Question Power Mac G4 (400 MHz PCI graphics) doesn't boot anything ?

[ragnarok0274]

Yay... more tech problems...
I have a Power Mac G4 (400 MHz PCI graphics).
I got it from a relative. They said it wasn't working.
After bringing it home, I booted it up. It showed an Apple logo on a gray screen, then a circle with a line through it*.
I... then took it apart.
Rebuilt it a month later.
And... a magnet was set on the hard drive.
Once I brought it back up, it displayed the "thanks-but-no-thanks" sequence.
So I stuck my OS X 10.4.6 DVD, and it booted from it, but then it did the "thanks-but-no-thanks" as well.
Tried OS 9, OS X 10.0, and OS X 10.1.3 as well.
All have failed.

Currently I have reset the PRAM and possibly the PMU (not sure).
It currently has no CMOS battery - am planning to get one next week.

I asked Apple and they said to bring it in for an evaluation.

Any ideas?

*I am calling this sequence the thanks-but-no-thanks sequence.

EDIT:
Sorry if this is a double post

 

[velocityg4]

DVD drives fails often even when hardly ever used. The drive likely is defective. If you've got another PowerPC era Mac. You may use it to install a compatible OS on a Hard Drive. Then simply move it into the G4.

 

[ragnarok0274]

DVD drives fails often even when hardly ever used. The drive likely is defective. If you've got another PowerPC era Mac. You may use it to install a compatible OS on a Hard Drive. Then simply move it into the G4.

Should I try putting a different optical drive in there? I have others.

 

[velocityg4]

Oh, definitely if you have others. My G4 DA I just revived recently. Had a bum optical drive after sitting many years. It could just be a dirty lense. Which is very difficult to clean. Luckily my other drives are boxed. In a cool and dry environment.

If you can. Make sure they work still with DVD and CD.

Also, Macs can be finicky about jumper settings. Make sure they are correct. Sometimes cable select doesn't work and you need to be specific about slave or master settings.

 

[ragnarok0274]

Oh, definitely if you have others. My G4 DA I just revived recently. Had a bum optical drive after sitting many years. It could just be a dirty lense. Which is very difficult to clean. Luckily my other drives are boxed. In a cool and dry environment.

If you can. Make sure they work still with DVD and CD.

Also, Macs can be finicky about jumper settings. Make sure they are correct. Sometimes cable select doesn't work and you need to be specific about slave or master settings.

I set the optical drive to master and the Zip drive to slave.
And I will try cleaning the lens. Thankfully this one is very easy to remove and put back parts with.

 

[ragnarok0274]

Drive lens cleaned, jumpers set correctly, but same error.
Once my new parts come I will try - that's when my new parts come.

 

[animekenji]

A G4 400 PCI is so old at this point, that it's cheaper just to buy a later model than to keep pouring parts into it. I actually found a dual 1ghz Quicksilver out for trash, once.

 

[ragnarok0274]

A G4 400 PCI is so old at this point, that it's cheaper just to buy a later model than to keep pouring parts into it. I actually found a dual 1ghz Quicksilver out for trash, once.

That's nice, but I would like to restore my model.

 

[TerryLaze]

And... a magnet was set on the hard drive.

Did you check/replace the drive?! A magnet shouldn't be a problem but you never know.

I asked Apple and they said to bring it in for an evaluation.

Lol, did you give them the thanks-but-no-thanks sequence?
I would love to see the genius bar guy's face when seeing a G4 trying to figure out what it even is.

DVD drives fails often even when hardly ever used. The drive likely is defective. If you've got another PowerPC era Mac. You may use it to install a compatible OS on a Hard Drive. Then simply move it into the G4.

Technology has come so far that you can now emulate a powerPC on your PC, it's something to try at least.
https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Platforms/PowerPC

QEMU PowerPC G4 OS X Tiger (10.4) setup

QEMU PowerPC G4 OS X Tiger (10.4) setup. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com