Contribute
Register

neilhart's completed case mods

Status
Not open for further replies.
Neil

thanks for the quick response. I have modded a G5 already but after seeing yours I bought another case and would like to replicate what you designed.

I plan to put in an I7 Haswell. It will be a winter project with most of it fabricating the case so I may have questions from time to time. I promise not to overload you but advise is so helpful

Thanks again
Dennis

I will do what I can to help you. However, you should go through all of the build logs in the PowerMac G5 forum as most everything has been covered one way or the other. And just today I was reading this:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-...5-late-2005-project-design-according-ive.html

Kiwisincebirth's hack is really a work of art.

And if you intend to do a slice and dice project you will need access to some good tools for the slices.

Good modding,
neil
 
Well I am very impressed with the iMac G4 that you have modded and Ersterhernd's mods. The two of you have set a standard that will be hard to even meet. However you do have my interest and I intend to pick up a working 17" model when one comes along with an attractive price.

Thanks!

Your PICAXE solutions interest me so I have purchased a PICAXE starter kit and I am attempting to get up to speed in that area.

Please post the results of your Picaxe tests here. I'm interested in that stuff. My current project is a Picaxe speed controller for my model railroad, see my HemiMac thread...

MacTester
 
Yes, thanks for the kind comments, Neil. I would also be interested in seeing your ideas/implementations of the Picaxe Controller. I'm considering 'cracking open' one of my Cubes to install exhaust fan PWM control and perhaps a pulsing sleep LED as in the iMac G4.

Nice stable of hardware you have there. :thumbup:


Cheers!
 
Neil,

I was reading your post on this article about a Custom Power Mac G5 Front IO conversion to ATX cable that you made custom from parts from Micro center. i brought the same parts from Micro center, the Star Tech Front Bezel Wires and the
18" Internal 5-pin USB Header Cable. I was wondering if you could tell me which cables you solder to on the front power mac G5 io pin?

Thanks, Taylor

Where to get ATX cable ends for G5 front I/O conversion?
 
Neil,

I was reading your post on this article about a Custom Power Mac G5 Front IO conversion to ATX cable that you made custom from parts from Micro center. i brought the same parts from Micro center, the Star Tech Front Bezel Wires and the
18" Internal 5-pin USB Header Cable. I was wondering if you could tell me which cables you solder to on the front power mac G5 io pin?

Thanks, Taylor

Where to get ATX cable ends for G5 front I/O conversion?

Taylor,

How much of the G5 Power Mac front panel do you want to bring up? The power switch and LED are easy.
The USB2 port is a little harder, the Firewire 400 port takes some planning. The Apple audio port is doable but you are handicapped by the on-board audio receptacle and auto detection of the head phones being inserted has eluded me.

If you plan to reuse the front panel PCB assembly with the 18 pin connector and if so you need the mating cable with connector. If you don't have a mating cable and want to use the 18 pin connector, you will need to go on EBay and locate one.

You could toss the Apple PCB assembly, and wire directly to the power switch/LED (three wires) and find a USB2 cable assembly (with both ends intact) and secure the A connector to the front panel with a home made bracket, the the same for the audio port (see my Short Stack front panel). And I have seen here where someone put a USB port where the Firewire port normally is located.

And check out this post # 3 in this thread : http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g5/95147-having-trouble-audio-after-g5-mod.html

And there is the fellow over on that other site that sell ready made up front panel cables... not a bad deal.

Let me know which way you are going and I'll help you get it done.

Good modding,
neil
 
Taylor,

How much of the G5 Power Mac front panel do you want to bring up? The power switch and LED are easy.
The USB2 port is a little harder, the Firewire 400 port takes some planning. The Apple audio port is doable but you are handicapped by the on-board audio receptacle and auto detection of the head phones being inserted has eluded me.

If you plan to reuse the front panel PCB assembly with the 18 pin connector and if so you need the mating cable with connector. If you don't have a mating cable and want to use the 18 pin connector, you will need to go on EBay and locate one.

You could toss the Apple PCB assembly, and wire directly to the power switch/LED (three wires) and find a USB2 cable assembly (with both ends intact) and secure the A connector to the front panel with a home made bracket, the the same for the audio port (see my Short Stack front panel). And I have seen here where someone put a USB port where the Firewire port normally is located.

And check out this post # 3 in this thread : http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g5/95147-having-trouble-audio-after-g5-mod.html

And there is the follow over on that other site that sell ready made up front panel cables... not a bed deal.

Let me know which way you are going and I'll help you get it done.

Good modding,
neil

Neil,

Thanks for the quick response. I have the original Front IO 18 pin cable still attached to it. I would like to use the Power Led/Switch, USB and audio with it, but i would compromise with just the Switch/led and usb if that didn't work. Also here is my build if this helps you,
GA-Z87-HD3
i7 4770k
16gb 1600MHz ram
Corsair 750 Supply
Evga nvidia Gt 640

Here is a picture of the Front IO 18 pin adapter IMG_0735.jpg

Thanks, Taylor
 
Neil,

Thanks for the quick response. I have the original Front IO 18 pin cable still attached to it. I would like to use the Power Led/Switch, USB and audio with it, but i would compromise with just the Switch/led and usb if that didn't work. Also here is my build if this helps you,
GA-Z87-HD3
i7 4770k
16gb 1600MHz ram
Corsair 750 Supply
Evga nvidia Gt 640

Here is a picture of the Front IO 18 pin adapter View attachment 69590

Thanks, Taylor

Well you can follow the wiring diagram in the post listed above as that does what you want. I would cut your cable in half, sort out the wires and solder splice and use small shrink tubing on each splice.

The trick here is the audio. Today in the PC world we enjoy auto sensing where the rear green port is muted when you jack in headphones into the front audio port. The audio receptacle and related circuit on the Apple front control panel PCB assembly does not support this. That is what the switch is about in the wiring diagram.
And it is also dependent on the kext that you use; IMHO it is a mess and works sometimes at best.

The only solution that I have found that works is to not use the Apple PCB and use a HD-Audio cable from a PC.

Good modding,
neil
 
Well you can follow the wiring diagram in the post listed above as that does what you want. I would cut your cable in half, sort out the wires and solder splice and use small shrink tubing on each splice.

The trick here is the audio. Today in the PC world we enjoy auto sensing where the rear green port is muted when you jack in headphones into the front audio port. The audio receptacle and related circuit on the Apple front control panel PCB assembly does not support this. That is what the switch is about in the wiring diagram.
And it is also dependent on the kext that you use; IMHO it is a mess and works sometimes at best.

The only solution that I have found that works is to not use the Apple PCB and use a HD-Audio cable from a PC.

Good modding,
neil

Neil,

Second thought, i don't really use my front audio and i would be fine with just the power switch, led and usb using the Apple 18 pin with the Star Tech Front Bezel wiring kit and the 18-inch 5p-inch usb header cable. Could you explain how to get this to work, like what to solder to what. Sorry i am kinda of a noob at wiring.

Thanks, Taylor
 
Neil,

Second thought, i don't really use my front audio and i would be fine with just the power switch, led and usb using the Apple 18 pin with the Star Tech Front Bezel wiring kit and the 18-inch 5p-inch usb header cable. Could you explain how to get this to work, like what to solder to what. Sorry i am kinda of a noob at wiring.

Thanks, Taylor

Taylor,

The following is my way of wiring up a G5 Power Mac front panel. I cut an Apple front panel cable in half and splice in my own wires using sloder and shrink tubing as seen below.

The key is locating the correct pins in the cable connector:
.
Connector.jpg

.
First the AUDIO portion.
.
I find a existing HD-AUDIO cable, usually to be found on old cases, and wire it up as shown here. The switch is a manual way of changing from the front to back (green) ports. Note, many of these cables have two 10 pin connectors at the motherboard end of the cable; cut the other connector off and retain only the HD-AUDIO on the cable.
.
Audio-1.jpg

.
Audio-2.jpg

.
Power Switch and LED.
.
Pwr-Sw-1.jpg

.
Shown here, the power switch and LED are on the small green PCB. Of interest the center terminal on the PCB and on the three pin connector is the common or ground return for both power swithch and the LED.
.
Pwr-Sw-2.jpg

.
Here I have added the Power LED lead to pin 14 on the Apple 18 pin connector.
.
Pwr-Sw-3.jpg

.
And then pin 13 is connected to my two wire POWER SW harness - the Green wire.
.
Pwr-Sw-4.jpg

.
Then the White wire is connected to pin 2 of the Apple 18 pin connector.
.
USB section.

Locate a single USB cable. You need the end that will connect to your motherboard USB header, usual a black 5 position connector with 4 wires (Red, White, Green, and Black).
Cut this cable to a convenient length to reach a USB header on the motherboard. Strip off about 3 inches of the outer cable jacket. The shielding is exposed; pick and otherwise worry the shielding until you can free the four wires. Cut away the foil portion and twist the thin wires into a tight lead. Now strip each of the four wire about 1/4 to 5/16 inch. Add some small shrink tubing to each lead.

As shown, I use blue tape when an extra set of hands is need to hold the wires for soldering. Here I am soldering the wires from the Apple connector, pin 6 and pin 10 to the Black wire and the shield wire on the USB cable.
.
USB-Black.jpg

.
Then solder the lead from the Apple connector pin 9 to the red wire on the USB cable.
.
USB-Red.jpg

.
Here I have already soldered the Apple connector pin 11 to the Green wire in the USB cable and wire from the Apple connector pin12 to the USB cable White wire.
.
USB-White.jpg

.
And I reassembled the desk sample Apple front panel assembly and tested it on my current project board... It works.
.
final.jpg

.
I may take some heat from others as I do not have a better solution for the audio at this time.

Good modding,
neil
 
Taylor,

The following is my way of wiring up a G5 Power Mac front panel. I cut an Apple front panel cable in half and splice in my own wires using sloder and shrink tubing as seen below.

The key is locating the correct pins in the cable connector:
.
Connector.jpg

.
First the AUDIO portion.
.
I find a existing HD-AUDIO cable, usually to be found on old cases, and wire it up as shown here. The switch is a manual way of changing from the front to back (green) ports. Note, many of these cables have two 10 pin connectors at the motherboard end of the cable; cut the other connector off and retain only the HD-AUDIO on the cable.
.
Audio-1.jpg

.
Audio-2.jpg

.
Power Switch and LED.
.
Pwr-Sw-1.jpg

.
Shown here, the power switch and LED are on the small green PCB. Of interest the center terminal on the PCB and on the three pin connector is the common or ground return for both power swithch and the LED.
.
Pwr-Sw-2.jpg

.
Here I have added the Power LED lead to pin 14 on the Apple 18 pin connector.
.
Pwr-Sw-3.jpg

.
And then pin 13 is connected to my two wire POWER SW harness - the Green wire.
.
Pwr-Sw-4.jpg

.
Then the White wire is connected to pin 2 of the Apple 18 pin connector.
.
USB section.

Locate a single USB cable. You need the end that will connect to your motherboard USB header, usual a black 5 position connector with 4 wires (Red, White, Green, and Black).
Cut this cable to a convenient length to reach a USB header on the motherboard. Strip off about 3 inches of the outer cable jacket. The shielding is exposed; pick and otherwise worry the shielding until you can free the four wires. Cut away the foil portion and twist the thin wires into a tight lead. Now strip each of the four wire about 1/4 to 5/16 inch. Add some small shrink tubing to each lead.

As shown, I use blue tape when an extra set of hands is need to hold the wires for soldering. Here I am soldering the wires from the Apple connector, pin 6 and pin 10 to the Black wire and the shield wire on the USB cable.
.
USB-Black.jpg

.
Then solder the lead from the Apple connector pin 9 to the red wire on the USB cable.
.
USB-Red.jpg

.
Here I have already soldered the Apple connector pin 11 to the Green wire in the USB cable and wire from the Apple connector pin12 to the USB cable White wire.
.
USB-White.jpg

.
And I reassembled the desk sample Apple front panel assembly and tested it on my current project board... It works.
.
final.jpg

.
I may take some heat from others as I do not have a better solution for the audio at this time.

Good modding,
neil

Neil,

THANKS SO MUCH!! Your a life saver. It works great, and thanks so much for explaining where each cable goes in detail!

Thanks
Best Tutorial on Tonymac/Entire Internet for Power Mac G5 Front IO Cable modding

-Taylor
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top