PowerMac G4 Cube - What to expect?

[viksn0w]

Hi to everyone, just bought this beauty on eBay here in Italy. Long story short, about a month ago while randomly browsing, I've saw a listing about this Cube for 250 euros which is not really overpriced if you think about the fact that this was one of the three listings in EU about a Cube (others were 500 and 800 euros). This machine was being sold as untested due to the missing PSU, I ignored it since there were no working PSU being sold in the EU. Last Wednesday the guy lowered the price to 120 euros, which had me blasting and bought it and then on Friday a German guy had put a working tested complete PSU for 70 euros. So, doing the sums, I've got a not-known working Cube and working PSU for 190 euros!

I've read that this machines are pretty reliable and not really prone to failing, what should I expect from it? I've a ton of working RAM for it and just bought some fresh LS14250 batteries for it. Planning to make also a M2 Sata / IDE swap.

Do you have any ideas for prone failures?

 

[phunguss]

Welcome to the forums! Lots of Cube threads here:
Adding Sata SSD to Cube
iMac slot load drive in Cube
I think the most common failure is the VRM?

 

[viksn0w]

Welcome to the forums! Lots of Cube threads here:
Adding Sata SSD to Cube
iMac slot load drive in Cube
I think the most common failure is the VRM?

Hi, thank you for the reply. I'm planning for the conversion to use M2 Sata / IDE adapter as I have done on a G3 Clamshell and Mac mini G4. What should I check on the VRM? How much is common and can I test this without a PSU?

 

[phunguss]

I am by no means an expert on the VRM itself. There is another thread here.
External links to A Super VRM currently not available.
Some rebuild instructions here on MacRumors.

I only have one working Cube, with a 1.2GHz G4 and the stock VRM seems to be fine. I have 5 other shells I collected during my Hackintosh years.

 

[fred1212]

Good deal

 

[viksn0w]

Update:
It powers on. No chime and the HDD makes a really awful sound. Touch button works and a really bright red LED light is on. I already had planned for a HDD swap with a M2 Sata SSD but I didn't take into account the fact that this is a full IDE and not the 2.5 IDE. Now waiting for the adapter. Changed the battery and put in some fresh working 512MB taken from PowerMac G4.

 

[robertseward]

Before chasing the VRM, I’d unplug the noisy HDD (and optical drive if easy) and try again. A seized or shorted IDE drive can drag the bus down and stop the boot chime, and the awful sound makes it a prime suspect. If it still shows no chime and the red LED with no drives attached, then I’d look up what that LED means in the Cube service manual rather than assume VRM—I don’t know its code offhand. Also check the speaker connection, since a missing chime alone isn’t conclusive.

 

[phunguss]

Do you have speakers attached ? The Cube does not have an internal speaker, so you would not hear a chime if you do not have any audio devices attached.

 

[viksn0w]

New update:
Thanks to phunguss to telling me it doesn’t have an internal speaker. Just found out that it doesn’t have even an audio jack, I have to find out a usb speaker I guess. It didn’t want to boot. I’ve checked basically everything with a tester, DC board, RAM etc, but getting power, solid LED in the button but no display. Then I’ve remembered that I had changed the PRAM battery. Found the PMU reset button under the GPU and bam it works! CD drive is unfortunately dead. It doesn’t take the CDs in even if I “gently” press them into. I guess worn out rubber thingies since the motor is spinning. Now I’m in search for a new CD reader

Do you have speakers attached ? The Cube does not have an internal speaker, so you would not hear a chime if you do not have any audio devices attached.