G5 Tower-Unknown Spec's

cdube

Registered
I have a G5 tower (well, my company) that has been off and in a closet for quite some time. I am trying to repurpose it but can't get it to boot. How can I determine what type of this machine is (ie., processor type and speed, etc.) When I put a diagnostic disk in it, I can run the hardware diagnostics, and with the exception of the 512MB Ram chips saying they are not the same size, (which they are) everything passes fine. I've pulled the 2-512s and replaced with known (running another G5) good 256's in their place without any success. When I try to boot, the apple grey screen comes up spins a bit, and then shuts down. If I boot off disk, system or diagnostic it will, either run the diagnostic, or just go to a blank blue (apple blue not screen of death blue) and do nothing further. I figure I will need the specs to determine what if any steps I can take to rectify or islolate this problem.

Thanks
 
IMHO, I'd replace the internal battery. I'm confidant it's dead.

You also might need to push the PMU reset button on the motherboard, but try the battery 1st. Radio Shack has them.
 
If you open the side panel, the specs are on the bottom beneath the clear plastic cover. That's strange its not reading RAM correctly. For RAM on those they need to be installed in pairs opposite from eacheother (i.e. 1 chip in very top slot, 1 in very bottom slot, then work your way in.)
 
yeah, been there done that. I tried every configuration I could, and there are only 4 slots, so it was too difficult.

Thanks
 
Tried the battery, didn't do anything different-gray apple screen, rotation thingy, shutdown.

there is no specifications label on the inside of the machine, on the bottom it has limited information about the machine, like model number and electrical spec's.

Oh...I noticed it was made in California, maybe it just needs some tasty waves and a cool buzz.
 
If you know the model number, download MacTracker. It will tell you everything there is to know about this Mac (and all others too).
 
If its making it to the Apple and gear before shutting down, I'd suspect perhaps a bad HD or power supply. Try unplugging the HD and to see if it shuts down. If not then plug in the HD, go to the boot picker and try to boot to the install disk for the machine. Then you can run disk utility on the drive to see what shows up. Also, if you post the serial number for the unit, I or another tech can look up the specs.
 
Tried the battery, didn't do anything different-gray apple screen, rotation thingy, shutdown.

there is no specifications label on the inside of the machine, on the bottom it has limited information about the machine, like model number and electrical spec's.

Oh...I noticed it was made in California, maybe it just needs some tasty waves and a cool buzz.
 
serial # it doesn't have on the bottom label, I've tried booting off the (a) system boot disc because I was going to upgrade it to 10.5.4 The model # A1047 I'm not sure what the model # refers to, but that is the only one I can find. I'm not quite sure even how old this machine is. It could have been the 1st gen G5's.

I'll try disconnecting the HD and go from there.

thanks
 
You'll find your serial number, and other hardware information on the label inside the side door. Open the side door - you don't need to open the clear inside panel. Look at the bottom edge where the side door fits (unless the label has been removed...)
 
You'll find your serial number, and other hardware information on the label inside the side door. Open the side door - you don't need to open the clear inside panel. Look at the bottom edge where the side door fits (unless the label has been removed...)

That's what I meant by beneath the plastic cover. Maybe I should have said below or underneath instead?
 
I'm not sure of that, I had to physically tip the machine upside down to get to the label. It's not inside any door, it's on the bottom of the machine.
 
Back
Top