G5 display problem

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Hello,

I got a free (yeah, right as if it was going to be really free!) 17" G5 ALS (power pc kind) and after a few weeks the power supply died. I got a new one, replaced the old one - now the box will boot but the display is dead. Assuming that it is really dead - can I just get a DisplayPort-to-VGA converter and display everything on an external monitor? Or do I need to be able to boot the box and login and set something up in the Display section or whatever the section is in the Preferences screen (can you tell I am really not a Mac person to start with? :). Anyone has any suggestions on how to get this box going (without the obvious screen replacement)?

Thanks!
OD
 

pigoo3

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Hello,

I got a free (yeah, right as if it was going to be really free!)

Hey...free it still free!

How would you feel if you actually paid the retail value of the computer, which could be around $350 bucks...and then the problems you ran into occurred? I bet that you would be really upset!!!

As far as your question. Yes, you could purchase an adapter & plug in an external monitor...as long as the only thing wrong with the iMac is video hardware related or display related.

Good luck, let us know if the external monitor works,

- Nick
 

chscag

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The first thing I would do is go over the replacing of the power supply. Sounds suspicious to me if the display was working OK before the supply was swapped out and now it's not working. Could be related? Trace the wiring and make sure the voltage supply to the inverter is hooked up correctly.

You should be able to find a breakout of the wiring of the machine including the power supply by doing an on line search. That model Mac was popular and there are many still in existence.

Regards.
 
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The first thing I would do is go over the replacing of the power supply. Sounds suspicious to me if the display was working OK before the supply was swapped out and now it's not working. Could be related? Trace the wiring and make sure the voltage supply to the inverter is hooked up correctly.

You should be able to find a breakout of the wiring of the machine including the power supply by doing an on line search. That model Mac was popular and there are many still in existence.

Regards.

Thank you for the reply. I could have fried something too while replacing the power supply. That's why I said in the original email that if the display is not fixable - does the mac automatically replicate whatever is sent to the built-in display on the display port for the external monitor? Or do I have to fiddle with software setting first?

Thanks!
 

chscag

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You could have fried something when replacing the power supply if you hooked it up incorrectly but I would think you would find that out immediately after turning on power. Hopefully you made a diagram of the old wiring and placement before removing the original PS? If anything, the inverter (which supplies power to the backlight) may have been zapped or not hooked up to the power supply. Or, power to the display itself may not be hooked up correctly. That's why you need to go over the wiring again.

As for attaching an external display, your G5 supports video mirroring only but that will be good enough. If everything else is OK (power supply hookups) and the video is working, an external monitor should work. Normally, you will have to go into System Preferences, Displays, and setup the external monitor. What version of OS X is the machine running?

Regards.
 
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You could have fried something when replacing the power supply if you hooked it up incorrectly but I would think you would find that out immediately after turning on power. Hopefully you made a diagram of the old wiring and placement before removing the original PS? If anything, the inverter (which supplies power to the backlight) may have been zapped or not hooked up to the power supply. Or, power to the display itself may not be hooked up correctly. That's why you need to go over the wiring again.

As for attaching an external display, your G5 supports video mirroring only but that will be good enough. If everything else is OK (power supply hookups) and the video is working, an external monitor should work. Normally, you will have to go into System Preferences, Displays, and setup the external monitor. What version of OS X is the machine running?

Regards.

That was kind of my questions - if the display is not working there is no way for me to get to System preferences unless the Mac mirrors by default and I can just plug in an additional monitor. If it does, then I can easily figure out what to do in the display setup portion of the preferences...

Thanks!
 

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