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Mac G5 front panel issue


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I bought a G5 case for $20 the other day and today I was trying to wire up the front panel with the diagrams I have seen online. My USB is hooked up and working, firewire, I dont have a connector to put to the mobo so I havent unpinned them from the plug. My issue is about the LED and PWR switch. When I press the power button, the LED also lights up and the whole computer fires up (blank screen) for about 5 seconds then it shuts off. Why is this? However if I plug in the LED and just press the switch it turns on fine. If I let it boot all the way into windows, then attach the led back to the mobo the computer will shut down. Motherboard is an old Abit IC7

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Are you sure that the LED does not require 12v? As far as I'm aware, standard PC power light LEDs use 5v. The G5 front panel LED could require 12, and could be shorting out/causing high power draw from the PSU resulting in a safety shutdown.

 

Try it with a different LED that isn't from the G5 case and see what happens.

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If the computer works fine with a different LED, then the standard G5 power LED must be a higher voltage than the standard PC power LED.

 

I don't think there's any quick/easy way out of this problem. I would suggest a different LED, your other option is to wire it directly to the PSU rather than the motherboard. It will not pulse during sleep, it will only be on when the computer is powered on and running.

 

Yellow wire in a Molex connector is +12v, black wires are ground. Make a custom molex adapter for the power LED, and test it that way to see if it lights up. If it does, it's a 12v LED, and you can use it that way.

 

If other users are running the stock LED with no problems on their motherboard, it's possible the LED you have is damaged and causing a short circuit.

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It's possible the Abit has an unstable voltage output, but I wouldn't say an older board would use a higher voltage.

 

I don't really know how you have the front panel wired up, but is it possible you have a short circuit there? That could easily cause strange issues.

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No. There has never been a HDD activity light in Macs, the only thing the G5 and Mac Pro LED does is pulse during sleep. Unfortunately, this is not a feature you'll be able to get in the current situation, but I don't think it's that terrible.

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  • 10 months later...

Hello,I got my Front Panel working on the G5 (June 2004) with the MoBo Asus P5Q Deluxe.I used the connector- cablesPin%20G5.jpg from an old PC- case (also - in addition - the HDD- LED) and molded them to the G5 Front Panel connector.Firewire does not work, although I molded it in the way that is shown in my attached graphic. So I finally took out the pins for Firewire from the connector.I changed the pins several times by moving them with a needle out of the connector without re-soldering again. But be careful. The plastic can easily break.I changed the pin-outs so many times because I got confused about what is the top or the bottom of the pin- connectors in the graphic.

Mein Problem war: wenn ich die Stecker, wie sie in der Grafik gezeigt werden, auf den Kopf drehe, also rumdrehe, dann sind natürlich auch die Pin- Nummern vertauscht.

Also a red Hdd- Led is working, just connect it to the Mobo and glue it somewhere inside.

Ich habe z.B. eine milchige Filmdose halbgeschnitten und unten links vorne mit Pattex auf die Seitenwand geklebt. Diese z.T. mit schwarzem Klebeband überklebt und ein kleines Loch ins Klebeband geschnitten. So blendet die LED nicht so stark und die Filmdose "glüht" von innen.

- So wie ich es jetzt in der Grafik markiert habe, funktioniert alles einwandfrei bis auf FireWire.So this is the graphic how it definitly works:

post-263467-1306329806_thumb.jpg

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