Apple PowerMac G5 Repair Advice

[acdcflyonthewall]

Hello everyone! I'm new here and I have a power mac g5 that I garbage picked and it needs a new logic board or at least a re-flow I guess... I have looked up tons of info on this problem and i'm very pissed about what happened with this computer as it one of the best built ones I have ever seen! My question is there are alot of sites that have used logic boards and "reconditioned" boards but do they really fix the problem or just sell used boards? what would be the best site to get a board from?

[cosmicray]

Is this one air-cooled or water-cooled (with the baby radiator) ?

[Stonent]

[sdev2004]

Hi, what is the problem with the G5? does it post? you said that the logic board needs a re-flow but on which chip? 

[Rasz]

YT clip suggests one/both chipsets

[sdev2004]

If you are going to source a new board then your old board is as good as dead, do you have any liquid flux? try putting liquid flux around the chips and using a heat gun heat them for around 15-30 seconds using a 700w gun, the issue could be cracked solder joints on the PCB under the chip, its a temporary fix but if it sorts the issue then you can apply some decent thermal paste and run some tests.

[Rasz]

try putting liquid flux

yes

heat gun heat them for around 15-30 seconds using a 700w gun

nooo, thermal shock will kill chips, not to mention  burn a hole in pcb
oven is nicer because its gentle

[sdev2004]

That's true mate! however i don't like the oven as it can burn the plastic connectors if your not very careful lol (from experience haha)

[tooki]

You can probably buy an entire working Power Mac G5 on eBay for less than the cost of a logic board. Those machines are indeed beautifully engineered*, but so hopelessly obsolete for any real computing purpose. It'd almost make more sense to use its PSU and enclosure to build some new project, rather than invest in resurrecting a dinosaur. Remember that the G5 machines are extremely power-hungry, and thus have massive, high-quality power supplies one could have lots of fun with. (Some G5 models were so greedy that they needed more power than a standard C13 power connector could handle, so they had the C19 connectors instead, normally seen only on bigger servers.)

* In my Mac technician days a decade ago, I installed several dozen new Power Mac G5 machines, and oh, they were glorious for their time!