Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 04:17 PM

Hi there,
I hope that you can help me out here. I've been building my own mac and it seems that something is wrong. I've got the processor, the video card, the ram, and everything in there but when it turns on, nothing happens. The fans turn on, the cd drive turns on, but the hard drive does not spin up. Nothing comes out of the video card either. Do you have any idea what's wrong with it?

Mike

milhouse · Dec 11, 2002, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by bleachout:
Hi there,
I hope that you can help me out here. I've been building my own mac and it seems that something is wrong. I've got the processor, the video card, the ram, and everything in there but when it turns on, nothing happens. The fans turn on, the cd drive turns on, but the hard drive does not spin up. Nothing comes out of the video card either. Do you have any idea what's wrong with it?

Mike

Hi Mike,

Exactly what parts have you used, including the powersupply, and what case are you installing the parts in?

We need more information to help you.

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 04:33 PM

Originally posted by milhouse:

Hi Mike,

Exactly what parts have you used, including the powersupply, and what case are you installing the parts in?

We need more information to help you.

It's the Apple power supply for gigabit ethernet boards, a powerlogix dual ghz processor, and a standard atx case that i have modified. It doesn't power up when the processor isn't connected, it does when it is connected but the hard drive doesn't spin up (the cdrom does) and video card doesn't work. Thanks for the response!

mike

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 04:34 PM

Oops, forgot to mention it's a rage pro agp card.

milhouse · Dec 11, 2002, 04:58 PM

Is the HD new?

Did you try to power up the machine without the CD Rom attached and use the molex(power connector) from the CD drive to power the HD?

Are you certain the Mobo is good? Does the red light on the mobo come on when you power it up?

Have you tried to reset the PMU/CUDA switch on the mobo?

I remember reading something about not using certain graphics cards in certain Apple Mobo's due to differences in voltage. (It was in Apples developer notes for one of the recent Towers...sorry can't remember which). I'll see if I can dig up some info just to be certain it's not effecting you...

also check out the forums at www.xlr8ourmac.com to see if something like this has been addressed previously.
You cant post (registration is closed) but perhaps a similar question was asked and answered.

If you dont get an answer here I might be able to post for you at AYM.

cheers

milhouse · Dec 11, 2002, 05:31 PM

OK,

The technote I saw was in regards to the new Towers. The AGP port is 1.5V and not backwards compatible with older graphics cards according to this document.

Apple notes that "The AGP bus is 1.5 V only and is not backward compatible. Older AGP cards will not work in the Power Mac G4."

Anyway it's not likely your problem since you are using a GE logic board and this technote is dated 9-02 (updated actually).

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 05:36 PM

Originally posted by milhouse:
OK,

The technote I saw was in regards to the new Towers. The AGP port is 1.5V and not backwards compatible with older graphics cards according to this document.

Apple notes that "The AGP bus is 1.5 V only and is not backward compatible. Older AGP cards will not work in the Power Mac G4."

Anyway it's not likely your problem since you are using a GE logic board and this technote is dated 9-02 (updated actually).

Ok, the HD is new, it does work, it powers up when not connected to the mobo, but doesn't power up when it's connected to the mobo. It's not the video card (unless the card is broken), because gigabit ethernet boards came with rage 128 pro cards. Could it be the processor? Thanks for all your help!

mike

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 05:41 PM

The red light on the mobo does come on. And I push the PMU/CUDA to shut it off after turning it on.

Mike

milhouse · Dec 11, 2002, 05:47 PM

When you say that the HD does not power up when connected to the mobo do you mean when the IDE ribbon cable is attached? Have you powered up the HD with the HD molex without the Apple IDE ribbon cable attached?

If so perhaps there is a short in the cable (not sure exactly how that might prevent the HD from spinning up though).

You could try another IDE cable. If it's an ATA100 cable (I think they were) then they are "80 wire" (vs. 40 wires on the ATA33/66 cables) cables and can be had relatively cheap, at various online sellers.

Heck, I could even send you one for free if that's your problem.

I would try to eliminate some simpler issues and then move on to the processor.

Have you tried to remove the HD from the chain and boot from a CD?

milhouse · Dec 11, 2002, 05:59 PM

Originally posted by bleachout:
The red light on the mobo does come on. And I push the PMU/CUDA to shut it off after turning it on.

Mike

Mike,

IIRC, you are not supposed to push the CUDA/PMU with the power on or even with the machine plugged in...

Read these tech docs from Apple regarding troubleshooting power up issues and resetting the PMUhere and here.

Among other things it says to unplug the usb keyboard and try to power up to make sure that it's not at fault.

If you reset the PMU with the power on you could have fubar'd your power manager. I know someone who had a similar incident on a new iMac and needed a new logic board and PS but that may have nothing to do with your problem.

YMMV

bleachout · Dec 11, 2002, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by milhouse:

Mike,

IIRC, you are not supposed to push the CUDA/PMU with the power on or even with the machine plugged in...

Read these tech docs from Apple regarding troubleshooting power up issues and resetting the PMUhere and here.

Among other things it says to unplug the usb keyboard and try to power up to make sure that it's not at fault.

If you reset the PMU with the power on you could have fubar'd your power manager. I know someone who had a similar incident on a new iMac and needed a new logic board and PS but that may have nothing to do with your problem.

YMMV

Well, I've tried resetting the PRAM with the unit unplugged and everything, and nothing seems to be working. The hard drive doesn't spin up, the USB mouse isn't getting power because the red light isn't turning on, and the video card isn't outputting anything. Anymore help anyone? Or is my mobo fried? THanks

mike

MacManMikeOSX · Dec 11, 2002, 07:24 PM

try moving your hds possition on the ribbon cable there fusy that way and make sure you hd is set up as a master.

Darkness · Dec 15, 2002, 12:23 AM

Do you hear a chime at any point in time...try hooking up speakers if you have none setup in the ATX case to be sure.

bleachout · Dec 16, 2002, 10:04 AM

Originally posted by Darkness:
Do you hear a chime at any point in time...try hooking up speakers if you have none setup in the ATX case to be sure.

I'm not sure if i have the speaker hooked up correctly (which is ground) and I haven't heard any chimes at all in any of my attempts to boot it up.

Darkness · Dec 16, 2002, 06:19 PM

Go for black...should be red and black on the ATX speaker pinout.

If not, then you need to find a machine a help you test...have you tried taking out all but one RAM module and moving it to each RAM slot after resetting the PMU?

Find a friend or some place with a similar machine and try your CPU in it, to see if that might be the problem...next is the main logic board.

bleachout · Dec 16, 2002, 06:22 PM

Originally posted by Darkness:
Go for black...should be red and black on the ATX speaker pinout.

If not, then you need to find a machine a help you test...have you tried taking out all but one RAM module and moving it to each RAM slot after resetting the PMU?

Find a friend or some place with a similar machine and try your CPU in it, to see if that might be the problem...next is the main logic board.

Well there's no chimes either way i set it up. I just noticed that the ethernet seems to be getting power because when i hook it up to my router as i turn the power on, the lights come on and such. I haven't tried using just one stick of RAM yet. Should I?

Mike

Darkness · Dec 18, 2002, 01:36 AM

yeeeeaaah

bleachout · Dec 18, 2002, 12:10 PM

Originally posted by Darkness:
yeeeeaaah

I tried this a couple days ago, no help. Same old symptoms of the red light coming on when the power supply turns on, the cdrom spins and fans come on but no hard drive spins, no video. No chimes, the power supply does make funny noises though. Could that be the problem?

Mike

Darkness · Dec 18, 2002, 06:05 PM

What is a funny noise? Clicking? like Click, click, click, click?

Are you trying to use an older PS with a newer board or visa versa?

bleachout · Dec 19, 2002, 01:10 AM

Originally posted by Darkness:
What is a funny noise? Clicking? like Click, click, click, click?

Are you trying to use an older PS with a newer board or visa versa?

Nope, it's the right power supply, and I might be wrong about it making a funny sound. I guess it's just the normal sound a PSU makes. I just can't figure out the problem so I'm taking to a place tomorrow to have them test out the processor and board, etc. Thanks for all your help, guys.