PowerPC :: G5 Quad - Great Computer - Crappy Optical Drive
Jun 14, 2006
I've been having problems with the optical drive on my G5 Quad for the last few months. It makes a clanking noise every few minutes, similar to the sound it makes when you put in a cd. Also, every now and then when I put in a cd it just doesn't read it, and it makes itunes crash. The drive is an LG HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4165B. I have read lots of bad things about this drive on the internet, and it also happens to be much slower at importing dvds than the pioneer drives that are (or were) also shipping with some G5s.
I finally went down to my apple store, in The Netherlands. I explained the problem to the tech guy, and he said they would replace it under warranty. However, when I asked if it was possible to get a pioneer drive, he said they had no control over which brand they receive on replacement parts, but that almost always they get pioneers. Well, I took it in and they replaced the drive. They refused to do a test on it though, arguing that they were fixing another G5 and wouldn't be able to hear the noises I was complaining about (there was also a strange noise coming form one of the fans). The guy suggested that I brought it back some other time, and said he was absolutely sure he wouldn't find anything (turns out these guys also happen to be clairvoyants, or so they seem to think!) Coming from America I find it really hard to believe how rude and stupid the apple people can be at this store in The Hague, but unfortunately I can't avoid having to deal with them while I live here (there are endless horror stories about this particular shop). I don't have a car, so I had to take a cab there and back, which ran to about � 20, plus all the trouble and the wasted time. But sure, why not just bring it again some other time like the guy said?............
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Apr 14, 2012
how do I know if my computer has an optical drive?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Aug 1, 2010
What is the BEST optical drive that a PowerMac G5 can support?
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Feb 25, 2009
My last Powermac G5 I put in the 20x dual layer Pioneer. 116d I think is the model number. Works perfect. Should I get that same drive or should I get the Pioneer one that has the 20x dual layer plus Lightscribe? I heard the Lightscribe one is basically an Asus drive and don't know if that is good or bad. Does anyone use Lightscribe?
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Sep 10, 2010
I recently got an iBook from a friend. He didn't want it. I took it home and I used the Recovery CD. Everything was going well. I used an audio cd on the iBook, the CD icon appeared on the desktop and it played it. On the other hand, the DVD did not work. I inserted the DVD the icon did not appear on the desktop.
I went to the Application Folder and went to the DVD Player application and it gave me a nasty message: MAC OS X -DVD PLAYER ENCOUNTERED A SERIOUS ERROR. A VALID DVD DRIVE COULD NOT BE FOUND (-70012
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Oct 4, 2006
Can any one tell me what combo and superdrive can be used to replace a broken one in a 12" powerbook g4 1ghz? Does any combo or superdrive work that are the original specs (like the combo drive being 24/12/8)? I tried looking online for one, but with no luck. Does any one know a good place to buy one from for pretty cheap?
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Jan 28, 2008
I have an iBook G4 with the slot load Optical Drive and right now I can't get the disk that's currently in it out. When I press the eject key I can hear it trying to eject it but then it goes back inside and it reads normally. I need to get the disk inside it out for the disk costs more than the computer it's in. I tried several ways to eject it, the slot isn't bent but I took a knife and felt inside the optical drive for anything that can be blocking it and noticed some piece of metal right in the front of the optical drive blocking the CD inside. I think it's something to protect the CD while it's in the drive but it look's like it's jammed. I will take the computer apart and pull the drive out if I have to but is there an easier way?
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Feb 12, 2008
i added a 2nd optical drive (Pioneer 115D) to my mdd dually 1.25 G4. BUT, i'm sure I didn't do it right. Sure, it recognizes the drive, but I put them on the same bus (Ata-33). I should have them on separate bus', but I have 2 hd in the rear ata-100 drive carrier and 1 in the front ata-66 carrier. Can anyone tell me how to effectively put them on separate bus'? is there a website with specific directions on how to do it this way? The reason why I was told to keep them on diff. bus' is b/c they won't function as well (data lockups b/c same bus can't handle data).
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Feb 19, 2008
What is the size of the drive is it 9.5mm or 12.7mm?
And will this work?
[URL]
I know it doesn't say it is compatible but it is a slot loading drive compatible with osx.
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Jan 8, 2009
I picked up a 12" PB for 160 USD today. It had a bad battery and noisy and seemingly non functional optical drive, stock configuration. Looked like someone tried to open it up and failed to put back one of the hinge screws. I believe this is causing a green line (crimp in the video cable) on the screen. My question is: I have never replaced the optical drive on one of these. I bought this for a friend whose ibook died and he has a nearly brand new dual layer ATA superdrive in it that I can replace into the Powerbook. I knew this was daunting. Then I really just looked at the ifixit steps and yeah, you have to dismantle the WHOLE computer. There are 46 steps to replace the optical drive. Has anyone attempted this? I don't understand why you have to take out the logic board to get the optical drive out? On the upside, the near dead battery is eligible for the replacement program, so Apple is sending a new 125 dollar battery. Sorry I am rambling, just freaked at how much work it is to put a new optical drive in these things. Major surgery. someone on MR said they did it before.
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Nov 14, 2010
So today I managed to drop my MacBook a short distance to the ground. I can't believe I did this. The computer was asleep at the time and, as far as I can tell, the internal HDD is perfectly fine. After I dropped the computer it wouldn't at first wake up from sleep. After removing the battery and replacing it, it booted back from the state saved to the HDD. My problem is that my optical drive makes noises now. I never use it, but whenever the machine tries to access it (waking from sleep, launching Disk Utility, etc) it makes noises as if the eject mechanism is running constantly or something else like that. The case also slightly bulges where the drive is. Now, if it doesn't work ever again I will only be slightly sad. I haven't tried to put a disc in it yet, but because of a previous spill by a previous answer the fibers around the opening are so stiff that getting a disc out of the drive when it works is a pain. Any ideas of what might be wrong and how to possibly fix it? I haven't tried resetting the drive, I don't have the time tonight.
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Aug 13, 2010
I'm using synergy right now with my PC as the server and I can't get the MDD optical drive to open.
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Aug 25, 2007
I have a PowerBook G4 15" 1.33GHz that up until now ran flawlessly. Today I was watching a movie on it with some friends when it randomly shutdown. Since then, it no longer turns on. The battery is fully charged and there is no problem with my AC adapter. With just the battery, nothing happens when I press the power button. When the AC adapter is plugged in and I press the power button, the optical drive spins at full speed for a few minutes and then the PowerBook shuts itself down again. I have attempted reseting pram and pmu with no success. I think it could be a dead logic board but I'm not sure. Would it be worth the money to buy a new logic board or should I just part it out?
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Aug 9, 2006
i have a power mac g-5 quad with an external dvd drive and a external hard drive and 2gb of ram. on my ext. hard drive i downloaded mac the ripper and that is where i put all my dvds, now today on my pmac i was using mac the ripper, popcorn, itunes, safari all at once and it froze up on me?why? could the ram be an issue? how may programs can i use at once with my pmac?
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Sep 19, 2010
My WD firewire 800 drive has stopped working, I can hear it spinning when I plug it in but the light doesn't come on and my computer doesn't recognize it. I've tried both the firewire and usb connections.
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Jan 16, 2007
When upgrading my G5 I simply backed up the old drive to the neww 500 gig drive in bay 2 and then switched them. Could I just switch it to a Quad and the voila! it works? Could it be that simple or will I need to reinstall all the software?
What about installing the drive into a Macpro? Could I just place it in a bay and then run all my programs, like Photoshop, Imageprint, and Office?
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Apr 17, 2009
I just purchased a Quad G5, from the original owner. Original owner, stated, that the machine was in excellent condition, and had not had any problems, nor parts replaced under Apple Care Warranty. Twice today, I had programs crash. 1st crash involved Photoshop CS3 Ext. 2nd Crash, involved FireFox & Photo Mechanic, which then I received a message from within OS X, to restart my tower.
I am quite surprised about the crashes, and do not know what to do, nor expect. Before, I received the G5, the HDD was wiped, with a fresh install of 10.5.6...
I'm also having a Bus Power issue. Before the G5, I had an aluminum keyboard, plugged into my iMac C2D, and I had no problem with Bus power, driving either my Thumb Drive or HDD, but with the Keyboard, hooked to the G5, I'm getting insufficient power warnings
Also, my 23" ACD will not go to sleep. I've got the screen saver set to 3 mins, which does come up, and the time set to 10 mins, for the display to go to sleep. However, when it hits the 10 min threshold, the screen blinks off for a second, then reverts to the active desktop, and the cycle begins again.
Also, with the 23" ACD, I'm seeing, what appears to be a ghosting effect, when I have apps layered on top of each other. It has been occurring with various apps, such as having Photo Mechanic on bottom, then Firefox on top, then Photoshop on top of it.
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Jul 22, 2010
Well I'm kinda basically overhauling my G5 LCS so I figured, why not lets try and put a heatsink from my 1.8ghz G5 onto the quad G5 CPU since I have it out. I only have one CPU in it right now and it's actually doing pretty damn good. I set the Energy prefs to Reduced as a precaution.
If I ditch the LCS and make this a permanent setup, I will have to machine some custom brackets to hold the heatsinks to the logicboard/case. I have the G5 laid on it's side at the moment since there is no way to fasten the 1.8ghz heatsink down.
Below is a screenshot of the temps
This is with a constant 50% load on the CPUs as I just have it folding right now.
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Mar 26, 2008
I know there are already several threads with questions on how to wipe an ibook hard drive but this one is slightly different. I can't seem to boot my computer from the install disc that came with it. I turn off the computer, hold down c and get a folder with a question mark in it. However when the computer starts I can see the disc folders. I open up disc utility and can wipe the drive but is this really wiping it? I thought I had to boot up from the CD? I ask as I am selling my machine and don't want to think I have wiped something when I have not. I have also been through the same process (from the disc just running in the drive) to install OSX Tiger. But again how do I know if it has cleared all my old settings? Do I have faulty discs if I cannot re-boot from them. All I want to do is a clean and install.
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Nov 23, 2010
Well I was swapping some processors around on my G5 when I noticed that I was getting some weird graphical glitches. They went away when I disabled the 3-4 CPUs and made it a dual-core. The glitches are replicable when sizing windows and consistent when different window sizes. I'm starting to wonder if one of my CPUs are faulty...? Everything seems to be running fine otherwise. I attached a pic of the graphic anomaly I'm getting with all 4 core active and it only appears around text and it's always red color.
On a side note I also noticed that 2 of my dimm slots are reporting errors, the two outer banks. I've removed them and it's fine. Gonna load up the diagnostic discs to see if it finds anything.
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Nov 29, 2010
I have had this quad g5 (dualcore 2.5ghz X 2) laying around for about a year that I purchased for $100 without a hard drive, super drive or a power cord. I was told that it was non working in the manner that ONE of the dual core cpu's had gone bad. I will be receiving my power cord this week to make sure that it still powers on but what the problem is.
My question is: If only one of the cpu's are bad, what is the part number I will be looking at? I am not wanting to spend a fortune on this to fix it, but If I do get it working I would like to drop 8-16gb ram in it, and setup a raid with 2 raptors.
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Jun 11, 2007
My PM G5 Quad is in need of a new logic board and processor. I am waiting until after WWDC to see if there will be an update to the Mac Pro line - as I will be buying a new one to replace my old one. What's useful to keep from my old G5? I feel like I'm parting out an old Camaro or something. I'm planning to at minimum keep the HD and just pop it into the new machine (hope I can do that). I'm fairly certain the RAM is not going to be compatible, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I can scavenge off the old machine.
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Jun 3, 2010
So I got offered a Quad G5 for $450. It comes with Leopard and I have wanted one for a while.
What are the benefits and detriments of this system?
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Oct 8, 2008
I am using a G5 Quad processor with a GeForce 6600 graphics card. I am working on a project in Second Life [URL] and have been advised that I need to update the driver on my graphics card to solve some problems encountered in Second Life. There does not seem to be an update for this card for Macs. I have asked Apple for help, but they have told me my serial number does not exist even though it is registered and I have had technical help from them in the past. Second Life say they do not support this graphics card!
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Jun 26, 2009
I have always been interested in getting a G5, ever since they came out. I might be able to nag a Quad G5 for very cheap, but I have a question. I know that an Intel Core 2 Duo is faster than a G5, but how is it faster than the Quad? What exactly makes the Intel faster than the G5? I am looking at the Apple specs of the Quad and to me, it looks like a really solid computer, especially for 2005.
2 Dual Core 2.5GHz PowerPC Processors
1MB Cache Per Core (4MB Total)
FSB 1.25GHz Per Proc
Up to 16GB DDR2 PC2-4200
So, what makes the G5 Quad, or even Dual Core/Dual Proc G5's so weak?
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Jul 13, 2010
Is there anyway to fix this other than buying a new graphics card? I've searched but couldn't find a solution. The 7800GT in my G5 always spins at top speed and is so much louder than the whole system. I've had it disconnected for a while but I don't want it burning up . Thinking I just might wire it to the 5v side of the molex connector on the optical drive?
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Dec 14, 2010
One thing I love about the iPod Hi-Fi is that it has an optical audio input. It sounds incredible with the optical audio from a Mac, Apple TV, or sat TV receiver. I would love to have that for my Mac's connected speakers because Macs of course have digital optical out. However, are there any speakers out there, intended for computer use (size and whatnot) that have an digital optical input?
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Nov 19, 2006
What is going on? For no apparent reason, this computer decided to start making random "booping" sounds this evening. There is no error, it's not the mail, it even does it when I have my external speakers turned off. Anyone else have this going on? This is the first time it has happened and it's been going on all evening.
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Jan 23, 2007
I want to buy this item:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/G5Wireless/
The bluetooth/airport extreme card for my PCI-e Dualcore 2.0ghz G5. I'm happy to install it myself. However I am leaving to go back to the UK on jan 31st, and sweetwater don't actually stock the item, and it will take a while to get it to me unless they expedite it from Apple and charge an extra $42 or so, which is too much for me. Anyone know who might actually stock the item and be able to send it out quickly?
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Sep 2, 2009
I need a new/best card for a G5 quad 2.5. I know it's old (4 years) but it's still used quite a bit - mainly for Photoshop work. The card needs to run 2 x 23" Cinema Displays. I'm not sure if it makes any difference but it has 16GB memory (twice as much as our new 2.93 Quad can take - there's something not quite right there...)
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