Received a G4 Quicksilver with RAM issues- is reflowing worth it? How to do it?

[moonhack]

So about a week ago or so I got this G4 from a local seller that was advertised as working, with a picture of it booting. It might have been the bumpy ride but when I got it home it only gave 1 long beep (the no RAM detected code) and no picture, even though it has RAM installed. I don't think the seller was a very technical person, so I don't suspect that they swapped a good stick with a bad one, especially on an old obsolete machine. Well, I cleaned it thoroughly, used canned air on the memory slots, swabbed the RAM stick, reseated the CPU card, but I still get the single beep, on any of the 3 slots. I even got another stick but this one curiously gives 3 beeps instead of 1, also on any slot.

Now I've been reading this forum and apparently boards this old are already suffering from cracked solder joints among other issues, and it's very easy to damage these boards. So I thought maybe it's not worth it buying another logic board and potentially killing it accidentally or it dying due to age as well. Since I already have this dead board, I'd like to try reflowing it as I read about that here. How do I do it? Can I stick the board in the oven and have it come out fixed? Should I hire an expert? Keep in mind that I suck at soldering and have failed numerous hobbyist electronics projects throughout my life due to my terrible skills.

Please help a noob!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Phipli]

So about a week ago or so I got this G4 from a local seller that was advertised as working, with a picture of it booting. It might have been the bumpy ride but when I got it home it only gave 1 long beep (the no RAM detected code) and no picture, even though it has RAM installed. I don't think the seller was a very technical person, so I don't suspect that they swapped a good stick with a bad one, especially on an old obsolete machine. Well, I cleaned it thoroughly, used canned air on the memory slots, swabbed the RAM stick, reseated the CPU card, but I still get the single beep, on any of the 3 slots. I even got another stick but this one curiously gives 3 beeps instead of 1, also on any slot.

Now I've been reading this forum and apparently boards this old are already suffering from cracked solder joints among other issues, and it's very easy to damage these boards. So I thought maybe it's not worth it buying another logic board and potentially killing it accidentally or it dying due to age as well. Since I already have this dead board, I'd like to try reflowing it as I read about that here. How do I do it? Can I stick the board in the oven and have it come out fixed? Should I hire an expert? Keep in mind that I suck at soldering and have failed numerous hobbyist electronics projects throughout my life due to my terrible skills.

Please help a noob!

Thanks in advance.

With a quicksilver, if you have one with a tidy case and a working powersupply, the cheapest easiest fix might to pick up another in a rough case and swap the boards over. Try to get one with the same bus speed. You can often find them for not much money at all.

 

[moonhack]

With a quicksilver, if you have one with a tidy case and a working powersupply, the cheapest easiest fix might to pick up another in a rough case and swap the boards over. Try to get one with the same bus speed. You can often find them for not much money at all.

Well, they're not exactly free in my country... is it that hard to fix a broken one, just not worth the effort?

Would you guys recommend buying both the logic board and cpu daughterboard, or just the logic board? What are the chances of the cpu board being the culprit? There is a logic board for my exact model going for pretty cheap where I live, and also a logic board+cpu (a slower one, 733mhz vs 800mhz) going for a bit more, though at this point I don't know if they would survive shipping

 

[moonhack]

Final update: It *was* the RAM all along. Went to a local shop that had a box full of old ram sticks and we found a working pair. No reflow or mobo change needed! Sadly I'll have to let this machine go as it reeks of cigarette smoke when it warms up, even after a full cleaning

 

[Phipli]

Final update: It *was* the RAM all along. Went to a local shop that had a box full of old ram sticks and we found a working pair. No reflow or mobo change needed! Sadly I'll have to let this machine go as it reeks of cigarette smoke when it warms up, even after a full cleaning

That will clear with use.

 

[moonhack]

That will clear with use.

Interesting, this is the first time I hear that! Everyone else seems to say it's impossible to remove it. I obviously cannot have it running 24/7 in my room as it truly stinks (the smell has already penetrated my AC after just 2 days of use), but do you think letting it run, say, outside, would be a good idea? It's really hard to resell these here and I would love to keep it, but the smell is a deal-breaker :/

 

[Phipli]

Interesting, this is the first time I hear that! Everyone else seems to say it's impossible to remove it. I obviously cannot have it running 24/7 in my room as it truly stinks (the smell has already penetrated my AC after just 2 days of use), but do you think letting it run, say, outside, would be a good idea? It's really hard to resell these here and I would love to keep it, but the smell is a deal-breaker :/

My Pismo stank when I first got it - its fine now. Every time I used it it smelt a bit less.

You'll find that it will get less bad fairly quickly...

Just need to hang an air freshener next to the fan