In article <
slrnshho7r.20ro.g.kreme@m1mini.local>,
Lewis <
g.kreme@kreme.dont-email.me> wrote:
In message <super70s-87564C.04170815082021@reader02.eternal-september.org> super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> wrote:
One of my systems, in addition to a newer iMac, is an old Power Mac G4
1.25 DP (MDD) running Tiger 10.4. Unfortunately its Superdrive seems to have given up the ghost, even though I didn't use it that much (just
boot up from a Tiger install disc and run Disk Utility occasionally).
The tray made some strange motion that doesn't usually happen when
booting the other day which made me suspicious, and it either won't
mount the Tiger install DVD, or it mounts but spits the DVD out when I
try to boot from it.
I happen to have an identical Power Mac G4 1.25 DP in my spare bedroom
with a Superdrive that works fine. The most elegant solution would be to swap these Superdrives out, and I was wondering if this is a relatively simple task?
Extremely easy, as I recall.
I believe I would have to take the left side panel of the
G4 off in addition to opening up the right side to reach the screws to remove the drive. Removing the left panel apparently requires some hex
tool that is so small that I don't have one though, maybe someone knows exactly what it's named.
I do not think so. IIRC loosening the case for the optical drive is a
single screw. To be sure, that was many many years ago. You loosen the
cage, remove it, and then take the drive out of the cage.
Alternatively, I was wondering if anyone would know of a third party external DVD reader (doesn't really need to write DVD's but that would
be nice) that would work on this vintage system. It does use the older
USB 1.1, and as I said earlier would need to support Tiger 10.4. Please
be as specific as possible with the manufacturer and model number, maybe
I can find one on eBay.
I think the USB is too slow for a DVD drive. Replace the internal, it is
a simple process. Any SATA drive should work, if you want to replace it though not, I don't think, a Bluray drive.
I was able to switch the optical drives out without too much grief. I
just removed the cages and switched them instead of trying to take the
drives out of the cages.
My main G4 MDD had gotten really dirty inside since the last time I
opened it up, must be 7 or 8 years now. The ventilation holes at the
bottom front were completely clogged up and I must have spent 2 hours
cleaning that and everything else I could with a camera lens brush and a
blow dryer, set on low. So I don't really blame the optical drive for
dying, lol.
Because of the dirty condition inside that G4 I thought its drive might miraculously begin to work again when I put it inside the spare G4, but
it still refused to spin up properly, you just hear it attempting to.
The drive I put in my main G4 is an NEC model and you can hear its "dull
roar" a little louder than the other defective one, which is a Pioneer
brand. But the noise does settle down eventually and I can live with
that. It hasn't had a lot of use (unless the previous owner gave it a
lot of use) and it should last a long time.
And I need to remember to clean the main G4 out every two or three
years, lol.
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