Power Mac G5 "can not be fixed"??

Kate Porter wrote:

Ok. Apple Store Techs says my PowerMac G5 Quad "can't be repaired". "Parts too expensive" or "Parts can't be found." or "Not worth repairing", etc.

Translation: "We don't want to be bothered repairing a product that would keep you from buying our latest new products."

That's just the way it is. Now, we need to know some more specific information to help your navigating this mess. What general geographical location are you in? What seemed to be the problems with the machine (it may actually be something relatively simple)?

Now, as to hard drives, you can certainly pull those SATA drives and read them elsewhere in other Apple machines. You can also purchase a used machine, drop in the drives and possibly your video card and RAM and be on your way just fine. Or you can find an independent repair source (there are a few that will probably be recommended once your locale is known) who could get you through this situation. What you probably can't rely on is much help from the genius bar on these older machines; that's why we have this community of dinosaurs here ready to help.

I think OCG's suggestion of of a Used G5 is good, prices have really fallen & it'd likely be cheaper than any repair.

BDAqua wrote:

I think OCG's suggestion of of a Used G5 is good, prices have really fallen & it'd likely be cheaper than any repair.

Yeah. By the time you replace a logic board or CPU with a pulled unit, it's almost a wash these days. If "Old Faithsul" ever tanks on me, that will probably be my route.

BTW, I just did an uptime in Terminal and see that it has been 32.6 days since my last reboot. Hadn't thought about it much, but that is the kind of system longevity I wouldn't have dreamed of 20 years ago, unless one was talking VAX or Sun. I guess someone has been doing something right in Cupertino.

Re- keeping the data on the old HDD, In case there's anyone out there still working on this problem and the computer wasn't retreivable:

I've been cleaning up a lot of hard drives from computers that quit. The HDDs are from a very old PC (don't remember the vintage & it wasn't from my computer), and from a 4-yr old Intel Mac Pro 2.66 that seems to have died -more work to be done to confirm that part.

I've pulled all the HDDs, put a couple in external enclosures, and used a USB Universal Drive Adaptor to connect old PC drives to my MacBook.

I've been able to clean up all of them except one PC HDD that didn't mount.

I've connected any 2 of the cleaned-up drives to my MacBook 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and copied between the external drives w/o copying to the MacBook HDD, just between the external drives.

All external enclosures and the Universal Adaptor were from OWC (http://www.macsales.com/).

Also worked w/ other external HDDs w/ same results. This has all been an experiment and to retain info & programs from old drives. And to get my info off old drives. And now, of course, to use rescitated drives as externals.

Kate, at least the data can likely be saved, it's easy to pull the Hard Drive out & use one of these on another Mac to get at or Migrate what you need...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

Great news Kate, Thanks, keep us posted if you have a new question. 🙂

There is a possibility that your G5 has heat issues, this is a common problem. Open it up and check for dust and fluff, you would be suprised how many G5's have been brought back to life by a few simple tricks. Let me know which model you have and we may be able to save the patient!

Eeeks! What are the 'few simple tricks'? Mine died in a similar way a year or 2 ago and I've kept 'er around with the hopes one day I'd revive her, Frankenstein style, for all of my lost music...

Her death was sudden. I was watching a movie, suddenly she started making 'loud angry noises', froze and wouldn't restart, so I had to hold the power button. She hasn't come back on since.

Opened her up and she was a dusty, furry mess. (Had 2 cats.) Cleaned her out, but wasn't sure what else to do.

It was a souped up G5 from around 2006. Would have to look up all of the info given it was so long ago. It was built for video editing if that helps.

For some reason I was inspired to give it a go today and found this thread. Go figure last message was posted on my bday. ;o)

Looking forward to saying, 'IT'S ALIVE!' lol

Hello & a warm welcome! 🙂

Feel free to start a new topic just for your particular problem(s), it'll likely garner more helpers since this one is marked Solved, most people will be looking in here that need help, fewer that provide help will be looking here.

Thanks very much! Can you tell this was my first post? lol

I thought so, since you joined today. 🙂

No need to feel embarressed though, we were all new at one time.