Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > PowerTower Pro (9500) with Booting Problems

PowerTower Pro (9500) with Booting Problems
Thread Tools
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Stoneham, MA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2003, 10:33 AM
 
So I have this PowerTower Pro. Its specs were this: A 6 GB and 120 GB IDE drive, both on an IDE PCI card. 256 MB of RAM (interleaved I think). A Zif Carrier Doughtercard and a 350 MH G3 Zif plugged into it. OEM Graphics card and a 12X SCSI cd rom. And I had 10.2 installed on it using XPostFacto. All was good. I had another newer Mac I was using as a TV too, so I decided to switch them. So Now the powertower had a 450 MHz G4 plugged into its ZIF, and instead of the factory graphics, it has a Radeon 7000. And I switched out the 6 GB (was the boot drive) in for a different 4 GB, which is going to be the new boot drive. It was my server for years no problem, but 2 days ago I switched computer, and since then this thing hasn't been right. Sometimes it won't boot at all, sometimes it will. I tried to install 10.3 and when it booted off the CD, the installer couldn't see my IDE drives. Then I tried again with 10.2 and it seemed to work. But now it won't boot again. It happens like this on and off. You hit the power button and it powers up but nothing comes on screen. There is also no sound from the speaker, but thats the case even when it boots up. I tried the CUDE switch and the PRAM many times but it has no effect. I can't figure what the problem might be. I even tried playing with the processor/bus speeds, nothing seems to have any effect, it just seems to sometimes wanna boot, sometimes now. Any Ideas?
     
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2003, 01:26 PM
 
That's why you always upgrade only one component at once.

FWIW, the Radeons are only supported on G3s and G4s -- not upgraded machines -- perhaps there are some PCI bugs that are causing the problem.

tooki
     
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Tronna
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2003, 01:42 PM
 
Looks like it ate your return key too.

Where did the SCSI hard drive go?
     
l008com  (op)
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Stoneham, MA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2003, 02:31 PM
 
S-S-S-CSI??? I don't know I have a bucked full of old SCSI drives around here somewhere. I know the old "upgrade one at a time" deal, but it wasn't so much an upgrade, as it was a full one computer swap. And I needed to do it all quick because I had to get the server back online as soon as possible. I don't think its the video card only because when ti boots, the video is perfect, no sign of any problem. So that least be to believe that the problem might be something else. Power Supply maybe, who knows. But oddly enough, at one point I had this machine booted off of 7.6.1 and it still saw both of my IDE Drives on the PCI card, who'd a thought.
     
l008com  (op)
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Stoneham, MA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 19, 2003, 05:21 AM
 
OK updated the Radeon's firmware and managed to dig up an old 132 MHz 604 card and I feel pretty confident that I have narrowed it down to the G4. It doesn't like G4's, only G3s. But from what I've read elsewhere on the web, people see to be able to get them to work. Anyone have any ideas about mine?
     
   
Thread Tools
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:26 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2011 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.7 © 2000-2011, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd., Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.3.2