I screen is messed up.

Question

I was given a G4 Power Mac.  I tried to change out one of the hard drives and when I powered back on the screen had vertical lines.  I hear the apple ding and the drives are spinning.  I put the restore CD in and it acts like it reading it.  I put the original hard drive back in and pushed the reset button that's next to the battery.  It's still doing the same thing.  Is there anything that I can do?  Thanks

Answer 1

A broken capacitor will give some nice stripes on the monitor.
You don't say what G4 it is that you have.
I have listed all OEM cards and all upgrade possibilities on the following two page links:
8923D90A-7AD8-41F1-BD1A-FEA5E1780B95.html
4B4B7BA2-7ABB-47F1-87AC-B03D37942BEE.html
Generally speaking, a G4 will use any of the cards listed on the first "Part 1-OS 9" page.
A MDD should stick with the Geforce4 MX or the Radeon 9000 Pro. A Geforce Ti is nice if available.
A Digital Audio or Quicksilver is best off with the same two cards, but can also use any of the others listed.
The Sawtooth or Gigabit Ethernet can use any of the cards as well. The Sawtooth, however, cannot support ADC.
An upgraded card that supports Core image for OS X should be considered.
Any G4 can use a Radeon 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro.
Those two cards are the top cards for the Sawtooth or Gigabit Ethernet.
The DA or QS can use any of the cards listed, but will benefit nicely from a flashed Geforce 6800 GT or a lesser Radeon 9800 XT.
The MDD cannot use a Geforce 6800 GT or Ultra, but can use a Geforce 7800 GS, or a Radeon 9800 XT. A flashed Radeon X800XT (FireGL X3) is also a nice card for the MDD.
Any card considered for purchase MUST be stated as Mac and OS X Compatible or it is likely a PC card that won't work.
eBay is the best source for used cards.