[BruceStewart]

Hi there I'm looking for suggestions to determine whether my G4 Quicksilver is really dead. Here's brief config. G4 867PPC 1.5 gbram 40 & 60 gb drives, OSX10.4.6, old superdrive and Epson inkjet printer.

Last night it presented me with a blank white screen on boot. I pushed in the reset button and at the screen prompt typed "mac-boot". What I got was a OS-9 like folder with a flashing ? on it. Guess it was trying to tell me it couldn't find a disk to boot from.

Managed to get the Superdrive tray to eject, inserted the OS-X install disk and booted from it. Neither the Disk Utility nor the installation script found any disks to boot from. I have two disks installed and both were spinning (I can hear them).

I think my disk controller is Kaput! and it's on the motherboard I believe. This system is 7 years old, doesn't owe me a dime but I won't spend a dime on it either. Suggestions/opinions on how to confirm it's death are most welcome before I scavenge the hard disks, maybe the superdrive and a recently added USB2.0 card to use with a new intelMac (Macmini or iMac?-another post).

Thanks
bruce

 

[madgunde]

You may be able to boot from a FireWire enclosure, which are very inexpensive. I'd give that a try. Would be a shame to completely scrap that machine just because it can't boot from internal drives.

If you can boot from the SuperDrive, then at least one of your disk controllers must be OK. You could always try putting a hard drive above your SuperDrive connected on the same channel as the SuperDrive. I'd recommend AGAINST putting the drive in the Zip drive bay because of inadequate cooling. Just sit it on top of the SuperDrive, there's plenty of room up there and the SD doesn't generate a lot of heat.

There is always the possibility that both your hard drives are pooched, don't discount that. If they are stacked one on top of the other, maybe one overheated and took the other one down with it. Also possible that the second drive may still be OK, but just temporarily disabled because of the heat. I've seen that happen in a PC I built. Once I let the hard drive cool off and moved it to a cooler position (not sandwiched between two other hard drives), it started working again.

 

[Darien Red Sox]

If your disk controler is tost you could find a cheap on online that would go into one of the PCI slots.

 

[BruceStewart]

Thanks - I've decided to replace it

Thanks Madgunde and Darian for your suggestions. I have decided to remove the hard drives and put them into a new system. Actually have a Macmini coming in a couple of days and I'll mount the drives in enclosures. In the final instance I decided that I wouldn't spend any money on this old box just focus on a replacement.

Cheers
bruce

 

[Gerbill]

The QuickSilver is too new to trash - motherboards for these old G4s are selling on eBay for very reasonable prices.

Also, look carefully at the data cable that connects the drives to the motherboard. Make sure that it's (a) plugged in and (b) not pinched.

 

[BruceStewart]

Too early to trash?

Thank Gerbill for the opinion and the suggestion to sell it. But if the HDD controller is dead on the motherboard what good will it do someone? As you can probably tell the only time I've held a soldering iron was when I had a wood-burning kit as a 10 year old!

Cheers
bruce

 

[monokitty]

But if the HDD controller is dead on the motherboard what good will it do someone?

By suggesting "reasonable prices," he's inferring that you can get a replacement logic board on eBay, not sell your defective one.

 

[BruceStewart]

Ok - duh!

All right I've got it now - now I'm not holding the point end but the blunt end! I've got to say that I'm not interested in replacing the m/b at all. I think this system has served me well and I'm intent on replacing it. I'll probably offer it up at minimal charge to someone who can replace m/b and add their own disk (I've kept mine to put into external enclosures).

Cheers to all and thanks for the suggestions - I'm switching to the intel Macs and moving with the tide!

bruce