Honestly, I doubt I'd even be able to get one - FirmTek does have a online store but I don't think it's still maintained, let alone functional. So that still remains a big question mark when it comes to their availability :/
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Power Mac G4 MDD (2002) - From a Kernel Panic galore (!) to power supply troubles (sigh)
- Thread starter Alexis Trinquet
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I’m using a pata/sata adapter to SSD in mine at the moment which is working as expected.
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Same here. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of finding a PCI card and/or flashing one for OS 9 compatibility and opted for the much easier route of PATA/SATA adapters with HDDs and SDDs in my G4 QS.
To muddy the MDD waters further, I do have a flashed sil3512 which work in my B&W in OSX without issue but refuse to work in my MDD. The machine boots to the flashing folder icon and simply does not see the SSD attached. This could be the SSD but again the B&W sees it fine as do other PMs I have. I’m unsure why that is LOL 
I also have a Acard sata card that causes the MDD to boot to a gray screen & not progress. The same card works fine in a B&W & Quicksilver lol. So the MDD is quite fickle as well. A correction - I’m not using a pata/sata adapter in this MDD rather a pata 3.5 to 2.5 adapter leveraging the old SSD out of an ibook g4 I had.
So I’m glad to have found some SSD solution to leverage in this MDD that it likes as I’ve had a heck of a time otherwise.
I also have a Acard sata card that causes the MDD to boot to a gray screen & not progress. The same card works fine in a B&W & Quicksilver lol. So the MDD is quite fickle as well. A correction - I’m not using a pata/sata adapter in this MDD rather a pata 3.5 to 2.5 adapter leveraging the old SSD out of an ibook g4 I had.So I’m glad to have found some SSD solution to leverage in this MDD that it likes as I’ve had a heck of a time otherwise.
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I'm gonna go down that path most likely, those Seritek 1v4 cards are cool but I don't even know if you can still buy them (nor if the company selling these is still around!). StarTech adapter it is then, I guess ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
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On another tangent, I've just ordered the new caps, Mouser hasn't yet gave an ETA when they'll ship them, in the meantime I'm gonna try and remove as much of the glue/caulk thingy that was slathered all over the original caps. (at least it's not the same kind of glue that turns into a crusty brown corrosive mess with time and humidity)
Okay, so I started recapping the PSU's main board, not without difficulties, for example, a trace lifted up, but there was a nearby unused pad that was on the same trace (before the break), so I just bent the new cap's leg and tacked it onto that other pad, there's a few caps I haven't done yet:
The daughterboards on the other hand the joints are so close together that I'm gonna need better tools to even get them off the main board, that reminds me that, I need to resolder the thermal sensor wire as it popped out of its pads too.
I'm not very confident in my soldering skills (and my pretty unreliable equipment overall), if this even powers up on the first try, I'll get the champagne out.
- C208 (couldn't find where its solder pads are)
- C236 (same as above)
- C135
- C141
- C137
The daughterboards on the other hand the joints are so close together that I'm gonna need better tools to even get them off the main board, that reminds me that, I need to resolder the thermal sensor wire as it popped out of its pads too.
I'm not very confident in my soldering skills (and my pretty unreliable equipment overall), if this even powers up on the first try, I'll get the champagne out.
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i have one of those in my mdd now. it would have been my second one but years back stupid me gave away my first one. great cards if you can get your hands on one. i was able to get mine through firmteks yahoo dodgy online store, if it is even up and running anymore
Tiny update, I received some desoldering wick... I haven't gave up on this MDD, I'm gonna order a better soldering iron as the piece o' junk of an iron that I used was a bit... questionable (not to mention the tip has a good chunk of it missing, this ain't gonna do).
Since I'll have to pull the MOSFETs, I don't want to risk using the iron I used previously.
Since I'll have to pull the MOSFETs, I don't want to risk using the iron I used previously.
Alexis; i may have found the links, but i don't know if they still sell them. there is nothing that says they are out of stock...
SeriTek/1S2 Internal Host Adapter
SeriTek/1V4 Host Adapter
SeriTek/1eVE2+2 host adapter
SeriTek/1S2 Internal Host Adapter
SeriTek/1V4 Host Adapter
SeriTek/1eVE2+2 host adapter
Update:
I replaced the three caps under the MOSFET heatsink (and burned myself twice in the process) and those on the daughterboard right by said heatsink... Aaand I ran out of soldering tin.
I'd be damned if it works on first try, given how horrifying my solder joints are 🤣
Happy new year!
I replaced the three caps under the MOSFET heatsink (and burned myself twice in the process) and those on the daughterboard right by said heatsink... Aaand I ran out of soldering tin.
I'd be damned if it works on first try, given how horrifying my solder joints are 🤣
Happy new year!
I actually had been lended one, I have no idea what happened to it, though I figured since it's all through-hole components in the PSU for the most parts (except those annoyingly-placed daughter boards), that could've came in handy to heat up the ground planes..
Update... Some good news and bad news.
First, I've buttoned the PSU back up after resoldering everything, and when I powered it up, nothing exploded (whew!), and it outputs the proper trickle voltages.
The bad news however, the MDD still doesn't fire up, shorting the green wire to ground doesn't do anything.
Sometimes the PSU turns on seemingly in its own, runs the fans at full tilt and the LED on the logic board is dimly lit. In this mode when I short the green wire (PS_ON) to ground, the PSU turns off. It does that regardless if it's connected to the logic board or not.
When the PSU runs like that, the 12V and 5V rails are working (if I connect a HDD to one of the molexes, the drive spins up).
I bit the bullet and bought a ATX harness, I guess I'm gonna recap the AcBel as well... Nearly 70 euros shipped from the 'states, at least that should rule out if the PSU is cactus or if it's the LB or CPU that took a hit.
Seems like every Power Mac that I had has PSU problems, my 7500 came with a broken (as in the PCB was physically cracked) power supply, and now this.. Seems like Power Macs somehow hate me.
Could it be that my CPU board somehow got fried after all those overheating shenanigans? I hope not... (even though there's a 2x1.25GHz board for sale in the local classifieds).
Anyways, I'm determined to get this beast running, the brief time it did run without issues, it was the snappiest of all PPC Macs I ever.
First, I've buttoned the PSU back up after resoldering everything, and when I powered it up, nothing exploded (whew!), and it outputs the proper trickle voltages.
The bad news however, the MDD still doesn't fire up, shorting the green wire to ground doesn't do anything.
Sometimes the PSU turns on seemingly in its own, runs the fans at full tilt and the LED on the logic board is dimly lit. In this mode when I short the green wire (PS_ON) to ground, the PSU turns off. It does that regardless if it's connected to the logic board or not.
When the PSU runs like that, the 12V and 5V rails are working (if I connect a HDD to one of the molexes, the drive spins up).
I bit the bullet and bought a ATX harness, I guess I'm gonna recap the AcBel as well... Nearly 70 euros shipped from the 'states, at least that should rule out if the PSU is cactus or if it's the LB or CPU that took a hit.
Seems like every Power Mac that I had has PSU problems, my 7500 came with a broken (as in the PCB was physically cracked) power supply, and now this.. Seems like Power Macs somehow hate me.
Could it be that my CPU board somehow got fried after all those overheating shenanigans? I hope not... (even though there's a 2x1.25GHz board for sale in the local classifieds).
Anyways, I'm determined to get this beast running, the brief time it did run without issues, it was the snappiest of all PPC Macs I ever.
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PSU recap: Attempt 2 (AcBel)
Since the Samsung PSU isn't firing back up, even when shorting PS_ON to ground and putting a load resistor on the 3.3v sense wire, no dice. All I get are the different trickle voltages along with 25V.
So in the meantime that my ATX G4 adapter arrives, I'm gonna prepare the AcBel for it's eventual recapping.
Right now, I unsoldered the leads on the AcBel, there was a cap (all 100uF/450V) on the primary that fell apart as soon as I nudged it (what the heck?!?), so I took no chance and desoldered all 3.
Other than the annoyance of the soldered leads, the AcBel seems to be less tightly packed compared to the Samsung.
Also, quick question, what would happen if my logic board had a bad or crashed PMU? I keep hearing that you can crash it by pressing the PMU_reset switch repeatedly, but while searching for that I saw no mention of the symptoms or how to "un-crash" it.
TIA
Since the Samsung PSU isn't firing back up, even when shorting PS_ON to ground and putting a load resistor on the 3.3v sense wire, no dice. All I get are the different trickle voltages along with 25V.
So in the meantime that my ATX G4 adapter arrives, I'm gonna prepare the AcBel for it's eventual recapping.
Right now, I unsoldered the leads on the AcBel, there was a cap (all 100uF/450V) on the primary that fell apart as soon as I nudged it (what the heck?!?), so I took no chance and desoldered all 3.
Other than the annoyance of the soldered leads, the AcBel seems to be less tightly packed compared to the Samsung.
Also, quick question, what would happen if my logic board had a bad or crashed PMU? I keep hearing that you can crash it by pressing the PMU_reset switch repeatedly, but while searching for that I saw no mention of the symptoms or how to "un-crash" it.
TIA
Okay.
I received the ACX G4 adapter that I had ordered, aaand we're back to square one, the mobo (erm, sorry logic board... Force of habit) fires up, but won't boot off a 10.4 or OS9 disk.
Yet AHT reports no issues other than the memory DIMMs having an "Unsupported SPD".
I received the ACX G4 adapter that I had ordered, aaand we're back to square one, the mobo (erm, sorry logic board... Force of habit) fires up, but won't boot off a 10.4 or OS9 disk.
Yet AHT reports no issues other than the memory DIMMs having an "Unsupported SPD".
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A bit of own test results . I've dropped in Canister 2 DIMMs 1 Gb each, in a one. First is in slot nearest to AGP, second in slot 3 (don't remember correctly).
. I've dropped in Canister 2 DIMMs 1 Gb each, in a one. First is in slot nearest to AGP, second in slot 3 (don't remember correctly).
I'm going to try this, though I only have 512MB DIMMs, besides that, do you think that would change anything?A bit of own test results
I also got a different error in Apple Service Diagnostics:
I've put the main fan directly on the heatsink so it directly circulates the air between the fins.
I got it to the point where it still KPs once in a while, but at least after a couple of reboots it fires up reliably.
I really need to fix the AcBel supply, the ATX supply I'm using is making a loud hissing noise and is grossly underpowered (250 watts).
I didn't expect this one to be so troublesome.
ETA: I'm still going to upgrade the CPU board to a 1.25GHz one I found locally. I don't trust the 1GHz CPU board that I have in the MDD at the moment.
I really need to fix the AcBel supply, the ATX supply I'm using is making a loud hissing noise and is grossly underpowered (250 watts).
I didn't expect this one to be so troublesome.
ETA: I'm still going to upgrade the CPU board to a 1.25GHz one I found locally. I don't trust the 1GHz CPU board that I have in the MDD at the moment.
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sounds like the psu you have is some cheap chinese brand. when i did my mod, i used an enermax psu and i had no background hiss or noise.
It's an older Delta Electronics PSU, I'm guessing the hiss it's making is because it's on its last legs. Adamently, it's also the only PSU that I have on hand that has Molex connectors, had to make the most of what I have
Once I get around to recapping the AcBel PSU, it's gonna take its place, I'll keep the ATX-G4 harness for testing.
Another bump, and hopefully the final resolution of this thread:
I got it to consistantly (99% of the times) boot 10.4 using two 512MB modules, but when I tried OS9, it just froze at the loading bar screen.
I could get a 100% boot rate with the original Samsung 256MB module. If I add any other module (two ProMOS, one Elexir and a 1GB Kingston) -> crash.
Right now I have a 512MB Elexir module and a 512MB ProMOS module.. Seems to be running very stable, only OS9 doesn't seem to work for some reason.
The Kingston module is definitely bad as when I put it in any of the RAM slots, it either starts heating up to the point where I can't keep my finger on it for more than five seconds, or it's just not recognized.
This Power Mac never ceases to surprise me..
I got it to consistantly (99% of the times) boot 10.4 using two 512MB modules, but when I tried OS9, it just froze at the loading bar screen.
I could get a 100% boot rate with the original Samsung 256MB module. If I add any other module (two ProMOS, one Elexir and a 1GB Kingston) -> crash.
Right now I have a 512MB Elexir module and a 512MB ProMOS module.. Seems to be running very stable, only OS9 doesn't seem to work for some reason.
The Kingston module is definitely bad as when I put it in any of the RAM slots, it either starts heating up to the point where I can't keep my finger on it for more than five seconds, or it's just not recognized.
This Power Mac never ceases to surprise me..