G4 Fan

Hello!

I recently bought a powermac g4 mirrored door and love it! I use it only for music production and it has been a revelation - powerful, quick and very cheap!

There are however some issues that worry me...

I have set up a wonderfully ancient digibox001 which works really well. But when the box is connected to the computer it won't start at all. The light comes on for a second before dimming - it's almost as if there is not enough power to start up both computer and the digibox. When i remove the digibox it starts up fine - I connect the box after start up and all is well. But is this damaging to the computer and is there anything i could do to fix it?

Also, the computer won't always start up first time - more often than not I have it freezes on the apple logo screen and i have to force shut down and start again. Usually after that it's fine, and has never crashed after boot up. I assume this isn't healthy - any tips to fix it?

Finally, the fan is incredibly loud! Not the best backdrop for recording vocals! I've read several articles on this but cannot find anywhere that suggests a definite replacement fan. Any suggestions?

Basically, once booted up and connected the computer is a dream (apart from the fan) but I'm worried that one day it will not boot up at all!

Thanks - any help greatly appreciated!

gruffsion

Make sure you keep the MDD spotless inside. Dust really builds up around the front inlet up under the front leg of the machine. A paint brush is the go to get all that dirt out. Dirty, dusty fans can really get a rattle up. They are known colloquially as 'wind tunnels' and now you know why!

About the startup pop in your install DVD, boot from that and run Repair Disk. The set top box is obviously drawing too much power during boot.

Re the loud fan noise, when they were new Apple supplied a replacement power supply (they use 2 small fans) and main fan as a replacement kit. Later there used to be lots of articles on the web re choosing better fans, perhaps less now as they are older and classed as vintage by Apple.