVD lens cleaning disk once. No help.
System preferences set to Never sleep. Screen saver turned off. Not connected to any network during install attempts.
No other PCI cards or any other modifications to the machine.
I created a new Administrator account, logged in and attempted an install. Install failed. Error message: Cannot validate “BaseSystem’ package.
On some install attempts, some files were written to the target hard drive but not enough to constitute a functional system “Install Failed” message appears after about 2-4 minutes.
On other attempts, the install would hang in less than 2-4 minutes.
I have an identical PowerMac G4 MDD dual processor 1.25 Ghz, 1.024 GB Ram, with 115 GB internal hard drive on which the 10.5 DVD Leopard disk installed on an identical Seagate 320 GB hard drive on the first attempt. Both G4’s were purchased new on the same date from the same retailer.
The only differences between my two G4 MDD’s are:
1. that the problem G4 is running 10.2.1 on the original hard drive, and the working G4 is running 10.2.8 on the original hard drive. (I am not attempting to install 10.5 on that drive.)
2. that before installing 10.5.1, I moved the original 115 GB hard drive on the successful G4 to the slower buss and put two Seagate 320 GB drives on the faster buss previously occupied only by the original 115 GB hard drive.
3. I have not checked to see if the ram chips on the two G4’s are exactly identical manufacture, etc. Also have not compared every detail in System Profiler to determine if build number, etc. are identical.
To test the effect of drive position on the problem G4 MDD, I moved the original 115 MB hard drive to the slower buss, and put the Seagate target drive in the Master position on the faster buss cable. An Erase and Install attempt failed. Error message: “The installer could not verify the ‘BaseSystem’ package. Three folders were installed on this attempt. “BaseSystem.pkg.152.Mrqnl2” of zero KB, “Library” of zero KB, and “private” of 64 MB. On a previous attempt, the BaseSystem folder was about 292 Mb.
Sorry this is so long but I wanted to avoid the first thirty questions clarifying things I missed.
I would appreciate your help. Thanks.

Not having a firewire cable at hand, I transplanted the target drive to the successful install G4 so that I was installing on the successful G4 using a "successful CD/DVD drive" on to the target Seagate Drive. WORKED the first attempt.
Believing that the knowledge gained by these tedious exercises in troubleshooting should be shared and added to the public record, the following should be noted.
Clearly, either the problem G4 MDD has a problem, or the CD/DVD drive in the G4 MDD has a problem with installing Mac OS 10.5. A gambler would bet on the CD/DVD drive having some issue and not the Mac G4.
It is noteworthy that the CD/DVD drive in question has successfully read and burned CD's and verified the Mac OS 10.5 Install DVD without error, hence, in all of those actions, indicated no error or problems at all, yet, appears to be the problem. Perhaps INSTALL of Mac OS 10.5 raises some issue with the CD/DVD drive that the other successful actions (reading and burning of CD's) does not raise. I have no other reasonable explanation.
My complimentary Apple Care for my purchase of a family pack Leopard 10.5 treatment was that since I was not installing 10.5 on my "main drive" any help was outside my Apple Care coverage. (The subject drive was on the Master position of the fastest ATA cable, and to my non-technical, dumb lawyer approach to things, was the "Main Drive.)
Of course, a prudent person would install a new operating system on a clean drive without trashing (and jeopardizing) a working operating system (and the data on that drive) until certain that the new operating system was fully functional and non-destructive, before switching to the new operating system. That concept appears outside the scope of complimentary AppleCare. Even more relavant, given comments in the Apple knowledge base about the disasterous consequences of interrupting an install.
Thank you to Eustice who was precisely on track as near as we will probably ever know.
I have spent nearly 8 days messing with this,(well spent)and, read nearly 1,000 questions and replies on various forums on other issues beyond this which have solved many questions I have not posted. To all of the true giants of technical genius who have helped me and so many others in this forum, THANK YOU.

Is it possible to output 1080 to a 50" LG Plasma from a PowerMac G4 MDD?

PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1Ghz
1.5GB Ram
AGP GeForce 4MX
OSX 10.2.8
LG 50PY3DF (50" LG Plasma)
I work in a video department and recently got new Mac Pros leaving us with some spare G4's. We're looking into having one of the G4s replace the old iMac in the studio and connect it to the 50" LG Plasma to display HD Graphics/Video. Currently we have an older iMac connected to it through a scan converter displaying at it's highest resolution which is low, so the image isnt good on the plasma.
I've looked into 2 cards for the G4, the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and 9800 Pro, so that I could then output from DVI to HDMI. They both support 1920x1080 (9600 @ 150hz and the 9800 @ 120hz for analog monitors).
Does the analog refresh rate differ from a plasma refresh rate? The LG accepts 1920x1080 60hz at RGB/HDMI-PC, 1920x1080 75hz RGB-PC, and 1920x1080 24-60hz HDMI-DTV.
Any Ideas? Thanks

PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1Ghz
1.5GB Ram
AGP GeForce 4MX
OSX 10.2.8
LG 50PY3DF (50" LG Plasma)
I work in a video department and recently got new Mac Pros leaving us with some spare G4's. We're looking into having one of the G4s replace the old iMac in the studio and connect it to the 50" LG Plasma to display HD Graphics/Video. Currently we have an older iMac connected to it through a scan converter displaying at it's highest resolution which is low, so the image isnt good on the plasma.
I've looked into 2 cards for the G4, the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and 9800 Pro, so that I could then output from DVI to HDMI. They both support 1920x1080 (9600 @ 150hz and the 9800 @ 120hz for analog monitors).
Does the analog refresh rate differ from a plasma refresh rate? The LG accepts 1920x1080 60hz at RGB/HDMI-PC, 1920x1080 75hz RGB-PC, and 1920x1080 24-60hz HDMI-DTV.
Any Ideas? Thanks

How do I transfer music on itunes on powermac g4 mdd to my ipod touch 5g

It may sound too radical but I want to transfer my music stored on iTunes on my Powermac G4 MDD to my newest toy, iPod Touch 5G. I connected the ipod to the powermac. iTunes didn't show my iPod. Does anyone know how to get around to do this? Other than these two, I have an iPad 2 and a Macbook Pro. Using all these, can I somehow get the music from my antique Mac?

Here's your problem. the iPod Touch requirements:
Syncing with iTunes on a Mac requires:
Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later
iTunes 10.7 or later (current version is v11)
Your PM G4 is at its max OS. You need a Mac with an Intel processor.
But you say you have a MacBook Pro and it can sync to the iPod. Still you need to get your music to the MBP. There are several options. You could connect your G4 to the MBP and use Target Disk Mode, or you could use a Flash thumb drive to transfer.
 Cheers, Tom

How much for a PowerMac G4 MDD?

Im thinking of selling my PowerMac G4 MDD Single 1.25Ghz. Here are the stats:
Single 1.25Ghz G4
320GB Hard Drive Space
512MB Ram
32X Combo Drive
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB
4 Port Belkin USB 2.0 Card (Upgrade)
2 Firewire 400 Ports
So how much do you think I could get? Thanks

Hi, Ebay would probably might be your best if you set a reserve price, I recently went to Mac of All Trades, http://www.macofalltrades.com/default.asp to see what they would offer for my upgraded 2003 MDD (FW800), with everything I have in it, they offered $450.

Powermac G4 MDD wont turn on

Okay so yesterday I picked up a Powermac G4 MDD Dual 1Ghz 2gb running 10.5.8 and all was well. When I went to change the admin account name it asked for a password, that I dont have. So after some searching on the internet I find a solution. It requires me to boot into single user mode. So I boot the computer holding Command + S (Actually a Dell keyboard, so Windows key + S. I hear the start up chime then everything shuts off. When I try to press the power button the power light only lights up as long as it's pressed. I tried reseting the pram to no avail but have no way to test the battery. I'm completely lost here. How bad did I broked it?

Hmmm, disconnect the power cord, all peripherals including Monitor, remove PRAM Battery, let sit several hours to a day, then try starting it with nothing but power cord attached, sgut down if needed, install RAM & all peripherals, try again.
Was this OSX Server do you know? Or just OSX client?

Correctly Identifying the PowerMac G4 MDD I Own

Back in the fall as a spare house computer, I picked up a PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1.42 Tower. As I do all the upgrading, repair and/or maintenance on our computers this particular PowerMac is throwing me for a loop as far as properly identifying it in knowing the exact model I can draw from in order to obtain the correct parts etc. It appears that this particular Tower has gone through quite a metamorphosis in its lifetime in that the side outer case label serial number/description indicates that it was originally a Dual 1.0 GHz while the serial number listed in "About This Mac" when referenced here in the Support "Tech Specs" section list it as a MDD Dual 1.25 GHz . To complicate matters the same "About This Mac" tab as well as within the "System Profiel" itself list my MDD as a "Dual 1.42 GHz Power PC G4 2 MB L3 cache per processor" respectively. In doing my own research, it would appear that the original Dual 1.0 GHz processor was upgraded at some point to a Dual 1.42 GHz. This all makes as my G4 MDD Dual 1.42 GHz does not possess a Firewire 800 port and despite having four (4) RAM slots, it appears to max out at 2 GB's. My conclusion therefore has been to assess that in all other instances other then the processor itself, I still basically have a PowerMac G4 Dual 1.0 GHz and therefore if I should ever need to make repairsand/or acquire additional parts as far as following the correct specs as a guidline I should look only at this model as a reference. My question is I am correct in this assumption or is there anything additional I should consider or be informed about ?

Sounds like your assumptions are correct, but the ramifications have little limitation with regard to parts, upgrades.....
In the long run, and unless you have a FW800 logic board, the only parts that are different between all the MDD/FW800 machines are the logic boards and Airport/Airport Extreme cards.
All the MDD/FW800 machines can use the same drives, optical and hard, same 2GB max RAM (PC2700 except for the DP 867 MDD, 1.0 FW800), same 4x AGP graphics cards, same PCI cards, same PSU, same power switch board, etc., etc.
Only the logic boards are different within the MDD/FW800 models, and non-FW800 MDDs can only use the Airport 802.11b card, not the Airport Extreme 802.11g card that FW800 boards use.
The installation of the 1.42 processors on the earlier DP 1.0 GHz machine actually made life easier, as the later 1.0 GHz machine had a slower logic board bus and required resistor moves.....

Powermac G4 MDD PC2700 issue

I currently have 1 stick of 512 PC2700 RAM in my computer, and have tried twice to upgrade to the max of 2G for my Powermac G4 MDD 1.25 with ATI graphics card. Each time I upgrade to RAM that is identical to the stick that's already there, I have kernel panics and applications and OS start to unexpectedly quit after a few minutes.
I'm positive that the RAM is 512mb PC2700 333Mhz - and identical to the one that is already in the machine and working. I can place each of the sticks into the first slot and things work fine (although system profile wants to class each as PC2600).
I've bought the sticks from Crucial - and then after that failed - I bought from an Apple dealer. I know the sticks work individually, but what else could be the problem? and more importantly how do I fix it? - For the record, my company doesn't want to swing for a new mac - so that's off the table until all other options have been exhausted. Please help, I'm past frustrated trying to do this on my own.

I've had exactly the same issue
The first time I had the problem was after a motherboard and CPU replacement under warranty, because of heats problems due to a fan failure. The slots where brand new so no dust at all...but the modules were generic ones. So I suspected the module's quality and the reseller did exchange them but didn't give my money back (nor improuvements) !
As one generic module at a time was working (but with 2 = no boot) , I kept one generic 512 Mo instead of the stock 256 Apple/samsung one and all was OK.
6 month after I had enought cash to buy two other 512 Mo from Dane-elec and thought it would work cause it's a good made. but it was the same thing. So I did return them and this time got my money back, but Apple's warranty was over.
Some days after I had enough cash to buy two 512 Mo from Crucial, I thought it would work...
So since that, I have always used only 1x 512 and have never had a problem. (except not enough memory for my use and unused 512 ), but I need more memory on my mac and would really like to understand what's going on.
Machine : G4 MDD bi 1,25 Ghz dual boot, ROM 4.4.8f2,
Tested ram modules : 1 Apple stock 256 Mo, 4x512 dane-elec, 2x512 Crucial, 2x512 Elixir (generic)
all are SDRAM DDR333 PC2700 mac compatible
- 1 module installed : Boot OK, Stability OK (any module in any slot)
- 2 modules installed : don't boot ( Spins forever or Kernel panic before system loads )
- 3 modules installed : Boot OK, but Unstable (Kernel panics after a little time, when using applications)
- 4 modules installed : don't boot ( Spins forever or Kernel panic before system loads )
All those steps have been tested with any of the different module, in any slot position.
Memtest in single user mode :
1 module by one = OK (any made)
More than one = lots of failures
AHT : all is OK
--> logic board is OK
memtest : each RAM module is OK separetly in any slot
--> RAM is OK
slots : when one stick is inserted in any slot, works OK
--> Slots are OK
It seems to work Ok in OS9
Also has been tested with another fresh ATA drive : same results.
These test have been done with all PCI cards and peripherals removed and only one hard drive with a fresh system.
Each time I do : zap PRAM or reset nvram/defaults/all in open firmware , permissions repair (it's a good test for me : when 3 modules are inserted simultaneously, the system can take 1 to 30 minutes before crashing. With disk utility running, it takes only 20 sec.)
Hope someone can help !

PowerMac G4 MDD power button flashes but doesn't boot

My PowerMac G4 MDD will not boot when the power button is pressed. The power button lights up for about 1/2 second and then goes out. There are no noises at all. No hard drive spin-up, and no fan.
For the past few years, in order to get the machine to boot up, it has been necessary to unplug it from the power source and plug it in again. I have read about other people having this same exact problem and remedy. Now, however, doing the unplug/replug thing no longer gets the machine to boot. The power button will light up briefly only after an unplug/replug. Subsequent pushes will not cause it to light up until another unplug/replug is done.
I have removed all peripherals, including the video card (only card that was in the machine), 3 of the 4 RAM modules, disconnected the hard drive and DVD drive power cables, and disconnected the fan, and removed the PRAM battery (which I know is probably dead), and this makes no difference in the behavior: The power button lights up for about 1/2 second and nothing more. I also disconnected and reconnected the power supply cable to the motherboard. No difference.
There seem to be 2 possibilities: I need to get a new PRAM battery and press the PMU reset button, or my power supply has gone bad.
Before I buy a PRAM battery, I am investigating the power supply to see if I can tell whether it is good or not. Some people with similar problems have discovered blown fuses in their power supplies. Before I open up my power supply and look for that fuse, I have a question for anyone who had that fuse problem: Did your power button still light up, even briefly, when your power supply had the blown fuse?
Best regards,
Dave

Hi steff1920, and a warm welcome to the forums!
While you may get help or a solution here, It's quite acceptable to start a new topic of your own, certainly feel free to start a new topic to attract more helpers to your particular situation, here's a link if as is often the case, it's hard to find out where to do it...
http://discussions.apple.com/post!default.jspa?forumID=589
Hopefully we can get things explained.

PowerMac G4 MDD Video Capture Help

Hello, I have in my possession a B&W PowerMac G3 tower that is the educational AV edition that includes the Xclaim VR Pro PCI graphics card/capture card. It works only under OS9 and using Apple Video Player application. When I am done recording via either the Svideo or Composite ports (the only input ports on it), it encodes super slow, as it is a G3 at 350MHZ. This is just background information to what I need help with.
Anyway, I also own a PowerMac G4 MDD dual 1.0GHZ that runs OS 9.2.2 and 10.4.11 on separate hard drives. I wanted to speed up the video capture so I popped the Xclaim VR Pro into the top PCI slot of my MDD and removed the current Radeon 9000 Pro in the AGP slot (only when recording). I installed the latest ATI drivers for both cards here: Gona
So the the video capture works fine, but my main problem here is that I can't keep the audio input to stay on Line In, so it records sound. I can click Line In, but as soon as I let go of the mouse, it reverts back to None. Very frustrating. I would use the Apple Video Player application if I had it, but aperantly MDD's version of OS 9.2.2 does not include it. Can someone help me please? I appreciate any input on this matter. Please do not suggest that I buy a new Mac or a different capture device, as I am not looking to do that if I dont have to. Thank you.

I used to have an XClaim VR 128 card. I will try to look around for software on the web. In the meantime, here's an excerpt from a page on xlr8yourmac.com. I hope it helps.
OS 9.1 manages audio input differently than previous OS versions. This seems to prevent some applications (including Apple's own Apple Video Player) from changing the source.
For SoundEdit to record, I find I have to set the input source using either the control strip or the control panel BEFORE I launch the program. I also can't seem to get the "Recording Options" dialog to come up (nothing happens when I select the menu option), but since I don't use the program regularly, I may just be doing something wrong.
(reply)
try booting with a clean OS 9.1 install and set the audio source prior to running SoundEdit.
Several other readers noted they also had SoundEdit problems in OS9.1. (Some later wrote to say this did not solve their problems.)
Source (near the middle of the page): http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OS9/OS9_1_feedback.html

See Airdisk over 1.25 Dual G4 Desktop with Tiger

I can't seem to see the Airdisk I set up on my Airport Extreme from a G4 desktop running Tiger. The G4 is connected directly to the Airport Extreme by Ethernet. I can see the Airdisk via Wifi on my MacPro 2.66 using Wifi 'N".
Any suggestions? Is it that Tiger cannot support this and I need to put Leopard on the old G4?

So how do I mount it so the G4 can see it? "Connect to Server" menu?

PowerMac G4 MDD sometimes won't start, fans run full speed

I was recently given a PowerMac G4 MDD but am having a problem with it.
Sometimes it will start and boot OK but other times it will do nothing, no chime, nothing on the screen and after a few seconds the fans (or a fan) appears to start running at full speed.
Turning it off and back on usually makes it work.
I have checked the PRAM battery which seems good at 2.67v, and then I tried resetting the PMU as suggested on the forum somewhere but that didn't help either.
Normally being a Windows\PC person I am not really sure what to do next. I get the impression it's a hardware problem but not sure what.
Hopefully someone else will recognise these symptoms and can help me!

Ha, you just made me check the battery again - I must have made an error because the battery is 3.67v, NOT 2.67v
Unfortunately, I guess that means the battery is not the problem?
I wonder if I have a PSU problem? After what Hank said, I read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4 that "A very common issue in the MDD models was a failing PSU."

PowerMac G4 MDD errors after machine warms up

Hello: I have a dual 1GHz PowerPC/1Gb ram PowerMac, purchased as a Demo unit from Apple retail store, Running OS X 10.4.8. AppleCare expired 3 weeks ago (Isn't that life?). Up to now, operation has been flawless, with exception of disk error on boot HD which Disk Utility repaired about a month ago.
When first turned on, everything operates normally; After about an hour or so, various problems start occuring; Mail can't connect with ISP server, highlighting text or opening an application results in spinning beach ball for minutes, Computer will not shut down on it's own, etc.
I've run the Apple Disk Utility Verify & TechTool Deluxe test CD (Part of AppleCare); Neither indicates problems; iStat nano widget shows CPU temp at a steady 131 degrees.
Don't know if I should replace original DeskStar HDD and reinstall everything, buy diagnostics software? Don't have money for new Apple......
Ideas anyone?
Thanks,
Mike
Powermac G4 MDD dual 1GHz power PC Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Powermac G4 MDD dual 1GHz power PC Mac OS X (10.4.8) Hardware additions are second 40GB HD & Adaptec USB 2.0 PCI adapter card

Mike,
Welcome to discussions.
It certainly sounds like a heat issue, but that
doesn't mean bad news. Start by shutting down,
opening up and removing all the memory. Then clean
the unit, get rid of all the dust. Then put the
memory back in, ensuring it has a perfect fit.
Badly seated memory, lots of heat (from the CPUs
right next to it) can cause strange behaviour like
this.
How much space is available on the internal boot disk
Did open it up, vacuum and blow dust out, pulled memory modules, cleaned & reseated. Apple OEM is Samsung; When I bought the machine, I had added two Crucial 256MB to bring up to 1GB. Tried running Apple Hardware Test CD that came with G4; Comes up with Invalid Memory Access at %SRR0 00034870 %SRR1 00003030; If you try to run tests, you get a quick burgendy, then black screen, then back to white screen with same invalid memory message. Not sure if it is a real problem; Some references on 'net claim it is problem with AHT or because of Samsung RAM; Bottom line is can't run any tests other than the TechTools Deluxe which was part of AppleCare.
There is 9GB free on the Deskstar 80 GB drive, and about the same on the 40GB Western Digital that I added as a second drive in the rear carrier.
Powermac G4 MDD dual 1GHz power PC Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Exrended Desktop in Tiger/PowerMac G4 MDD

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