Powermac G5 Problem

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I purchased this mac from someone i found online. Booted up no issue at all everything was great came with manual, box, disks, etc. Looked like a well taken care of comp. Quick specs are 2.0 dual core with 2g ram(4 512 sticks) and a 60g hd; running 10.4.x. He also gave me a box of 512 ram sticks for it to fill the other 4 slots. I run to best buy and pick-up a dvi/vga converter, a netgear wireless adapter, and a 1tb hd. I shove some ram into it and throw the hd in and start running into issues. I am no longer able to identify the original sticks that came with it (yes i am stupid), but eventually got it running. I partitioned(sp) the hd so i am assuming that is not the issue; I checked the specs and noticed that 4 ram slots were reading empty. Long story short i continue to mess with it install some software for the netgear restart the computer and can no longer get it to boot, but when i occasionally can get it to boot i run into the "Please restart your comp..." in the four different languages while at the apple screen (white with grey apple).
1) Sorry for the wall of text =3
2) Any help? This is my third mac and i am excited to start working with it. I am assuming i need to probably buy new ram >.>.
Thanks in advance! Ill probably reply immediately
*edit* i have already tried running in safe mode, single user, and opening up firmware :c
 
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Are you sure the Mac can support 4GB of RAM? On a second note, can Tiger support more than 2GB?
 

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...can Tiger support more than 2GB?

Of course Tiger can support more than 2 gig of ram. Mac Pro's that shipped with OS 10.4.7 (Tiger) have a max ram capacity of 32 gigabytes!:)

- Nick
 
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Even if it could take 32 g of ram, i still cannot get it to boot =P Anyone ever have any experience with that?
 
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Of course Tiger can support more than 2 gig of ram. Mac Pro's that shipped with OS 10.4.7 (Tiger) have a max ram capacity of 32 gigabytes!:)

- Nick

Learn something new everyday. :)

OK, try this then. Remove all the RAM and install them one Pair at a time. Once they start failing, leave the ones that worked in place and swap out the bad ones with the other DIMMs. If it's failed memory, this would be the way to determine which sticks are bad.

-MikeM
 
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Alright im on it. Should i shuffle which slot i put it in to make sure i dont have a bad slot?
 
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Alright im on it. Should i shuffle which slot i put it in to make sure i dont have a bad slot?

Do that only after you have determined if the DIMMs are bad or not so you don't mix up what could be wrong.

-MikeM
 

pigoo3

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IHe also gave me a box of 512 ram sticks for it to fill the other 4 slots.

I shove some ram into it and throw the hd in and start running into issues. I am no longer able to identify the original sticks that came with it (yes i am stupid), but eventually got it running.

It's pretty obvious that this is the problem. You got to get those additional ram sticks you installed out...they are probably not compatible with a Powermac G5.

Only you know which ram slots you installed them into...we can't really help with that. Worst case scenario is you have to remove all 8 sticks of ram. Realize also that many of the Powermac G5 models require you to install ram in pairs....that's "matched pairs"...same ram density.

One more point of clarification. You said that this Powermac 2.0ghz is a "dual-core" model. I just wanted to be sure this is correct...since Powermac G5's 2.0ghz came in both a "dual-processor" and "dual-core" models.

- Nick
 
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Ok i have 12 slots of rams in my hands. All of which look exactly the same and have the same specs on the sticks. By install by pairs do you mean one on the top and bottom rack?
 

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Thank you for the link. I checked back in my manual and apparently missed the diagram that had the order on it =3

*edit*
On a side note, i cannot describe the pure bliss i felt when i put two sticks in and heard the startup noise <3
 
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I acquired a power Mac g5 a while back because the owner was having the same issue. The ram has to be installed in matched pairs. Once I installed good working matched pairs the G5 worked great. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted quickly.
 

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