G5 Mac Pros and IBM PS/2 Portable

[CompuNurd]

I got an email last week from my electronic surplus shop, I almost skipped over it, but I figured they may be having another sale or something. It turns out, they are retiring the business and will be closing in 6 months, crap!

Everything is 20% off, and the discounts will only be greater over time. I will imagine they will still have most of the store to clear when they are locking their doors for the last time, so I will imagine I can score some free/dirt cheap items for the collection and resale pile.

Anyway, I headed up there today for the Quadra 950 and some IIvx computers, but I was thinking resale, as I have spent a lot of money on some stuff I will not be selling. I didn't feel ashamed for passing up the $40 Q950 because it is pretty trashed. There is no front case, it looks as it was literally smashed off, some stuff inside is bouncing around and bent up. I will be getting that later.

I saw some Mac Pros, and decided that shouldn't be too hard to upgrade, repair, and resale, so I got my sales guy to get me a price. He gave me $130, but I didn't feel satisfied with only the Pros. I headed over to the vintage shelf and picked up an IBM I knew nothing about, but wanted because it looked interesting.

He priced $145, I said 140, and we made a deal.

3x G5 Pros, and an IBM PS/2 Portable that I saw selling for twice what I paid for the lot. Not bad! I am now attached to the IBM, so I will not be selling it.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

G5 Power Macs lol, not Pros.

What's the config on the PM's?

 

[CompuNurd]

Pros..? oops...

No RAM, no drives. I can probably get some cheap or find them in my parts box.

Unless you are talking about CPUs, since some Pros came with dual CPUs, but did the PM G5s come with a dual CPU configuration?

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Almost all Power Mac G5's had a dual CPU config. They're very interesting machines. Even had some liquid cooled variants.

 

[CompuNurd]

I would guess there are two heatsinks with G5 printed on them?

I will check later, but I am pretty sure they all had dual G5 heatsinks.

 

[CC_333]

For a moment, I thought you were talking about the Intel-based Mac Pros, because I would've asked if you had a 2009 model I could buy (not that my 2008 isn't perfectly fine as is).

But G5s are good too. If any of them are Quad G5s, however, I might be interested (I have one, but it needs an LCS (Liquid Cooling System) overhaul).

c

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Yep.

Way to tell generation is to look at the heat sink vanity covers. If they're two separate covers, with a clear gap, those are first generation models. If G5 is printed twice but the cover is one piece, those are second generation with 970fx processors, that run cooler (90nm vs 110nm). Third generation G5's have one large cover with "G5" on it. Third gens have either one Dual Core 970MP or two dual core 970MP's.

 

[CompuNurd]

Popped a stick of RAM in a random socket of each one (shouldn't matter which socket if there is only one stick, right?) and they all just run their fans at full blast.

If I remember correctly, the solder joints on the logic board crack and need to be reflowed? I thought that was mostly graphics cards, and this doesn't even have one installed. Does the G5 need a graphics card to produce a bong?

 

[Sherry Haibara]

Did you put it back together and closed the case door before turning it on? I seem to remember (but I may be wrong here) that G5s will not boot at all unless the door is properly closed.

If this doesn't do the trick, try heating up the area around the RAM slots with an hairdryer, if they suffer from the bad joints problem this should suffice to bring them back to life at least for a while.

You should also check the RAM you put in is correct (ECC won't work if I remember correctly) , and also try to put in a couple of sticks. G5s are picky about RAM!

 

[Compgeke]

Fairly certain the G5s need two sticks of ram, one in each corresponding slot and matching ram at that. A bit of the pain in the ass from experience but then again nothing on the G5s was really easy to upgrade imo.

 

[ScutBoy]

Yup - needs two sticks of RAM and the clear airflow cover needs to be in place.

I can vouch for the hairdryer trick - I had a G5 that needed 30 seconds or so of hot air in through the front grate before it would turn on.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Yep. They're very different beasts. Airflow cover needs to be installed, and you have to have matched RAM, one in a corresponding slot (they're numbered). Unless the machine only has four slots, in which case it's a very lame G5 lol.

The final Dual Core G5's are DDR2 and will accept ECC, but ALL the RAM has to be ECC if thats what you're doing.

 

[SuperToaster]

PowerPro G5

 

[rsolberg]

I remember thinking I'd destroyed a brand spanking new G5 1.6 whilst upgrading the ram. Memory must be installed in dual channel matched pairs or no boot. If you have attempted to boot with ram installed incorrectly, you'll need to reset the PMU, otherwise you'll get loud fans and nothing else, even if the ram is now correctly installed. This may or may not be of use, depending on the vintage of your machines.