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Offline AndyFCTopic starter

I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« on: November 07, 2019, 07:41:34 PM »
Hi all,

I'm hopefully picking up a PowerMac G4 867 MDD this weekend which was advertise cheaply locally. No HDD or optical drive but I have plenty of those. The seller says he has a Radeon card separate which I can also have (this model comes with an Nvidia Card as standard). I'm planning to try it out with both MacOS Tiger and MorphOS.

I know that Nvidia cards aren't supported in MorphOS, but I'm interested to know what happens. Will I get a blank screen, an error, or a low-res image in software mode (similar to booting a Windows PC which doesn't have a working graphics driver)?

Thanks.
A1200 in DIY Tower. 3.2 ROMs (softkicking 3.2.2), OS 3.2.2 with ClassicWB, CF card, CD RW and IDE to SD adapter running off the internal IDE port (using the A4000 4-port IDE adapter from Amigakit), Pistorm 32 lite with Pi4/2GB/Emu68 or Blizzard 1230-IV, with 32MB 60ns RAM and 50MHz 68882 FPU. 3COM PCMCIA Network card running with Miami DX.
MorphOS on PowerMac G5 and ATI 9600 pro
 

Offline AndyFCTopic starter

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2019, 04:13:47 PM »
I picked this up this morning:

  • 2x PowerMac G4 - an 867 DP (really clean)
  • A 1Ghz DP (clearly been in a smoker's home and I've started cleaning it). Only the 1Ghz machine starts up and boots to MacOS
  • A random motherboard which I THINK is a G3, loaded with random cards which are to be identified - more photos another time


The G4s both have NVidia cards but the spare motherboard had a ATI card - I've swapped it into the working G4.

I can't get the CD drive to detect a disk so can't yet boot to anything other than MacOS, but I have a disc burned with MorphOS ready and waiting - the HD contains OS X 10.2.6.

All for £40!
A1200 in DIY Tower. 3.2 ROMs (softkicking 3.2.2), OS 3.2.2 with ClassicWB, CF card, CD RW and IDE to SD adapter running off the internal IDE port (using the A4000 4-port IDE adapter from Amigakit), Pistorm 32 lite with Pi4/2GB/Emu68 or Blizzard 1230-IV, with 32MB 60ns RAM and 50MHz 68882 FPU. 3COM PCMCIA Network card running with Miami DX.
MorphOS on PowerMac G5 and ATI 9600 pro
 

Offline TribbleSmasher

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2019, 04:19:46 PM »
This is a real bargain. The MDD case itself is a beauty for any modding endeavour; try to put a modern Mac Mini into it. That would people gasp....
 

Offline AndyFCTopic starter

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2019, 04:31:47 PM »
A bit of an update...

I cleaned up the working 1GHz model, getting most ofthe cover panels off, removing some of the internal brackets and putting them through the dishwasher. It looks good and doesn't smell any more.

I've got it dual booting with Mac OS Tiger and MorphOS by having them on different hard disks. I wanted to do Leopard but the built-in drive isn't Dual-Layer. It works for everything else though, including burning discs.

The 867 MHz MDD machine, and the bare Mobo, are unresponsive and my last option for the is to try a different PSU but I'm wary to take the one out of the working machine. A friend of a friend does up Macs so I'm getting his opinion. I'm happy to have one working machine for the price I paid though.
A1200 in DIY Tower. 3.2 ROMs (softkicking 3.2.2), OS 3.2.2 with ClassicWB, CF card, CD RW and IDE to SD adapter running off the internal IDE port (using the A4000 4-port IDE adapter from Amigakit), Pistorm 32 lite with Pi4/2GB/Emu68 or Blizzard 1230-IV, with 32MB 60ns RAM and 50MHz 68882 FPU. 3COM PCMCIA Network card running with Miami DX.
MorphOS on PowerMac G5 and ATI 9600 pro
 

Offline CBH

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2019, 07:03:42 PM »
G4 power supplies love to die. Both of mine ended up with ATX adapters.
 

Offline OldAmigan

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2019, 09:49:22 PM »
Just seen your post Check out www.lowendmac.com for info about these old Macs and accessories. They tend to be little slow but fun PLC Linux quite well and MorpOS
runs lovely
 

Offline OldAmigan

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2019, 10:08:09 PM »
The machine I have is an 800MHz Quicksilver. When I got it it didn't boot. I changed the battery and all has been well for a few years.
 

Offline AndyFCTopic starter

Re: I've sourced a PowerMac G4...
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2019, 11:58:12 PM »
My last update on this thread I think, thanks for the suggestions. I've used lowendmac and a few other sources to try and find a solution to the unresponsive second MDD.

I've established the PSU is good and the power switch works (I took them both out of the faulty mac and tested them in the working one without me having to remove the mobo from the case) so I think it must be the logic board or CPU which has failed. I tried a PMU reset and I removed the battery soon after I got it. The fans start up but I never get a boot chime or an image on the monitor.

The bare board is a Quicksilver G4 (mobo 820-1276 A) which I can't get to respond at all with the (seemingly correct) PSU that I was given with it. The add-on cards suggest it was used for video editing:
 - Avid technology 0870-03051-02 Video board
 - Atto Technology express pci ul3d Ultra 3 SCSI
 - Zanskar 114900001 Firewire video effect board

Both of the faulty machines have an Nvidia Geforce 4 180-10074-0000-800 card (I swapped the ATI Rage 128 Pro from the bare board into the working MDD to give me Morphos Compatibility).

The only decision I've made is to keep the working PSU from the second MDD because of what I've read about their failure rate. The rest may end up on ebay but I'm toying with trying to mod it as a nice case for an RPI for my sons.
A1200 in DIY Tower. 3.2 ROMs (softkicking 3.2.2), OS 3.2.2 with ClassicWB, CF card, CD RW and IDE to SD adapter running off the internal IDE port (using the A4000 4-port IDE adapter from Amigakit), Pistorm 32 lite with Pi4/2GB/Emu68 or Blizzard 1230-IV, with 32MB 60ns RAM and 50MHz 68882 FPU. 3COM PCMCIA Network card running with Miami DX.
MorphOS on PowerMac G5 and ATI 9600 pro