[rich82fox]

hi

I have a powermac G5 that was working perfectly

I took two RAM sticks out to test another powermac G5 that I aquired.

I put the RAM sticks back in my Powermac G5 and now it powers up, fans spin but nothing on the screen

what have I done to it?

Rich

[cgc]

Reseat memory. Did you damage socket memory goes into? Did you ground yourself before handling memory or installing it?

[MacNNUK]

Have you possibly somehow put the memory sticks back in the wrong way round ?

Which should not seat properly too.

[Athens]

Find a good eraser one of those square pink ones we had in school as kids and rub the contact pins on both sides of the ram, as if you where erasing something you wrote then re-seat it. Should work after that.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Athens 

Find a good eraser one of those square pink ones we had in school as kids and rub the contact pins on both sides of the ram, as if you where erasing something you wrote then re-seat it. Should work after that.

That sounds like a very efficient way to zap a RAM chip.

[Athens]

Perhaps if you used something conducting of electricity like a non rubber material. I've been using pink erasers for 2 decades to deal with contact pins on NES, SNES, RAM, ISA and PCI cards. As long as you use those pink block ones also known as natural gum erasers you are fine. Wont do any damage at all. Alternatively you can use rubbing alcohol and qtips but I find erasers work much better for the corrosion that occurs on the pins. And before you point out balloons are rubber and built up static electricity balloons are not pure rubber.

[reader50]

Vacuum dust out of the slots before reseating. Another vote for reseating here, plugging sticks in can be a bit temperamental. I've found it so with my G5, sometimes taking a few attempts before all pairs were recognized.

When done, press the CUDA (SMU) reset button with the G5 off. It can be temperamental after a hardware change, and the reset will help.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Athens 

Perhaps if you used something conducting of electricity like a non rubber material. I've been using pink erasers for 2 decades to deal with contact pins on NES, SNES, RAM, ISA and PCI cards. As long as you use those pink block ones also known as natural gum erasers you are fine. Wont do any damage at all. Alternatively you can use rubbing alcohol and qtips but I find erasers work much better for the corrosion that occurs on the pins. And before you point out balloons are rubber and built up static electricity balloons are not pure rubber.

Rubbing an insulator builds up a charge on the surface. Natural ones are probably not as bad as synthetic but still.

The Shocking Truth (1/4) - YouTube

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by cgc 

Reseat memory. Did you damage socket memory goes into? Did you ground yourself before handling memory or installing it?

I grounded myself on the G5 case (is that possible or not)?

if it is electro static damage - what have I damaged? the RAM or the MOTHERBOARD?

rich

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by MacNNUK 

Have you possibly somehow put the memory sticks back in the wrong way round ?

Which should not seat properly too.

when you say wrong way round, do you mean in the wrong order?

they're definitely seated the right way in the slot

[Waragainstsleep]

If you put them back as they were you should be fine. Top slots in each bank should be filled first.

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

If you put them back as they were you should be fine. Top slots in each bank should be filled first.

so do you mean put the momry in the order that I found it? it's hard to tell because all the RAM sticks look the same.

Is it possible that I've damaged the RAM or the Motherboard with static electricity?

I checked all of the connectors on the RAM and they are undamaged- the RAM slots are also free from dust

Rich

[Waragainstsleep]

The RAM should be installed in matched pairs, ie 1GB in the very top slot requires 1GB in the top slot of the lower bank as well.

It is posible you might have damaged either or both but its not all that likely.

[euphras]

Originally Posted by rich82fox 

Is it possible that I've damaged the RAM or the Motherboard with static electricity?

I think, it´s highly unlikely. I´ve dealed with Apple hardware since 1994, i have never used the almost canonically mentioned "antistatic wrist wrap", i hardly use antistatic bags for short term storing of computer parts and i have never experienced a failed component due to my "quick and dirty" approach of dealing with hardware.

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by euphras 

I think, it´s highly unlikely. I´ve dealed with Apple hardware since 1994, i have never used the almost canonically mentioned "antistatic wrist wrap", i hardly use antistatic bags for short term storing of computer parts and i have never experienced a failed component due to my "quick and dirty" approach of dealing with hardware.

Will it work if I use one RAM chip - just to test?

If I put say a 256MB in it just to get it booting up with video?

what slot would I need to put that one ram chip in?

(I have two powermac G5s that won't boot now)

rich

[cgc]

Originally Posted by euphras 

I think, it´s highly unlikely. I´ve dealed with Apple hardware since 1994, i have never used the almost canonically mentioned "antistatic wrist wrap", i hardly use antistatic bags for short term storing of computer parts and i have never experienced a failed component due to my "quick and dirty" approach of dealing with hardware.

You're probably right but I've seen some circuit cards fail due to improper ESD practices. These cards were part of the frequency convertors within a satellite communications terminal but it happened numerous times (was always traceable to a single bad OR gate within an IC). On the other hand, I was upgrading my Amiga 1000 from a Motorola 68000 to a 68010 and when I was done I realized I left the power on...no harm was done (the 680x0 is the CPU).

Hard to say but I'd suspect your problem has something to do with you not pairing the RAM as others have suggested since the slots look undamaged.

[Waragainstsleep]

It won't boot froma a single stick. The RAM must be installed in matched pairs.

[reader50]

The RAM slot order being given is incorrect. Install in matched pairs, starting from the center slots. Working outwards. Your model may have only 4 slots, but I'm showing the larger number.

pair 4
pair 3
pair 2
pair 1
center
pair 1
pair 2
pair 3
pair 4

If you're filling from upper slot down, you're trying to match mismatched sticks. This will prevent boot.

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by reader50 

The RAM slot order being given is incorrect. Install in matched pairs, starting from the center slots. Working outwards. Your model may have only 4 slots, but I'm showing the larger number.

pair 4
pair 3
pair 2
pair 1
center
pair 1
pair 2
pair 3
pair 4

If you're filling from upper slot down, you're trying to match mismatched sticks. This will prevent boot.

Mine has 4 RAM slots in Total -it's a Powermac G5 1.6 GZ SINGLE PROCESSOR

sorry - should have stated

rich

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by reader50 

The RAM slot order being given is incorrect. Install in matched pairs, starting from the center slots. Working outwards. Your model may have only 4 slots, but I'm showing the larger number.

pair 4
pair 3
pair 2
pair 1
center
pair 1
pair 2
pair 3
pair 4

If you're filling from upper slot down, you're trying to match mismatched sticks. This will prevent boot.

Well tried putting the same pairs together - in both powermac G5s - they BOTH still won't start up.

the fans come on and the white LED blinks - and that's it

[cgc]

You said you have two non-working G5 machines...I'm curious if the memory in each is different and you somehow mixed them up. Make sure the pair going into each is identical.