Another G5 Build...

[SnapMan]

Just got back to working on the G5, installed all the guts, now just need to finish the wiring harness from the front panel connector to the mobo to get ON/OFF, LEDs, USB and audio working. Have the connectors, will hit it in the morning. And clean up the wires...more zip ties! I put a list of the case pinouts online a few days ago in this thread, the mobo manual will have the board pinouts...they should more or less identical for any board.

Details: I used 2 sided foam tape to put the PSU down and ran safety wire to two washers held down by #10 screws....keeps it from moving. Mounting the HDD cases below the case divider allows the standard PSU wiring to reach the drives, so I didn't bother to modify the G5 wiring harness. The front panel USB connector is only USB 2.0 compatible....this mobo has no Firewire, so front panel is simplified. I realized that the mobo had a 2x4 PSU connector and the PSU had both 2x2 and 2x3 so I e-mailed Gigabyte and they confirmed....no problem as long as the PSU is powerful enough, just stick the 2x2 or 2x3 as close to CPU side of the board connector.

Going to design a PCB (have been using the laser transfer PCB method (hydrogen peroxide/muriatic acid etchant), ends up faster for most projects than point to point on vectorboard and accommodates non-.1" C-C parts.

 

[SnapMan]

I want to clarify my post from yesterday as I have spent a good amount of time going over everything before I got the new computer to boot to BIOS....you have to use the 2x2 to plug into the 2x4 on the board, for some reason that is not clear, the 2x2 and 2x3 connectors have reversed polarity to each other.....the computer will not boot with the 2x3 in a 2x4 socket and one can infer that a 2x2 won't work in a 2x3 socket though all the yellow wires are connected together as are all the black wires on the board and in the PSU.....

 

[eelhead]

Good to know this.

 

[SnapMan]

Pretty straightforward install.

Used rBoot disk, USB thumb with XMove installer on it. Had to add GraphicsEnabler=NO to get it to load, otherwise got the dreaded slashed circle above the Apple.

Downloaded DSDT and MB over Internet, pretty straightforward choices...UserDSDT, System Utilities, Realtek and Rollback, 3rd party SATA & eSATA, FakeSMC & plugins, Realtek Gigabit Ehternet 2.0.6 (Lnx2Mac didn't work), Chimera, 64-bit GraphicsEnabler=NO, Generate CPU states, MacPro 3.1

QE/CI works, everything worked after running MB once, except LAN (as above).

Running Software Update for the second time and yet to re-install AppleHDARollback. Only other things remaining is clean up internal wiring with zip ties and find a suitable wireless card or USB dongle and confirm dual monitors work.

 

[SnapMan]

Dual monitors worked OOB. Recognizes all 16 GB RAM. Ran Geekbench>8352 about 60% faster than my 1156 build>5258

I like the back access so much, I am going to do the mod on my existing box and probably move the HDD trays too. That should allow me to remove the fan in the upper case compartment at least and maybe the rear fans as the computer never seems to get hot with only the CPU and PSU fans.....SIMPLIFY!

I ordered up a $9 WIFI dongle from Amazon...claims to be Mac compatible on the package....we will see.....we will see...

 

[SnapMan]

Circling around to my first post about the first G5 conversion I did and fixing most of the details I was not happy with....got the best of me and yesterday I spent a good portion of the day rebuilding my first G5 build.

Cut out the back moving the fans 1/2", used 2.5 mm x 10 mm screws as they were out of 8 mm ones.....works fine, moved the drive cases, removed the extra fan and the fan controller/audio jack switching ckt. for now.

Took somewhere north of 7 hours as I had made extra fan plates on hand and had the templates ready to roll.

Interesting the HDD cases are different on this from the other 4 boxes I did....the others were one piece with a metal hanger bracket at the top, this one had two plastic case pieces with built in standoffs. ABS glue and two safety wire loops twisted, cut and bent using safety wire pliers to hold it together while the glue was thinking about drying.

Here are two views of the case back for comparison, the first is of the modified back with the standard sized back ports access, the second is from the first post.

 

[Finboss]

Looks great man!!! Was wondering whether you could post a pic of the power supply adapter you made. I was thinking of doing something similar for my g5 case.

 

[SnapMan]

The PSU adapter is made by cutting off the end of a power supply cord to about 9" or whatever length you need and soldering it (make sure you get the neutral and hot leads connected correctly) to a board mounted power connector with holes suitable for attachment to the G5 case and carefully taping over any exposed wires. I think I used #6 screws to mount the plug., either pan head or you can lightly countersink and use flat heads.

Here is a picture of the parts, you can't really see that clearly into the G5 case.

The one I have is a # 703W and Digikey files it with power entry inlet, outlet, module.

 

[11Zms]

i need those i/o pin outs for my hackintosh, can you send me the link to a pic?

 

[SnapMan]

The pinouts are in a pdf and they are in an earlier post in this thread, the one with the board standoffs being epoxied in.

I just checked and it is there.....