G4 AGP, problems with Graphic Cards and booting from Install DVD

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G4 AGP, problems with Graphic Cards and booting from Install DVD

I bought a G4 AGP (with DVD) on Ebay. It has Mac OS9.2 installed and its working correctly so far. It has an additional GraphicsCard in a PCI Slot, on which the Monitor is connected.

1. The AGP Card doesn't give any output signal... I wondered if this would be the reason that somebody installed the additional Card...
2. The AGP Card doens't show up in the Profiler... is this normal? According to other users this seems to be a common issue...

3. I would like to install X 10.4, but when booting from CD, the process stops after a few seconds... and there is no signal on none of the video cards. I tried to remove one or the other card but no luck...

the firmware is uptodate and the Install DVD is correct aswell, I just bought it from AppleStore...

I don't have any original CDs available, so I cant run a hardware test.

Anybody?

G4 AGP Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Apr 4, 2007 11:44 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 5, 2007 12:28 AM in response to danoo

The AGP Card doesn't give any output signal... I wondered if this would be the reason that somebody installed the additional Card...

Probably. I'd take out the bad original card and replace it with the additional card. Then, check and see if that's what caused the problem. Then only other choice is to take it to the Apple store and have them check it out.

I don't have any original CDs available, so I cant run a hardware test.

You can either contact the seller and complain about the missing disks or buy replacement disks for your machine. Give 1-800-MY-APPLE a call. The AHT disk should cost about $20. I don't know what the others would run.

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Answer 2

scb

Level 5

5,388 points

Apr 5, 2007 6:01 PM in response to baltwo

Many graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia died after 10.2 or so. You most certainly might have that issue. A new card would cure this. ATI made a nice 7000 Mac Version card. Cheap now a days, on eBay.

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 5, 2007 6:30 PM in response to scb

The ATI Rage 128 that came with my machine seven years ago died after 5 years. The local Apple Store replaced it with a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX card which works fine in my G4 Gigabit Ethernet machine and should fit yours.

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Answer 4

danoo Author

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Apr 5, 2007 11:25 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the answers. So does the new AGP Card show up in the systemProfiler? I wonder if mine doesn't because its broken or if they generally dont...

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 5, 2007 11:55 PM in response to danoo

Yes, the new card shows up in system profiler. Acts just like the original. Did you swap out the cards you have?

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Answer 6

danoo Author

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Apr 6, 2007 12:01 AM in response to baltwo

I just took out the PCI-Card and booted only with the AGP Card and I did the PRAM Reset. I had the happy mac Icon and the OS9 loader... wow! but then my monitor said out of range! It looks like the desktop of my mac uses a screen resolution on the AGP card which is too big! Is there a way to reset it? I have a 22" flat BENQ and it normaly displays any resolution...

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 6, 2007 12:12 AM in response to danoo

If you booted into OS 9, check the Monitors control panel. You might have to reinstall the monitor's software drivers if there were any. Another option is to boot into OS X and try the Displays prefPane.

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Answer 8

danoo Author

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Apr 6, 2007 12:35 AM in response to baltwo

Unfortunately I cannt boot OsX because I actually would like to install it. I only got Os9. Right now, I don't get any signal at all, on either card. Both they say out of range... even after a PRAM reset, with the original hardware configuration that used to work. my mac seems dead...

oh, its coming back. I try to reduce the resolution for the PCI card and hope it's taken into account for the AGP aswell...

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Answer 9

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 6, 2007 12:43 AM in response to danoo

Try this. Boot the machine into open firmware and reset the machine's settings to defaults by restarting the machine (holding down the CMD OPT+OF keys until a screen with text stops loading). Then, type in these commands, following each with hitting the return key:

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

The last one reboots the machine. Then, see if that fixes the resolution problem.

BTW, have you tried removing the AGP card and only using the PCI card?

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Answer 10

danoo Author

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Apr 6, 2007 12:58 AM in response to danoo

Ok, after some tries I suddenly have both graphic cards working and also in the profiler. Don't ask me why, it just works now. I saw that the AGP was set on 1900x1600 and that was too much for my monitor...

Well. So I start installing my OSX. But all I get is a white screen with a black rectangle. Thats it...

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Answer 11

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Apr 6, 2007 1:07 AM in response to danoo

I'm heading to bed and won't be back until around noon PDT. Glad you got the display working. Apparently, they weren't seated properly or reseating them restored the contacts by removing corrosion. Before trying to install OS X, reinstall OS 9.2.2. You can get it at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75288 Then, post back with your configuration information, primary the number and sizes of HDs and any partitions.

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Answer 12

danoo Author

Level 1

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Apr 7, 2007 12:19 AM in response to baltwo

I reinstalled 9.2 as you told me to do.
I have one volume with one partition, 76GB Size

After booting from DVD and the gray apple logo. I got a white screen with a black rectangle...

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