08-27-2008, 01:13 PM

Hello. I have an older G4 desktop (466 mhz) that will not power up anymore; I press the power button: nothing. I have tried replacing the pram battery with no success. I have been advised that it could be the power supply or the logic board, BUT what I really want to know is: will my data (particularly my digital photos from the last few months which are not backed up) be OK on the hard drives (I have some stuff on the original 30GB hard drive as well as another 40GB hard drive installed). Any advice or reassurance would be appreciated. Thanks.

08-27-2008, 02:13 PM

It may be ok. Pull out the drives and put them in another machine and see if they work. Last time I heard of this situation, replacing the powersupply fixed everything and the machine is still running.

08-27-2008, 06:12 PM

Fingers crossed MacG. When it comes to backing up there are two types of users. Those who lost files and those who are about to lose files. Sounds like a power supply problem particularly if there is no response from the power switch light.
t.

08-28-2008, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by MacG

Hello. I have an older G4 desktop (466 mhz) that will not power up anymore; I press the power button: nothing. I have tried replacing the pram battery with no success. I have been advised that it could be the power supply or the logic board, BUT what I really want to know is: will my data (particularly my digital photos from the last few months which are not backed up) be OK on the hard drives (I have some stuff on the original 30GB hard drive as well as another 40GB hard drive installed). Any advice or reassurance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Aloha MacG,

A coworker of mine literally gave me a PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet (2x450MHz PPC) and everything was going well until one day I noticed the same thing you noticed about yours - namely, it was not powered on. I had no other PPC Macs on which to test my drives but after some poking around determined the power supply was finally dead. I went to Mac Pro to order my power supply. Start with their power supply page and see if they have what you need. I was scared of the S&H as I'm out here in Hawaii, but it worked out to around $170.00 for everything, so it really wasn't too bad. Of course, I still have the original 16MB video card, so graphics are really not my thing - it's OK for the nieces and nephew, though.

That being said, see if you can bring it in to a computer store, preferably an
Apple Store, to have it checked out before you lay out any cash for a replacement part. As the G4s are getting really long in the tooth, their replacement parts are fewer and farther between, meaning getting higher in price. A replacement video card for mine, if AGP, is around $200! Good luck with your G4 - they are really great machines, aren't they?!?

HawaiiMacAddict

08-28-2008, 12:51 PM

Thanks for the advice. I've backed up all but the most recent files, so that's one good thing. Plus, while it's a fine machine, it is 7 years old and I can live with replacing it (there's never a good time for that, I suppose, but so be it...). I just hope I can get my most recent pictures off of the hard drive - my father recently passed away and I have the last shots of him on the drive. I will take it to Apple Store and see what happens.

Thanks.

08-29-2008, 09:48 PM

if you do replace the powersupply, it should run about 150$ for a replacement including installation.