How large of a hard drive can I install on dual G5, and do I need more RAM?

Question

I recently had a situation in which my dual-processor 2.0 G5 was completely refurbished by Apple repair-new logic board, both processors, video card, thermistor, all new. Finally it has been working well after a month of trips back and forth from the Apple store. I have two internal hard drives installed on my G5, both 300GB, one for OS applications, and one for audio. I am running out of space on my main hard drive, and so I recently purchased a Maxtor 1TB hard drive, now manufactured by Seagate, from Fry's. After having my G5 refurbished, I was having an issue with my Samsung 930B monitor going into sleep mode when I boot-up from a CD, but other than that G5 was working fine. I removed the main 300GB hard drive from slot #1 and put it into slot #2, from which I had removed my audio hard drive. I installed the Maxtor drive in slot #1 and reformatted it for Mac using my laptop with ATA/USB cables previously purchased for data transfer. This took about 14 hours as I used the "zeros" option. After that I hooked up the internal cables to both drives and tried to boot up from Leopard in order to install it on the Maxtor drive, but again my monitor went into to sleep mode. We went to the Apple store to try to see if there was an issue with the computer, but everything worked fine with their monitors and CD's, as well as my CD. So there is some kind of issue with my monitor, probably software as it works fine when booting up from the main hard drive, and also was fine when I did its self-test function. While at the Apple store, they installed Leopard from their hard drive which took about 30 minutes.
My problem is this: When I arrived home, I turned on my G5, which had been set to boot from my new Maxtor drive and complete the Leopard setup process, which we had decided to do at home as it would have taken another 20 minutes in the Apple store. The G5 turned on, chimed, I got the Apple screen with the wheel, but then after that my monitor goes into sleep mode. I can hear Leopard's setup intro playing through the speakers, but the screen is in sleep mode. So I reboot holding down the option key so I can boot up from my old (300GB) main hard drive, now in slot #2. This works and the monitor screen does not go to sleep. However, as I am browsing on the web to check for issues concerning this monitor, the G5 freezes, and I get a screen with black bars with writing in them and various technical language across the screen. This happened several times after rebooting. Finally I shut the computer down. I am going to try removing the new hard drive and putting both old ones back in and see if the G5 stops crashing. I think the monitor issue is a separate issue, and I am more concerned with the crashing, as previous to the new hard drive installation the G5 was working fine, monitor fine, other than the issue when booting up from a CD. Do I need more memory? Is the 1TB hard drive too large for my dual-processor 2.0 G5 and overloading it? Would I be better off with a 500GB drive? Would appreciate advice from persons with experience in this area. Thank you.

Answer 1

I have replaced my 5 year old G5 with a Mac Pro, as the G5 just had too many issues, even after replacing all major components (logic board, both processors, video card, etc.) Once I took out the 1 TB hard drive from my old G5, it stopped having the kernel panic issue. Nonetheless I had been through a lengthy repair process previous to this issue, so I didn't care to trust an older machine any longer, especially since being told by an Apple tech that the "new" parts were really just older parts stockpiled from a central location. Could be new, could be refurbished. Apple was kind enough to credit the money we had spent on the G5 repairs towards the purchase of my Mac Pro.