Bluesea49

Q: Sata card won't allow boot on g4

Added a Syba sata card to g4 tower, won't boot with card installed, does boot when removed, their install manual is no help, anybody have this happen ? and yes I installed the drivers for OSX

Posted on Jan 2, 2014 9:23 AM

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Q: Sata card won't allow boot on g4

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jan 2, 2014 10:23 AM in response to Bluesea49
    Level 10 (123,618 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 10:23 AM in response to Bluesea49

    How far did it boot when installed?

     

    Was anything attached to the card?

     

    Which exact G4 is it?

     

    Which exact Syba card is it?

  • by Bluesea49,

    Bluesea49 Bluesea49 Jan 2, 2014 11:14 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 11:14 AM in response to BDAqua

    Only get a chime and nothing after that. Tried booting with drives attached and then sata cables disconnected. Mac will not boot to either sata or pata with card in slot, when card is removed the pata boots as normal. I'm away from the computer, but it is a silver G4 tower (not MDD) and the card is a syba has 2 drive connectors at the end of the card. I will forward card model when I get back home.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Mike

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jan 2, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Bluesea49
    Level 10 (123,618 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Bluesea49

    OK Mike, waiting for more info.

     

    Also...

     

    At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac.

     

    Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto *but not including the Serial#*...

     

    Hardware Overview:

     

    Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad

    Machine Model: PowerMac11,2

    CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)

    Number Of CPUs: 4

    CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz

    L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB

    Memory: 10 GB

    Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz

    Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1

  • by Bluesea49,

    Bluesea49 Bluesea49 Jan 3, 2014 7:18 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 7:18 AM in response to BDAqua

    Thanks for your help, I got back to the computer looked it over and decided to order a sata drive and simplify my life.

     

    Thanks again for your time.

     

    Mike

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jan 3, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Bluesea49
    Level 10 (123,618 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Bluesea49

    OK, god luck Mike.

  • by Jeff,

    Jeff Jeff Jan 3, 2014 10:43 PM in response to Bluesea49
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 10:43 PM in response to Bluesea49

    "Added a Syba sata card to g4 tower, won't boot with card installed, does boot when removed, their install manual is no help, anybody have this happen? and yes I installed the drivers for OSX"

     

    A PATA or SATA controller card that's Mac-bootable must be firmware-based and not driver-based.  The controller card must be recognized, before any drivers written on the connected drive can be read.  Included drivers could  possibly make the card recognized for connection of secondary drives, depending on the brand of card installed.  You wouldn't have had problems with a (Mac-compatible) FirmTek SATA PCI controller card.  Because your G4 won't boot with the card installed, the card may only be compatible with Intel processor-based Macs.