02-12-2009, 09:41 PM
Original thread here: http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...msg-652939
Well here is where I'm at after a loooooong weekend of swapping and testing...
I had started out testing with the QS (867 sent by a Mac tech friend in SF) since I was already set up and running on the one working Sawtooth that Lew Zealand had provided.
I figured that a cautious approach was best so I was checking out 1 component at a time starting with the RAM. 3 out the 4 512s tested OK with a simple boot test but running Rember on them overnight showed that only 2 of those were actually error free.
My SATA card appears to be fine as well as both of the drives that were attached to it. The ATA 133 card did not fare so well as it appears to be completely dead, although both drives appear to power up.
Moving along to the video card (64MB Radeon 9000) is when things started to get interesting. I installed the card and upon reboot was greeted with the usual Apple screen with the little spinner, all appeared fine until the point when the monitor changes resolutions, first a light grey screen, then black, and then nothing more. No system loading screen ever appeared. After a forced restart and a repeat of this, I booted to single user mode and reset the nvram, still no change. Next reboot I ran AppleJack and lo and behold the machine booted normally and went all the way to the desktop and all seemed well.
After a few minutes of opening files and running various programs I tried a restart and was right back to the grey then black screen scenario. I tried pulling the PRAM battery and resetting the board with no change. If I booted the machine in os9 all was fine but in OS X the machine goes to the grey then black every time unless I run AppleJack first.
I tried using different hard drives, including one with a fresh OS install and had the exact same problem.
I think what is happening is that the video card is trying to display a res or refresh rate that the monitor simply can't handle but I'm not sure why resetting the nvram won't "fix" this and running Applejack does, at least temporarily...
Sooo I currently have 1.25GB of ram, my 2 SATA drives and a 120GB Seagate ATA drive installed in the Sawtooth. Along with my Sonnet G4 upgrade card that I was able to install after upgrading the Macs ROM and a 32MB 4MX card that was in the QS.
I have left the QS unplugged with the battery out and everything removed from the motherboard for a couple of days now and will test with the 4MX card to see if the problem is in the nvram or actually something wrong with the Radeon card.
My search for a cheap MDD dually or lowend G5 came to screeching halt this past weekend when I was forced to replace 2 tires on the wife's car after she drove through a construction zone and wound up with multiple nails in her tires!
For now it looks like I will be running this setup until after tax time, unless I win the Lottery...
Comments, suggestions, additional hardware offers appreciated...
Well here is where I'm at after a loooooong weekend of swapping and testing...
I had started out testing with the QS (867 sent by a Mac tech friend in SF) since I was already set up and running on the one working Sawtooth that Lew Zealand had provided.
I figured that a cautious approach was best so I was checking out 1 component at a time starting with the RAM. 3 out the 4 512s tested OK with a simple boot test but running Rember on them overnight showed that only 2 of those were actually error free.
My SATA card appears to be fine as well as both of the drives that were attached to it. The ATA 133 card did not fare so well as it appears to be completely dead, although both drives appear to power up.
Moving along to the video card (64MB Radeon 9000) is when things started to get interesting. I installed the card and upon reboot was greeted with the usual Apple screen with the little spinner, all appeared fine until the point when the monitor changes resolutions, first a light grey screen, then black, and then nothing more. No system loading screen ever appeared. After a forced restart and a repeat of this, I booted to single user mode and reset the nvram, still no change. Next reboot I ran AppleJack and lo and behold the machine booted normally and went all the way to the desktop and all seemed well.
After a few minutes of opening files and running various programs I tried a restart and was right back to the grey then black screen scenario. I tried pulling the PRAM battery and resetting the board with no change. If I booted the machine in os9 all was fine but in OS X the machine goes to the grey then black every time unless I run AppleJack first.
I tried using different hard drives, including one with a fresh OS install and had the exact same problem.
I think what is happening is that the video card is trying to display a res or refresh rate that the monitor simply can't handle but I'm not sure why resetting the nvram won't "fix" this and running Applejack does, at least temporarily...
Sooo I currently have 1.25GB of ram, my 2 SATA drives and a 120GB Seagate ATA drive installed in the Sawtooth. Along with my Sonnet G4 upgrade card that I was able to install after upgrading the Macs ROM and a 32MB 4MX card that was in the QS.
I have left the QS unplugged with the battery out and everything removed from the motherboard for a couple of days now and will test with the 4MX card to see if the problem is in the nvram or actually something wrong with the Radeon card.
My search for a cheap MDD dually or lowend G5 came to screeching halt this past weekend when I was forced to replace 2 tires on the wife's car after she drove through a construction zone and wound up with multiple nails in her tires!
For now it looks like I will be running this setup until after tax time, unless I win the Lottery...
Comments, suggestions, additional hardware offers appreciated...