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-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G5 back from death