Power Mac G5 CD/DVD Drive not Functioning

Question

Power Mac G5 CD/DVD Drive not Functioning

Hello community!

I've got an old Power Mac G5 on my hands and I'm looking to downgrade from Leopard to Tiger and noticed something strange.. It seems as if the drive has some issues. I can put in any disc, hear it make noise, and it eventually spits it back out. If I run into Disc Utility it actually sees the drive and gives it's name, which is QUITE interesting. So far, I've tried replacing the drive, replacing the data cable from the drive to the logic board, repairing disc permissions, and almost everything else you can think of. Does this sound like a logic board failure/issue? What suggestions might you have for me? 😀

Wish me luck, and I appreciate all help. 🙂

-Nick

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jul 6, 2013 9:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 7, 2013 10:53 AM in response to T0XiiC IVIAGICZ

Hi Nick, some things to try...

Have you done a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

In fact, do 3 in a row, takes a bit of time.

How to reset the SMU/PMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436

Earlier G3, G4, G5 models...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1939

Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.

Then move these files to the Desktop for now...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist

Reboot & test.

PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Reply

Answer 2

Jul 7, 2013 12:56 PM in response to BDAqua

Hey there BDAqua,

I recall you helping me a while ago with the RAM in this Power Mac, glad to see you still around!

I tried at last 4 PRAM resets, (all in a row) and the drive still wasn't functioning. I also tried to reset the SMU/PMU by unplugging the power cord for two minutes, still nothing. I also booted into safe mode and repaired permissions. It fixed a whole bunch of stuff, (mainly in Front Row and iTunes?) Not sure if those two apps have anything to do with it, but anyways, after repairing the permissions I added the four plist files you told me about to my desktop and restarted. I tried to test the CD drive, yet it still doesn't work.

Thanks for your reply, I really hope I can get this fixed so I can install Tiger. 🙂

-Nick

Reply

Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 7, 2013 1:49 PM in response to T0XiiC IVIAGICZ

Hmmm, so no Discs work in it? Or just OSX Install Discs?

Do you have another Mac with Firewire & an optical drive around?

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 7, 2013 2:02 PM in response to BDAqua

In reply to your first question, no discs work at all. Not even movies. However, I tried an HP USB external drive, and it sees discs I put in there on Mac OS X, however I can't boot from them. I do have an iMac G5 with FireWire 400 and a SuperDrive, could that come in handy?

Reply

Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 7, 2013 2:31 PM in response to T0XiiC IVIAGICZ

The iMac can be used as a big FW Optical drive by putting it in FireWire target disk mode...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Disk_Mode

Put the Install Disc in the iMac.

Put the iMac into FireWire target disk mode...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

Boot the Powermac G5 holding the Option/alt key, & see if the Install Disc in the iMac shows up as a boot choice.

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 7, 2013 4:49 PM in response to BDAqua

Hmm, sounds neat. Give me a little bit to try that and I'll let you know if it works, because I don't think I have a FireWire 400 cable laying around anywhere.

Reply

Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 7, 2013 8:45 PM in response to T0XiiC IVIAGICZ

http://eshop.macsales.com/catsearch/firewire+1394+cables

Reply