Thread

G4/ Ethernet Troubleshooting..

· Hardware · 10 posts · Mar 9, 2010 — Mar 16, 2010 View original thread ↗

#1 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 - 04:31

Hi, me again.

We have a Quicksilver G4 at my school, and I've recently set it up as a browsing machine. If I'm correct, its a 933 MHz Model with 128 MB RAM, not 100% sure on the HDD size but I don't think thats relevant to the topic, 40+ GB Free. I use it while I'm waiting for our main G5 to render stuff in Final Cut (which sometimes takes a while). It's worked fine up until now. Also, forgot to mention its running 10.3, using Camino as the primary browser.

It's worked great, but now it won't pick up the ethernet connection. I have the cable plugged in, and in the Sys. Preferences under networking, it simply says the network cable isn't plugged in. I know the connection and cable works, and I've tried other cables and other wall jacks, and the G5 will pick up the connection instantly. But for some reason, the Quicksilver refuses to pick up the connection. I've had similar problems when I first tried to hook it up to the internet but then it started working fine. To my knowledge, this G4 was bought new and then for some reason disconnected and sat for a few years after the teacher retired and the current teacher started having problems with all the G4 units so virtually unhooked them all, and this was one of the most decent ones I could get back to life. Could be a bad ethernet port, i'm not sure.

If possible, I'm looking for ways to diagnose this issue and see if I can get it working. Note, its not my property, so I can't do any "repairs" persay, but anything OS related I should be able to fix due to I'm the administrator account.

Thanks!

#2 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 - 05:10

Can you temporarily install an internal ethernet network card and see if that will establish a connection online? If it does work, chances are it could be the ethernet port on the logic board. Other things you can try are:

-Deleting the Preferences file for the network.

-Zap the P-RAM (Command + Option + P + R). You may have to reset some settings afterwards, but this will generally correct most problems.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

#3 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 - 04:32

I don't have access to another G4 to swap due to they surplus'd the other units.. so that isn't an option

.

I wasn't able to get to the computer today to try either of the other options but I'll let you know tomorrow. Starting to remember, if I'm correct, this all started after we had a power outage while the machine was on and plugged into the internet (though it was in sleep mode I think.. i'm the only person who uses the machine).

#4 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 - 14:44

No, I meant try installing a network card into the PCI bus and see if you get connected that way. Those cards can be pulled out of a Windows machine and used for all I care.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

#5 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 - 20:31

Gottcha. Well I went to work on it today (finally), and the machine is dead. I always kept the computer in sleep mode while I was logged in and the computer was locked, and apparently we had a power outage which turned it off. Now I can't get the computer to boot, it simply outputs "the glow of death".. where the power button merely blinks when you push it and nothing happens. Heck, I even unplugged it and it still blinked. I looked it all over, couldn't find out what was wrong with it.. everything, ram looked fine. So, I just dismissed the machine as dead and apparently we also have a G4 MDD that still works too.. (better specs too.. 1GB RAM, 1.25 Dual GHz..) only thing is it runs 10.2 (which i hate!) and the only upgrade disks we got for Tiger require OS 10.3.. but it'll be fine.

I swear, G4 Towers are the most stubborn Mac's i've worked with!

#6 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 01:48

The power supplies on that model are known to fail, so that may be what died. As for ethernet, sometimes the computer won't autonegotiate a suitable connection with the central hub, depending on what's in your schools' wiring closet. For that, go to the Network control panel, Advanced, Ethernet, and configure manually starting with 10base-T half duplex and see if that will connect. If that works, try 100base-TX half-duplex, then 100base-TX full-duplex, flow-control and see what you can get. The G4s ought to have automatic polarity sensing, so you shouldn't have to worry about crossover or straight cat 5 cables, but that can be an issue with older Macs and PCs.

#7 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 02:09

Yeah, I wouldn't doubt. I think that was the initial reason it was disconnected in the first place, I guess I just "happened" to revive it for a few months. And I've had an AWEFUL time getting any non-G5 Macs online at the school.. and you're probably right about that too. Now, is their any ways that you could explain to me how to set up this connection manually? I'm never really messed with manual networking so I have no idea where to begin.. if I look off the network settings for the G5 Tower that auto-connects, is there a way i could manually enter that info in on the G4 MDD?

Thanks!

#8 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 02:36

if I look off the network settings for the G5 Tower that auto-connects, is there a way i could manually enter that info in on the G4 MDD?

If I recall, in automatic, the Network Control Panel doesn't display what it's actually using. In any case, open the Network Control Panel, click the "Advanced" or "Configure" button depending on what version of OS X you have, select the "Ethernet" tab, select "Manual", then start with the most basic which is "10base-T", "half-duplex". If that works, then try progressively faster connections, 100base-TX, and full-duplex. If your wiring closet has a repeater instead of a full switch, full-duplex won't work. If the wiring is less than top notch, 100 Mb may not fly. It's trial & error. If nothing works, and it still reports the wire is unplugged, then there is either a bad ethernet port or flaky wire which might work with one machine but not another.

#9 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 07:27

Regarding the dead PMG4:

The reason it isn't responding, powering up or waking from sleep is due to the Power Management Unit getting a bit screwed up. To fix the problem, I would recommend Resetting the PMU.

Disconnect the power cable. If you open up the case (gain access to the logic board inside), look very carefully. You'll see a small dark-grey colored button switch; it may be located near the PRAM battery. Take out the battery and press the PMU button for about 1 second. Then place the battery back in and press the same button again for 1/2 half of a second. Now, reconnect the power cable and push the power button. You should hear the startup tone. Immediately zap the PRAM (Command + Option + P + R). Then, immediately go into Open Firmware (Command + Option + O + F). Type in:

reset-nvram (press Enter)

set-defaults (press Enter)

reset-all (press Enter)

You should now be good to go from here. When all else fails, try try again.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

#10 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 - 01:32

Well, I got the second Mac to connect. Didn't have to do anything, actually. I left it in sleep over the weekend with the cord plugged in, logged back in today and it automatically detected it! Weird. Macs work in mysterious ways

. As for the other Mac, I don't think I'm going to bother working on it considering I couldn't get it to connect to the internet anyway, and the G4 I'm using now is twice as good (1GB RAM, Dual 1.25 GHz G4) vs (128MB RAM, 933 MHz). I kinda didn't want to switch them out cause the current Mac has 10.2.8, which I cannot STAND all the lines in all the windows and menus.. but actually its not that bad on a 1280x resolution. It's horrid to me on 1024 or smaller (when I've used 10.2 in the past its been on smaller studio displays).

Also got another Mac G4 running, it hasn't been booting up. It's a Quicksilver with almost the same specs as the dead one. 933 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 10.2.8. Its been giving the "grey screen of death" since we've had the last power outage.. reset the PRAM.. took a few minutes but it booted up. Got it networked, also.

Thanks guys!