Could it be the processor and not the HD?

M

MrsSki

Registered
My G5 at home has for the last few weeks not been running correctly. I assumed it was the HD (again) So new HD in hand, we replaced it, alas nothing. We can barely get it to boot. And this "water" noise is still being heard, the fans kick on in over drive. Could we have been mistaken.

What are the symptoms of a failing processor?
 
"Water" noise?

Is your G5 a liquid-cooled model? If so, you may have the dreaded coolant leak problem... Apple should either fix it for free, or, in rare cases, replace your computer with a comparable Mac Pro model.

Can you elaborate on the symptoms your computer is exhibiting?
 
hm, now there is a question i dont know the answer too. if it is liquid cooled or not.

Its one of the first G5s that came out (its a quad, pre intel) and its 5.5 years old. I dont *think* its liquid cooled (were they even doing them that long ago) And of course the warranty is not loner valid.

Just as an FYI my husband is an IT guy. Usually PC, but has worked on my mac enough to know the basic goings on, and to do some simple hardware work (replacing the HD adding memory etc...)

Symptoms:
1. for some time on and off was a water noise. It almost sounded like water was leaking or running inside (this is what made me think the HD was bad) Its kind of hard to explain. But it would be when it was running.

More recently the fans would sometimes kick on into overdrive. But my husband cleaned the dust out. Then it started really acting up. If you started working on it, suddenly it would just go to sleep. If the computer had been off or asleep all day, and you started to work on it. You could get maybe 5 minutes out of it before the fans kicked on and it went to sleep. But after that, every 2 minutes or so, off it went.

The new HD was installed, and now its barely even starting up. When it does start up, we cant get it to even recognize the CD in the drive (to install the OS) the old HD is not getting any power either...

So we started talking and thought its possible its the Processor. The Power supply was replace by Apple about 2 years ago (dont ask, I think this machine is a lemon)...

But any hoo... thoughts? Im at a loss. and lost without my mac!
 
so my husband just informed me that there is rust inside of the tower, could it be that we do have a liquid based coolant? and that it does have the dreaded coolant leak??
 
MrsSki said:
so my husband just informed me that there is rust inside of the tower, could it be that we do have a liquid based coolant? and that it does have the dreaded coolant leak??
Click to expand...
I am not aware of a 2.5 GHz G5 that is not liquid-cooled. My work computer is such a machine. If it is liquid cooled, then it will eventually leak. There is no way around it.

This does not mean, however, that your problem is a coolant leak. If you have a coolant leak, then you should have puddles of coolant beneath your machine.
 
hm, interesting. no puddles BUT there is all kinds of rust and corrosion inside under the cover... is there such thing as a slow leak?

Sorry for so many questions, ive just never heard of this before...
 
Yes, it does sound like a tell-tale coolant leak. There should be no rust or residue (other than dust) inside the computer -- and if the rust/residue is located close to the bottom of the computer, well, liquid runs downhill on this here Earth.

My first suggestion would be to call Apple directly. Google a little about G5 coolant leaks, and arm yourself with reports of other coolant leaks and free fixing/replacement of the computer. My guess is that Apple will work with you on this as long as you're patient and polite, but firm.
 
MrsSki said:
hm, interesting. no puddles BUT there is all kinds of rust and corrosion inside under the cover... is there such thing as a slow leak?

Sorry for so many questions, ive just never heard of this before...
Click to expand...

It definitely sound like a leaker. Alot of times you need to remove the processor cover and processors to see the extent of the damage from liquid. On the bright side Apple in the past would usually replace just about everything except HD, optical, drive, perhaps RAM. But on the down side, the last time I did one of those it was going to be quite a long wait for the new processors. But like I said, its been a while. I don't even know if Apple is still even covering repairs on those. If its out of warranty which I'm sure it is, they are going to be asking for pictures of the damage.
 
So I thought I would update this post. Since my success is largely because of this site, this post and you so very helpful and knowledgeable people here.

After the advice given here, I did indeed do some more research on Apple repairs, replacements etc on this problem with this model Mac. Friday I made my Genius appt. at one of my local Apple stores. Saturday 420pm. Packed up the tower, the 2-1/5 year old, the 5-1/2 month old and the hubby to wait in line...

Finally my turn, I explained my problem and my suspicions to the Genius on hand. He pulled up the serial number (containing the LONG history of problems im sure) opened the Mac, and the look on his face told the whole story clearly. Coolant leak confirmed.

Apparently I had a slow leak too, so it managed to destroy everything inside. Hes looking, typing, looking, typing. Grabs a manager, who looks inside the machine and on the screen the other guy was typing on... I knew it wasnt a good sign when a 2nd manager came over, and the 3 of them walked away to discuss the fate of my Mac...

After about 20 minutes they all came back with the good news, they were going to replace it. The cost of the repairs, labor etc... were not worth it. In fact I suspect it was cheaper to just replace it. So they replaced it with a base model Mac Pro (which is fine really its in many ways an upgrade!!) No cost to me (yippee) I asked if i could get the extended warranty since it was going to be a new computer they said No problem. Even that was discounted. I kept waiting for them to tell me the "real" cost but at the end of the day the Mac Pro and the extended warranty cost me a hot. $52.43.

No fighting, no pushing, nothing. They even transferred the data from my old HD to the new machine. 1 hour later I walked out happy as a pig...

So here I write, from my new Mac Pro, I did send an email to xlr8yourmac.com (since that site was also a huge help, thanks to this one)

Thanks again everyone here!
 
Thats amazing. I just had another leaker in last week after not seeing one in quit a while. Apple footed the bill for me to replace everything but the HD, optical, RAM, and fans but no mention of a new machine! I've only seen Apple replace the machine once in seeing many of these leakers and that was because it was an expected 1.5 month wait for new dual processor.
 
djackmac said:
Thats amazing. I just had another leaker in last week after not seeing one in quit a while. Apple footed the bill for me to replace everything but the HD, optical, RAM, and fans but no mention of a new machine! I've only seen Apple replace the machine once in seeing many of these leakers and that was because it was an expected 1.5 month wait for new dual processor.
Click to expand...

djackmac

let me tell you the convo between my genius and his manager (as they were comparing the inside of my computer as well as the computer screen that i can only guess was showing the breakdown and quote of the work needing to be done) was something like

"well forget that labor charge, its a joke. you know you guys can never get these things back together. the last time you took one apart it took over a week to get it back together again..."

so i suspect that the extent of the damage in conjunction with the LONG history of problems and the labor they felt it needed (and the skills they felt they didnt) that it was cheaper to replace it?

Im not sure. maybe they just felt sorry for me lol... either way, im sooooo thankful. even if they had repaired it i wouldnt have complained... but this is exxxxcellent.
 
MrsSki said:
"well forget that labor charge, its a joke. you know you guys can never get these things back together. the last time you took one apart it took over a week to get it back together again..."

so i suspect that the extent of the damage in conjunction with the LONG history of problems and the labor they felt it needed (and the skills they felt they didnt) that it was cheaper to replace it?

Im not sure. maybe they just felt sorry for me lol... either way, im sooooo thankful. even if they had repaired it i wouldnt have complained... but this is exxxxcellent.
Click to expand...

Over a week? lol! I don't think its ever taken me more than 3 hours even in doing my very first one, unless Apple sent a bad part and I had to figure out which one was causing problems. But hey, I'd much rather have a new Mac Pro!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top