zencoud

Q: Aluminum G5 three lights fixed !!!

I recently bought a G5 2 x 2.7 for a real cheap price (70 euros, yes its true) as the owner told me that the motherboard was bad and had the three lights problem and won´t boot

 

Then I started reading about this problem (micro-fracture) and tried to find a solution for it. First I tried was the "hair-dryer", it worked but as soon as the motherboard got colder then it hanged as the ram problem came back.

 

I was considering the "oven trick" but seemed too risky and also a lot of work to unassembly it, etc...

 

Then I found that there are "heat guns" and this made the miracle :-)

 

I bougth a heat gun for 16 euros (Leroy Merlin). It is able to heat up to 500 celsius and had two modes. I assumed the low mode may be around 200 celsius or so. Then opened the powermac, and started heating the rectangle area between the two memory banks. Slowly, moving it around, heating (not over the ram, just in the middle area). A few times I turned the max power for the heat gun as my intention was to "melt' the micro-fracture.

 

I am writting this post from the back-from-dead G5 :-)  working so fine, for many hours now. Don't know how long it will remain alive, but for now, its working great :-)

 

Need help ? You can find me at antonio.fivetech@gmail.com

 

Go running for the heat gun... ;-)

powermac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G5 back from death

Posted on Apr 30, 2012 1:36 PM

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Q: Aluminum G5 three lights fixed !!!

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Apr 30, 2012 2:40 PM in response to zencoud
    Level 10 (123,506 points)
    Apr 30, 2012 2:40 PM in response to zencoud

    Great work, thanks for the post!

  • by zencoud,

    zencoud zencoud Apr 30, 2012 3:19 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2012 3:19 PM in response to BDAqua
  • by japamac,

    japamac japamac Apr 30, 2012 3:26 PM in response to zencoud
    Level 7 (24,390 points)
    Apr 30, 2012 3:26 PM in response to zencoud

    I've also resurrected a G5 board with a heat gun.

    Another area of concern, besides the memory controller BGA, are the RAM slot connections.

     

    If youy have issues again, repeat the heatgun reflow on the RAM slot connections.

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Sep 28, 2012 7:37 AM in response to zencoud
    Level 3 (840 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 28, 2012 7:37 AM in response to zencoud

    Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I'm having the same issue. I just want to clarify how to use the heat gun before attempting this repair. Heat up the center section between the RAM slots? Should I remove the RAM before doing this? Should I heat up the RAM slots too? I was able to get my G5 running by pressing on the memory sticks during boot-up, but am not sure how long that fix will last. The past few times my computer has just suddenly frozen while running, so I think I need to try the heat gun fix.

  • by Dennis Kulpa,

    Dennis Kulpa Dennis Kulpa Mar 25, 2013 5:22 PM in response to Kort
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 25, 2013 5:22 PM in response to Kort

    I've got a 9-year old dual 2GHz G5.  When it was 4 years old, I had a problem like this, tried the hair dryer inside that cabinet and it worked.  To keep it running, I closed up the cabinet, set the hair dryer in front of the machine blowing into the front fans.  I would do this for about 2-3 minutes and that was enough to start the computer.  To keep it running, I just left the hair dryer in front like this, on a low heat setting.  I was able to run for an entire day so that I could get a back-up of all my files before I took it in for service.  Had one of the processors replaced and it's been running fine ever since.

     

    Dennis