you could see if the higher level system would see the new optical drive and run on it; since
the boot disc for Jaguar may not see the new optical drive. There also may be some single-
user mode or terminal type of access required to see if the new optical drive is accessible
to the computer. It may not be; or not without some other update in the computer.
My iMac G4 came with the newer optical drive; and I recall some users of the older drive
found those appeared to die about the time they upgraded to Panther or Tiger. Mine came
with Panther on DVD, so that was not an issue; and now it has Tiger running on board.
Could be you need to see if Panther or Tiger can be installed; and they both come on DVD
(or could be found on a CD set) and I suspect maybe you need to try a newer OSX on DVD
with the newer optical drive. But there may be more, and I am not totally sure what that'd be!
Hopefully one of the more experienced Mac experts on this board will find your post and see
what other valid options are open to you, to try. I don't think a Firewire would answer the issue.
Though it may be a handy tool to have; just like a Firewire external superdrive, or an external HDD
could be a handy tool for home troubleshooting and higher level maintenance repairs of your stuff.
- Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 Pro
- Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 User
- Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 Specs
Apr 18, 2008 9:45 PM
(the issues regarding these powermacs and the power supply failure is prevalent and much discussion has been made regarding replacing the PSU with a new one or modding an ATX power supply)
Hello, I just want to share my experiences and solution with fixing my MDD PowerMac power supply.
First some quick background:
A few years back my Mac would reset its clock back to December 31, 1969.
20 Macs for 2020: #9 – iMac G4 The original iMac was defined by the shape of the CRT display at its heart. Fairly early on in the process of designing it, Apple decided to set aside an alternative version that used a laptop-style flat-panel display as being too expensive and impractical. All the way back to 2002, specifically. Doda’s iMac G4 New Edition is, as its name suggests, a refreshed take on Apple’s iMac G4: the sunflower-inspired iMac with a floating display on an.
And at times it would not power-up unless I switched off/on the power switch on the power strip or unplug/plug the power cable.
I replaced the PRAM battery and reset the PMU.
The problem was intermittent and though it was slightly inconvenient I was able to deal with manually updating the date/time settings, etc.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give the inside of my Mac a quick spring cleaning.
When I tried to turn it back on, it was completely unresponsive.
Since I knew the PSU, was prone to catastrophe I decided to open it up and take a peek.
But first a disclaimer:
I am not an expert in electrical engineering so my 'solution' may not (or it may) work for your particular case. Additionally I simply stumbled upon this quick solution while I was 'poking' around.
When you open up the PSU you should see something that looks like a cathode terminal, a few inches from this is a heat sink. If you happen to accidently touch both pieces at the same time you will receive a nice buzz. That is because the PSU and its capacitors/inductors have electrical charge stored in them.
What I did was simply arc the two pieces of metal using a thick screw driver with a rubber grip. This short circuit will simply discharge the PSU and you will see a spark or two as the electrical current finds the ground. (it also leaves a nice little nick on the shaft of you screw driver)
(That whole last part maybe a bit unneccessary, but it sure is fun to do and it brings back memories of how we use to 'hotwire' our HMMWVs)
After checking with a multimeter, I verified that the PSU was getting the correct input voltage.
My next logical step was to check output voltage.
Since I didn't know what to look for in the PSU, I closed it back up.
(I should mention that there were no signs of burnt or exploded circuits, diodes, capacitors etc.. and that I could not locate a standard fuse... it turns out the fuse is a built-in 250 V - 8 amp ceramic fuse and proximal to where the power cord enters the PSU)
The next step was to test the output voltage, so I figured I'll check it at the terminal where it connects to the logic board.
I googled the pin out and then I checked the voltage.
Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 Pro
Since I was getting the right voltages I put everything back together and then... VOILA.
My Mac powered on flawlessly, even the date and time settings were preserved.
Hopefully this it will work for others. I am not sure why it worked, but it did after I was unable to power-up my Mac.
With this quick solution I was able to bring my Mac back to life three times using that last trick.
What I simply did was measure the voltage with a multimeter between, if I recall correctly, were Pins 11 and 12.
Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 User
Try that combination: between Power On and Ground or between the +25 V Standby and Ground.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully this helps out. Let us know if it does.
Bringing An Imac G4 Back To Life Imac G4 Specs
PowerPC Lives!
MDD Dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
Posted on Jun 17, 2013 12:24 PM