PowerMac G5 7,3 Graphics Issues/Sleeping

Question

PowerMac G5 7,3 Graphics Issues/Sleeping

Hi,

Recently received a pretty good condition PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5GHz June 2004 model, however after setting it all up and installing Leopard (clean) I found that there are strange remnants of possibly video artifacting(?) on my display. I've plugged the machine into my TV display too and same results there, so I'm thinking problem with the graphics card? My computer is also unable to sleep properly, both manually and automatically. When you click the sleep button the display stays on and some of the fans whirr down a touch, but the screen stays on nonetheless. I've replaced the PRAM battery, tried countless configurations of input devices, but I still have no idea.

I read on a couple forums that the Apple SuperDrive (which in my model is somewhat faulty I think) keeps certain PowerMac G5's awake running Leopard. Would like to hear if anyone else has had this issue and had it resolved. My graphics card is a ATI 9600 with 256mb of VRAM, possibly the Mac + PC version.

Thank you,

Alex

Posted on Mar 31, 2016 3:22 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,366 points

Apr 3, 2016 2:19 PM in response to ChroMacintosh

First off, when you say clean, do you mean you erase installed the operating system? Mac OS X doesn't have "Clean install."

http://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2209

If you have artifacts with an erase and installed system, there is a hardware problem at issue. When not detected by the factory prebundled hardware test installer disc, it usually is a RAM issue. See my FAQ* on RAM:

http://www.macmaps.com/badram.html

* Links to my pages may give me compensation.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Apr 4, 2016 4:38 PM in response to ChroMacintosh

Just to add to the great advice so far...

Have you blown the dust out of the Video Card & RAM especially?

One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...

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

Reboot, test again.

If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.

Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.

Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...

/private/var/run/StartupItems

/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

/Library/LaunchDaemons

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Answer 3

Apr 4, 2016 4:38 PM in response to BDAqua

I haven't been able to blow out dust from the RAM as of yet, but I will do that once I replace all 8 DIMMs with new 1GB ones to max it out. I booted into safe mode and I found that the video artifacting indeed stopped. What does this mean? Does this mean I should reinstall OS X (and choose optional installs etc with all the drivers maybe) or should I try getting a replacement video card. The 9600 Pro is actually quite a nice card in this machine, so I hope this is just a software issue or easily resolveable.

I will check those folders as soon as I get back to the machine, thank you for the help.

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Answer 4

Apr 4, 2016 4:43 PM in response to a brody

When I say clean, I mean the hard drives were erased when I received the machine and I used a DL DVD to install the operating system (10.5.6). However at the time, when I booted onto the DVD, I noted it was strange that my TV output (DVI>HDMI adapter) would only display black and white and a very grainy effect, which made it difficult to read text on the installation screen. However after booting onto the hard drive, the screen would display full 1920x1080 and millions of colours, as per normal. I also noticed that my optical drive was dodgy as some discs it would read after a few inserts and it makes a horrible loud screeching noise. Would this have affected the installation? and does the black and white display on the install screen mean anything? thanks.

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