[brokenjago]

Hey Guys,

A friend of mine recently came into a free PowerMac G4 (Digital Audio, 4 PCI slots, AGP 4x, PC133 RAM, 3 RAM Slots, etc.) It seems that UCLA was dumping these guys in favor of some newer, more powerful Macs and they wanted to get rid of them. I offered to fix the little guy up for him, set it up, etc. (Can't hurt to have another Mac user!) Anyway, UCLA took out all the RAM and HDs (including the HD bay ,) so obviously, starting it up at this point is a no-go.

Anyway, I ordered a stick of 512MB for this sucker, and I have a 40 GB HD lying around that I'd thought I throw into it. However, it seems the HD bay is missing. Does anyone know where I would be able to get one of these? if not, does anyone know what else I can do to mount the HD?

In addition, I know that Airport was an option for these guys. How would I know whether it was installed or not from a hardware point of view?

Is there a way to differentiate the graphics card, again, from a hardware point of view? The one installed has a VGA and an ADC port, but i can't seem to tell the make or model.

How would I tell whether it's a single or dual processor config? I'm pretty sure it's one, but I can't tell. As you might have guessed, I can't boot up the computer to check.

Also, I was wondering if it was possible to put PC 100 RAM in this thing and have it run.

Anyway, to summarize, for those who don't like reading long posts:

1) Where can I find a replacement HDD bay for a PowerMac G4 Digital Audio?
2) How would I know Airport was installed if I looked in the case?
3) How would I know which Graphics card is installed from looking in the case?
4) How would I tell whether it's single or Dual Processor by looking in the case?
5) Can I put PC100 RAM in it and have it work?

Finally, for those of you who actually read the entire post, what would you suggest to also spruce up the machine? it's obviously starting to show it's age, and any suggestions to delay it's inevitable fade into obsolescence would be appreciated.

Thanks for all your help!

[brokenjago]

Well, I've been trying every stick of PC100 RAM in my house in this thing, and it still beeps when it starts up, which, according to the Apple support documents, is an indication of no RAM. (Well, no RAM detected.)

When it starts up, there's a bright red light next to the RAM slots that lights up. Does this mean it's dead?

I noticed a battery in the upper left corner. Is it possible that because it's dead, the computer is acting this way? I reset the PMU to no avail.

Edit: Ok, apparently PC-100 DIMMs will not work with this computer. Hope I didn't damage it (I doubt I did) I guess I'll wait untill the PC-133 arrives. In the meantime, I'm still looking for a drive enclosure for this thing...

[reader50]

The G4 Digital Audio doesn't have drive bays, exactly. It uses drive mounting sleds. There are three, mounted on the bottom of the case.

Apple part 076-0778 is the dual drive sled, which goes in the rearmost bay, right in front of the ATA ribbon cable. This is probably all that you need.

Apple part 076-0777 is the single drive sled, which goes in the middle and frontmost bays. Note: the pic shows this drive sled upside down. These were intended to mount SCSI drives, but they will take an extra ATA drive each quite nicely. The G4 supplies extra power connectors for such drives, but no interface. You'd need to add a PCI card for ATA or SCSI before you could use a drive in the front or middle locations.

Digital Audio parts blowup here

The red LED next to the RAM slots is to let you know the power is on. It's a warning for when the case is open. It doesn't mean anything besides that. And yes, you need PC133 RAM.

[brokenjago]

Jeez, $40 for drive sleds?

I appreciate your feedback!

[bowwowman]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

Jeez, $40 for drive sleds?

Yep, those people must be smokin some good stuff (can I have some?)

anyways, you do NOT need that double-stacker bracket just to put a HD into your machine, unless you intend to stack 2 drives in the far right mounting location. Just use one of the other 2 single sleds that are to the left of the main drive spot. They are only held in place by 1 little screw, and only takes 4 little screws to attach a drive to it. If you dont have these, I can sell you one for $10. Please pm me if needed.

Also, identifying the graphics card by sight would be hard, unless you already know what all the different cards look like. The 3 card options for the DA were the Rage128pro(stock), Radeon or GFmx Series.

For the airport card, it is either there or it's not, there was only 1, and it is mounted into a slot behind the pci/agp slots.

And yes it would probably be a good idea to replace the pram battery, just to be sure of no problems after you get the HD & Ram installed Take it with you to BustBuy/RadioSmack or peecee shop to get the right one.....

good luck with your project

[brokenjago]

Thanks! I'll probably take you up on that drive sled thing. UCLA gutted this guy pretty well.

I'm just hoping that after spending all this money the board doesn't end up being fried or something. (I'm also hoping it's the dual 533 model cause that would be a good computer for some time to come.)

Anyway, PM sent.

[brokenjago]

Ok, so the RAM came along, and still nothing. Beep at startup. Damn. Does anyone know what else it could be? Could the mobo be fried? PMU battery the culprit?

Any suggestions would really help.

Edit: Replaced the PMU battery. Nothing. Reseated everything. Graphics Card, RAM, and every connection to the mobo or otherwise. Nothing.

Again, Any suggestions would really help.

[reader50]

When you try to power it up, does the power button blink? If so, tell us how many flashes in the sequence.

[brokenjago]

Yes.

Powers up, Light goes on. Beeps once, light goes off. light proceeds to blink twice, once steadily, once as if the power was pulled out in the middle of the blink (as if it's restarting, for instance.)

According to Apple's support documents, the computer will beep a certain number of times, indicating certain failures, and then the light flashes the same number of times plus one every five seconds. My computer beeps once, and flashes twice. So all around, it seems not to be able to detect this stick of PC133 512MB RAM.

[reader50]

What RAM is it exactly? Can you give us a link to it?

[brokenjago]

Link to RAM

[reader50]

It is always best to get RAM from a store that recommends it for specific Mac models. Ramseeker tries to track all the Mac sellers for your model.

Specifically, high-density 512 DIMMs won't work in that model. But I can't tell from the listing if that is the case - they don't give enough specs. The 512 DIMMs you are looking for will have RAM chips on both sides of the DIMM. If your 512 stick has them on only one side, that is a clue that it is an HD DIMM.

There are software tools to examine what DIMMs are plugged in, and why they are not recognized. Unfortunately, you need at least one recognized DIMM in order to boot up and run the tools.

[brokenjago]

It has RAM chips on both sides. Could it still be a HD module? When I go to work tomorrow I'll buy some more, see what I can find...

[chris v]

Here's a handy resource:

APPLE MANUALS

Whoa, I got edited.

Well, further edit -- sorry, but a lot of those are 404, including the machine you've got. Oh, well, the web is ephemeral.

edit edit edit: more stuff: Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio): Customer-Installable Parts Instructions

[brokenjago]

Thanks for the help guys.

I figure I'm just gonna try a couple of more sticks of RAM, this time lower capacity, and see where it goes. If it still gives me the "No Ram detected" beep, well, I'll declare it dead.