PowerMac G5 not displaying anything!

bpali2001 wrote:

IM ANSWERING EVERY SINGLE QUESTION!

what disks I'm talking about? oh well. i gave you many details on what disks I'm talking about. mac os x 10.4, ubuntu 10.04, 12.04, 14.04 ppc version cds, kubuntu 20.04 ppc, and also your iso file you linked me to test. i burned every single one of them out with my 2014 macbook air with an external lg drive. i have WASTED 10 CDS!!!! i have put the disks (4.7 GB DVD-R from Verbantin) in the superdrive of the G5 and tried to boot them up via holding the alt key. thats enough info isn't it?

CD's are not 4.7GB's that is a DVD. CD's are around 700MB. If the G5's drive is 'CD reader/ writer' DVD's will always fail to boot. You can take it out of the G5 to read the spec on the CD/DVD drive. An Apple drive should be CD + DVD in that model, but it could have been swapped out. Incorrect jumpers on the drive can also effect the ability to boot from CD/DVD.

Ubuntu & the Apple hardware test will all fit on a CD.

You were replying to my post about burning Apple hardware test to a CD, however you simply said…

bpali2001 wrote:

nope man. it just ejects the disk out. like every single time

Can you see how I wondered which disc you were referring to? I didn't know if you had burned AHT to a CD.

Since all disks appear to be ejecting you may want to try another CD drive if you have one available (& burn the iso to CD not DVD) - eject suggests the reader cannot read the disk.

It is also possible to write AHT to a USB stick, I made a script to do that, see if you can figure that out…

https://gist.github.com/drewreece/2e5eed7dbfbd5dd7e929

Or ask if you need guidance.

I know this is frustrating, but it isn't helped when you post no specific info, we are left guessing what has been tried.

This forum is failing currently to update the activity list for me, so I only know you have replied when I get an email many hours later.

I don't think the original Gray Disc will work, Drives are all now Advanced Format, (4096 Byte sectors instead of the old 512 Byte sectors), only 10.4.11 & up can handle that, & 10.4 Discs never came with 10.4.11

The 1.6 came with...

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/specs/powermac_g5_1.6.html

Also, make certain the drive is SATA 1.5Gb/s compatible

bpali2001 wrote:

oh well. i will buy an original apple grey disk excuse me DVD!! for the powermac g5 specifically. will that work?

I can't say for sure - there are many G5 models.

Everymac lists the spec, ideally it would be for the same model but another one might work. Apple have a habit of making OS disks that won't install on other models (via installer checks that refuse to boot from the wrong board). It may allow booting & running utilities.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/specs/powermac_g5_1.6.html

I think most SATA disks should work, just at slower SATA1 speeds, it's worth searching around to see if there are any other complaints with these G5's and newer disks, it's been a while since I touched a G5 that worked.

Did you get chance to try a USB apple hardware test boot? Since the G5 internal is empty you could possibly install AHT onto that via target disk mode if you can hook it up to another Mac (or via a disk case etc). That method would remove the 'does it boot USB question'. It will need to be formatted in Apple partition map.

10.3 won't handle Advanced format drives.