CPU: PowerPC G4 (7447) 1 GHzMemory: 768 MBStorage: -GPU: NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 32 MB DDR SDRAMCondition: Won't read storage on the ATA bus |
I got this machine untested for quite cheap because the seller didn't have a charger for it. I powered it on and it showed nothing but a gray screen. I thought this was weird so I tried going into the boot picker by pressing Option afrer a hard reset. There it showed no bootable devices and after a minute or so it froze, it did this everytime I would try. I tried NetBoot over ethernet and it does go to the Apple logo and starts loading the OS but after some time it just shuts off without any warning, with or without a battery (plugged into an outlet). I then tried with a Mac OS Tiger install disc and it did actually boot (only after holding C). I opened Disk Utility and tried to format the HDD (it had a 40 GB Hitachi) but that just throws an "Input/output error". I assumed the hard drive needed replacing and this is exactly what I did just now but it still has the exact same issues as before, including the I/O error. I also tried resetting the PRAM, removing the Airport Extreme card, trying all of the things above but with a RAM module inserted. Also Target Disk Mode would not start. Another thing about NetBoot is that it just shuts off when I try Tiger (last time it even beeped really loud and then turned off) and Leopard actually crashes and throws a bunch of errors. I thought it could be something with the HDD cable so I removed the hard drive and unplugged the cable and now everything seems to work fine - no random freezes or crashes and it did boot up from my Power Mac G5 using Target Disk Mode.
Update - So after tearing the machine apart and trying a bunch of HDDs, I decided to take the cable from my other one to see if it really that was the problem and... turns out it's not. It wouldn't read anything with the other cable also. I actually put its cable in the other one and the cable was fine so I currently have no idea what the issue exactly is. I'm booting an install of Void Linux from a USB flash drive meanwhile.
