[John O'Shaughnessy]

My lovely new Dual 2.5 G5 is humming along fine, so I figured it's time to wipe the hard drive on my QuickSilver Dual 1 GHz G4 and sell it. Sadly, now it won't boot!

The last two times it booted, it was a slow boot, and came up with a graphic message implying I needed to restart my Mac (new kernal panic message? it was in color, not just grey scale witha power button image). After the restart, the date was back to 1970!

Once it booted, I shut down the Mac, and added a third hard drive to the data cable that drives the CD. This was just temporary so I could confirm the drive was working. It showed up, and then I removed the drive and set the system aside for a week, unplugged from house power.

Here's what happens:

1 ) Press Power button, button lights momentarily, then goes out
2) System fan and CPU fan start to spin
3) Power supply fan does not spin
4) Hard Drives do not spin up
5) No chimes
6) The red LED on the mainboard is lit
7) No video image (tried both the Studio display via ADC, and a VGA Monitor)

Pressing and holding the power button for about 10 seconds will shutdown the G4.

What I've tried:

1) Disconnected hard drives (power and data cables) and tried to boot with 'c'
2) Pressed the CUDA button
3) Removed battery and confirmed that the voltate was still at 3.6V
4) Removed the video card
5) Disconnected the CD drive (power and data cables)
6) Removed and replaced the memory

From what I've read, odds are that this is a power supply issue, but it seems that there have been enough other magic issues surrounding power and the Macintosh, I thought I'd try something else.

Frustrating, as I'm just getting ready to sell the system, so I don't want to invest a lot of time or money in it!

Thanks for any help or pointers. If someone is able to say, "yep, definitely a power supply" I'd be OK with that. What I don't want to do is buy a power supply, just to have to continue troubleshooting.

Thanks again,

John

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by John O'Shaughnessy

Thanks for any help or pointers. If someone is able to say, "yep, definitely a power supply" I'd be OK with that. What I don't want to do is buy a power supply, just to have to continue troubleshooting.

Based on this article (I know, it's for a slightly different PowerMac, but I think it is the same power supply as mine, 614-0157), http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=95064 I see that I only get 25V max on pins 11 and 22, and nothing anywhere else. I wonder if there is a document like this specific to the QuickSilver.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

John

[crooner]

John,
I'm in almost the exact same situation. I have a dual 1Ghz QuickSilver that started hard freezing, kernel panicking, wouldn't boot at all, etc. This only solidified my thoughts on buying a new G5. Now that I have my 2.7, I'm trying to fix my QuickSilver and I'm at the point where I'm fairly sure the power supply is the culprit. However, at one point while troubleshooting, I dropped a screw onto the mobo. Instead of grabbing it with my three pronged grabber doohickey, I used the nearest thing - a set of needle nose pliers - bad move. As soon as I touched the screw there was a pop and a visible electric spark. So, I think I may have 'ed the mobo.

Instead of buying the parts, I’m going to send the QuickSilver to Galaxy Computer. They are a small but cool outfit that sells both new and refurb Apple parts. For $50, they'll do a diagnostic check to see what the problem is and fix what you authorize them to.

Here's their url: http://www.galaxyhp.com/.

Good luck with yours and post any findings or results.

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by crooner

Instead of buying the parts, I’m going to send the QuickSilver to Galaxy Computer. They are a small but cool outfit that sells both new and refurb Apple parts. For $50, they'll do a diagnostic check to see what the problem is and fix what you authorize them to.

Here's their url: http://www.galaxyhp.com/.

Interesting option! That would take some of the gamble out of the equation.

I guess I need to determine how much I want to net from a sale on eBay, and determine how much I might want to spend on fixing it vs, selling it as is for parts, or for another fixer-upper.

I found a good note string in the MacCentral Forum from about a year ago.

http://forums.maccentral.com/wwwthre...art=1&vc=1

I'm curious how that all turned out.

John

[bighead]

Originally Posted by John O'Shaughnessy

Here's what happens:
1 ) Press Power button, button lights momentarily, then goes out
2) System fan and CPU fan start to spin
3) Power supply fan does not spin
4) Hard Drives do not spin up
5) No chimes
6) The red LED on the mainboard is lit
7) No video image (tried both the Studio display via ADC, and a VGA Monitor)

What I've tried:
1) Disconnected hard drives (power and data cables) and tried to boot with 'c'
2) Pressed the CUDA button
3) Removed battery and confirmed that the voltate was still at 3.6V
4) Removed the video card
5) Disconnected the CD drive (power and data cables)
6) Removed and replaced the memory

My money is on the processor card being toast. It might be the logic board, but I'd bet on the processor. Before paying any money, let it sit with everything unplugged from the board, video card, power supply, and all. Pull the battery and let it sit overnight. If that doesn't work, I'd send it for an actual diagnostic. I'd bet the proc, though.

[QuadG5Man]

I fried a QS 800 MHz processor and it exhibited those same symptoms...I used a 450 MHz Sawtooth processor to confirm it. All I had to do was remove the ram from a slot to fit the Sawtooth processor and the quicksilver booted right up. You may want to look at the processor for visible damage on the little square silicon(s). Never boot your computer without the heat sink properly attached to the processor board!

re:

Here's what happens:
1 ) Press Power button, button lights momentarily, then goes out
2) System fan and CPU fan start to spin
3) Power supply fan does not spin
4) Hard Drives do not spin up
5) No chimes
6) The red LED on the mainboard is lit
7) No video image (tried both the Studio display via ADC, and a VGA Monitor)

[Eriamjh]

Replace the battery if it more than 3 years old. Even a dead battery will read 3.6V with no load (unless you use a legit battery tester).

My Quicksilver DP800 does this on rare occasions. Usually, one press of the CUDA button fixes it.

I've read that you should never press the CUDA button twice as it will crash some mini-OS in the PMU or some junk like that. I guess you should try a different power supply and/or CPU just to be sure.

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

Replace the battery if it more than 3 years old. Even a dead battery will read 3.6V with no load (unless you use a legit battery tester).

I used a multi-meter to test the battery. Not good enough?

Thanks,

John

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by bighead

My money is on the processor card being toast.

Thanks for the input. Is there something in particular that makes you think it isn't the power supply? I'd think the power supply fan not operating would point towards the power supply.

I've left everything unplugged for a couple of days now. My battery is just over three years old, so maybe that is worth a shot too, but the multi-meter registered a solid 3.6V. I'll try it again tonight.

Thanks.

John

[bighead]

Originally Posted by John O'Shaughnessy

Is there something in particular that makes you think it isn't the power supply? I'd think the power supply fan not operating would point towards the power supply.

Only by firsthand repair experience would I have come to that conclusion. Fried MPUs tend to not get far enough to let the power supply fan spin, and if the 120mm main vent fan spins, it's only a little tick and not a full rev-up. Ordinary troubleshooting guidelines would dictate trying power supply first.

[Eriamjh]

The multimeter doesn't load the battery with any current. Stick a 100Ohm resistor across the battery AND measure the voltage across the battery and see what you get.

I see above that the PS fan was not turning. If that siezed then the PS would have overheated. Remove it and check it out inside. Look for caps with popped tops.

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

The multimeter doesn't load the battery with any current. Stick a 100Ohm resistor across the battery AND measure the voltage across the battery and see what you get.

I see above that the PS fan was not turning. If that siezed then the PS would have overheated. Remove it and check it out inside. Look for caps with popped tops.

Good suggestions. I'll let you know how it turns out!

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

I see above that the PS fan was not turning. If that siezed then the PS would have overheated. Remove it and check it out inside. Look for caps with popped tops.

I took out the power supply last night (that took a long, hard time until I finally removed the CD/DVD player). I opened it up. It looked and smelled clean. No popped caps.

I've put everything back together, and even purchased a new battery. No change in behavior. I'm really frustrated, but I think the only option from here is to replace components. Time to bring it in to the shop

Thanks, everyone for your ideas!

John

[loh]

having the exact same problem after an attempted memory upgrade. Hit the power button, lights up real quick, fan spins for a second, then the system shuts off. What was the resolution to the problem?

[John O'Shaughnessy]

I made the decision to send it to GalaxyHP, but they didn't return my phone call from October 21st. I phoned them last week and got a recording that they were closed until the 7th of November (today). I'll give them another call and see if they are still interested in having customers.

[typoon]

Well here is my problem. I think it might be my battery since the last time I turned it on it reset things back to 2001. When I shut down. It doesn't come back on. Sometimes I need to shut off my surge protector and turn it back on then the machine comes on. Sometimes I need to smack it and it comes on. Very odd. I switched powercords and it came back on but when I shut it off it doesn't come on at all. It also doesn't shut down. it just restarts when the shutdown option is chosen.

I should try the battery first and go from there. Anyone else think it could be more? This is happening on my Dual G4 QS.

[WizOSX]

We've got 3 threads right now about dead Quicksilvers. Did Apple make them with an expiry date? I hope not, I just bought a used 867SP which I really like (to go with my other 3 Macs). The price was so good and so is the machine, that I just couldn't resist.

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by WizOSX

Did Apple make them with an expiry date?

Ya gotta wonder.

Over the previous few weeks I had added and removed a few hard drives, and been power cycling the unit more than I had in the previous years. Perhaps that stressed an old part, or something.

John