newbie with a G4 Sawtooth... need guidance

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Buddy came across a G4 power mac (model number M5183)... doing some googling, and it's a Sawtooth (agp). At the moment, there's no ram, video card, cd/dvd, or hard drive(s). Not having an agp handy, I tried with an nvidia mx4000 (128mb pci), and installed 448mb pc100 sdram... 256mb, 128mb, and (2x) 32mb sticks. Installed old cdrw drive, and a p2p copy of MacOS86 on cd in the drive.

Don't have usb keyboard or mouse yet, just want to see if unit works before I attempt to upgrade/just get running.

When I boot, cd drive led flashes and reads disk (or it seems), but nothing displayed in monitor. I was expecting at least a 'no keyboard' type error like a pc would display. Seeing as the cd drive led flashes, my guess is the ram's ok. Unless it doesn't like the cd drive(?).

Is it because I'm using a pci video card, and not an agp, like what the board was designed for? Or, is there a jumper somewhere to accommodate a pci video card? If it's just the need for an agp video card, what's the maximum ati agp card that this model will accept? I've read the Rage 128 Pro was the stock model, but have also seen Radeon 8500 and Radeon 9000 Pro suggested... but those posts were from 2005. .. Is there a newer/stronger card that's compatible with the Sawtooth?

Lastly... seeing as this unit uses usb keyboard and mouse, do they have usb connectors that will connect both keyboard and mouse to the same usb port? Only 2 usb ports, and would be nice if one was free for a usb stick ;)


thanks in advance

gb

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edit:

forgot to mention...

the MacOS86 disk did burn correctly... I can open and see the files while in linux... so I know it's not just 'blank'.
 

dtravis7


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I am in a hurry right now, but will tell you this one thing real fast and more later. You can not use a PC Flashed video card in a Mac. It will do exactly what you are seeing, nothing. You need either a AGP card that can be Flashed with Firmware for a Mac or a card already made for an AGP Mac.

I will say more later, but that is your issue.

The AGP card needs to be AGP 2x compatible by the way.
 
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thanx dtravis7...

When you say able to be flashed, is that done separately before installing? Also, when looking for an ati agp, you're saying they come in either windows or Mac flavours? Guess I thought there was just the one card for each ati model, then the os takes over, and whatever drivers needed for your platform/os are then installed from the desktop.

Guess I need to do some reading :D
 
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Look for an ATI Radeon 9000 Mac Pro with either 64MB/128MB RAM and yes they come in PC and MAC two separate and different cards and you must have a MAC version, or what is known as a flashed PC version which is quite complicated as the ROM is changed.

Did the machine have an AGP card in when you got it? If not MOST unusual. Stock standard card was the Rage 128 PRO with 16MB RAM.
 

dtravis7


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Still a bit busy but to add to what harry said, on the Hard Drives, the internal IDE controllers only support 128GB like all older machines, so be sure to get a 120GB or less IDE if you want the full size of the HDD to show up.

Harry gave you great advise on the video card.

It appears his Sawtooth was missing the Video Card, Hard Drive, Memory and CD ROM.
 
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thanx guys...


It was part of a stack of 'stuff for free' left in my buddy's apartment complex. No hard drive, no cd/dvd drive, no video card, and no ram. I can see the cpu under the heatsink though.

My guess is, somebody bought a G5, and just threw out the G4 case, board, and cpu, keeping their cd/dvd drive, ram, hard drive(s), video card, and monitor. .. Unless there's something else wrong with it... won't know until I can get it to boot with a working video card/monitor.

I'm basically just playing around... always wanted to try a mac, I love linux, and was under the impression mac was similar... but works better :p

If I can get the unit working, I've read it can be upgraded into a mac version of a htpc... definitely want to try :D

By the way... came across a thread about flashing nvidia cards, and another thread stating the ati mach64 could be used in a mac... I have 2 mach64's in a box of spare parts, but couldn't find where to grab the mac rom for the mach64... or the utility to actually flash. I realize the Sawtooth's an agp, but thought I'd try with a mach64 pci... just to see if the box even works.

My buddy just told me of a used mac shop he's seen in town, maybe I'll truck over and see what they have for used video cards.
 
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forgot to mention...

thanks for the video card suggestion harryb2448... if the machine actually works, I'll spend some $$. Just want to make sure before buying a mac video card... otherwise I'll have to buy a mac just to go with the video card :p
 

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