Another Good Score

[Topcat]

A G5 Mac this time... I've recapped hundreds of these systems over the last couple years, but I've never seen one intact, I had no idea what a complete one even looked like....so I posted a blurb on Badcaps.net's home page that I was looking for one. Low and behold, I was contacted by someone that had one to part with that was complete. It only took a month before someone was willing to donate one. I'd give them credit, but I don't know if they want their names mentioned. I need to recap it now, but atleast I can say that I've seen one intact...

it even came in its original box & packing material, with keyboard and mouse.

Anyway, here she is:

[KeriJane]

Re: Another Good Score

Hi Topcat

I've got one of those G5 iMacs currently on Digital Picture Frame duty for my mom. (don't laugh, she's 80 and can barely see anything smaller)

It's actually a good example of pre-intel Mac. It does effectively get rid of quite a bit of heat with very little noise. The intel macs run quite a bit cooler.

It's a shame Nichicon ruined many of these with their defective caps. Mine has Nichicons that were of a "good" batch on the logic board.
But the 5vsb ltec caps in the PSU blew. I think you will like the construction once you get it apart even though things are tightly packed.

For OS, it's best to stick with either Panther (10.3) or Tiger (10.4) I tried Leopard (10.5) on mine and while it ran decent, it generated a whole lot more heat and the fans sped up a bunch.

It's a wonderful Virus Free computer for worry-free surfing and very good at playing the occasional DVD movie. (The display is very good and the built-in speakers decent) All you have to do is learn to use Mac OS. (easy). Oh, and recap it.

Have Fun,
Keri

PS. Oh! to disassemble: lie flat with face down, there are 2 phillips-head screw things on the bottom. Unscrew till they stop, then the back cover with stand will lift off.

[Topcat]

Re: Another Good Score

^
The last Apple I used was an Apple 2C in grammar school. I know absolutely ZERO about MacOS. I have v10.5 leopard a guy gave me, so that's what I'll be using. This one has a HDD in it, but I'm sure it's been wiped, it was on a business network before I got it.

It only took me 30 minutes to get the bastard apart... I set it face down on my lap on a microfiber towel. I'm going to recap the PSU, since I'm already in there. The PSU caps appear ok, but I don't want to do this twice.... The mainboard is loaded with splooged rubycon MCZ's, I've seen a lot of them like this. They just overheat...

Here's a few more pics:

[Topcat]

Re: Another Good Score

Recapped and up & running!!

Fresh Rubies!




Working!




It has 2GB system RAM and a 160gb HDD. It wasn't wiped, it actually booted right up...

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

ratdude scrored some more today! at goodwill again

ati radeon x800xl agp card 256md ddr3 ram 6$ see below... in box, used, no special cables but had cd and manual

brother mfc-420cn all in one fax and built in print server. appeared brand new. no ink, i had some from my dead 420cn. works great! $15

netgear 16 port switch... 10/100, needed 5v 5amp brick, $4 got it to work on a 2amp brick but it is a bit finicky. i will go to the purdue university surplus store... they have bricks like that out the wazoo

now about the vid card... it doesnt work in my asus a7v8x... i used a 300w delta atx1.x psu... even with only the mobo and card connested to the psu. but...

it worked in my dad's hp d530 with only the hard drives connected. it has a custom built delta 240w psu. is newer atx version since it powers a p4 nothwood 2.8 ht... or it worked until after bios. box said it recommended at least a 300w psu... i read that the mobo may be the issue... any sugestions?

i will have pics soon.

did i get good deals?

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

for the card:

until i upload the pics off my cell phone, this should help with the vid card:

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

update:

it booted with that 300w delta in my p3 866 system. but with the cdrw drive and dvd-rw drives removed.

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

as for your mac,id try fedora core ppc rdition on that. i think you might be able to dual boot it. mac os's microkernels can get a bit bloated.

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

bump

i just scored an ipod 4th gen 20gb for 20 bux at the local university surplus shop. had 725 ish songs on there, about 60% i like. it has someone elses name on it, but they must have lost it on campus and never claimed it... mine now. had usb cable with it. great sound quality.

damn, i am having a good week...

[370forlife]

Re: Another Good Score

update:

it booted with that 300w delta in my p3 866 system. but with the cdrw drive and dvd-rw drives removed.

300W probalby means it needs a little more juice on the 12v than your older delta has.

[kc8adu]

Re: Another Good Score

i have one with the memory beep of death.
the guy who sent it in told me to scrap it and it was missing optical and hdd.
like you i never see anything but the board.
but now that i own one and its no loss if it goes up in a ball of fire i am going to not only try to track down the memory issue but also POLY MOD IT!
stay tuned!
ps great find and work.

Recapped and up & running!!

Fresh Rubies!




Working!




It has 2GB system RAM and a 160gb HDD. It wasn't wiped, it actually booted right up...

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

300W probalby means it needs a little more juice on the 12v than your older delta has.

thats what i thought. is geeks.comgood for psus or should i forget shopping there? i am running very low on cash.

[kc8adu]

Re: Another Good Score

lots of gutless wonders.2 worth considering.
the first for light duty only.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...83-001&cat=PWR
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...2-0-DT&cat=PWR
everything else they have in cheap psu's is trash.

[370forlife]

Re: Another Good Score

thats what i thought. is geeks.comgood for psus or should i forget shopping there? i am running very low on cash.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Enlight-GPS-350-...d=p3286.c0.m14

Rebranded delta

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Startech-Pro...d=p3286.c0.m14

Rebranded ATNG

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=350201358993

Good delta

[KeriJane]

Re: Another Good Score

Yay!

Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of Mac.

From the looks of that screen I'd say it's Tiger or maybe Panther. I advise you to stick with what it's got as Leopard will make it run hotter and hotness got it where it was yesterday.
Just click on that apple thing in the upper left corner then "about this Mac" It'll tell you all about the software and hardware.

Only thing: There is a password. The OS installer won't take no for an answer and requires a password to install the OS. The password must be known in order to make any system threatening changes. Here's some advice on resetting it: http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2003/06/16.1.shtml


I don't know how familiar you are with Linux but from what I understand a lot of the Terminal stuff is similar. In the end, it's all Unix.

Have Fun,
Keri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CrQjfgvqJQ

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Another Good Score

Ratdude,

Order this:
http://www.hypermicro.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=PSAB001

$26.66 shipped (for me, anyway. IDK about Indiana.)

You won't find a better PSU for $19 anywhere else. They are cleareance overstock that was supposed to be used in Sun workstations years ago. 550W, TONS of molex connectors, 24 pin ATX, beefy 12V lines. This thing is a f*****g TANK. Loaded to the brim with components and massive heatsinks, also a quality Nidec fan, EMI filter. IDK exactly how much this bitch weighs but it is HEAVY. When I pick up my somewhat-flimsy case with it mounted inside, the case bends towards the side with the PSU. Also, rock solid voltages. Take a look at my Speedfan readings. 12V is a little on the high side, because I haven't loaded it much (don't have a graphics card in there ATM), but look at 3.3v and 5v. Almost spot on. Those readings never fluctuate more than 0.03v. Ignore the 2.5v line, It reads 1.5v on every computer I've ran Speedfan on.



That AcBel is a top notch PSU. It has two PCB's stacked on top of each other inside, that's how overbuilt this thing is.

[370forlife]

Re: Another Good Score

The voltage sensors in the bios are not accurate. You need a dmm to properly get the voltages.

That being said, the AcBel is still a tank and indestructible.

[momaka]

Re: Another Good Score

Nice G5, TopCat! Hope it serves you well.

Makes me want to move near your area somewhere .

[Topcat]

Re: Another Good Score

Yay!

Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of Mac.

From the looks of that screen I'd say it's Tiger or maybe Panther. I advise you to stick with what it's got as Leopard will make it run hotter and hotness got it where it was yesterday.
Just click on that apple thing in the upper left corner then "about this Mac" It'll tell you all about the software and hardware.

It had 10.4 on it. I did a clean reinstall of 10.5 this morning...... :-/ If you have a copy of 10.4 that you could spare, I'll give it a whirl though...

kc8,
Let me know what you find in relation to the memory beep issue. I've never heard of that one, so I'm curious. I've heard of video related issues with them before, but I think that was caps related, as recapping always seemed to fix that (or so I'm told from customers). I'm also interested to know what poly's you use, where you use them, and the ofcourse the outcome.

[ratdude747]

Re: Another Good Score

update on the ipod. only 30 % of the music i liked, and of the 30%, 15% was encrypted and itunes deleted it. it needed a restore. works great now.