The Cubes seem like one of those products that was a good idea at the time, but just poorly implemented. I've owned 2 450 MHz models and both have similar problems to what you describe. Both of mine were sent in for a switch repair procedure when they were new, so they don't have issues with the switch anymore, but both of them had issues just like you describe. Intermittent FW port failure, intermittent (although rare) endless gray screen at boot, intermittent lockups, and perhaps most annoyingly......intermittent USB port failure! OY!
I found a partial solution to the problem was to install a fan in the bracket in the bottom of the machine (It actually has a place for a slim 80mm fan in the bottom of the case) and allow that to cool the thing down. I found a correlation between the instability and how hot the room was and how hard the machine was working. The hotter it was in the room and the harder the machine worked, the more frequently it crashed or lost a port. With a fan installed, the frequency of weird "issues" went way, way down. Compared to a laptop, I can only come up with the issue that on a laptop, all the peripherals are soldered to the main logic board. In the Cube, they're installed in sockets. eg: Video card, power regulator, HDD Drive, etc. With all the heat that the Cube makes internally, and with only a central port for the heat to leave, it's easy to get the machine heat-soaked. With repeated heating and cooling cycles, it can cause some connectors to not make such a great connection anymore. Poor connections = poor reliability. If you're feeling adventurous, you might slap a fan in one of the machines and see if it's reliability improves! It did with mine. On Jul 10, 2010, at 11:21 AM, John Carmonne wrote: > > On Jul 10, 2010, at 8:57 AM, Dan wrote: > >> At 8:45 AM -0700 7/10/2010, John Carmonne wrote: >>> I have a question about the reliability of some Macs. I have two G4 Cube >>> 500MHz and two Tibook 500MHz machines. The Cubes seem to be somewhat >>> problem prone compared to the TiBooks. Both have the same 10.4.11 the Cubes >>> have 1.5 GB Ram and the TiBooks have 1 GB Ram. Otherwise AFAICT all are >>> the same, yet the TiBooks run along with out any hitch but the Cubes at >>> least once a week have an issue' Anyone know maybe why? >> >> "an issue"? >> >> - Dan. > > Just kinda unstable compared to the TiBooks. Many times they'll have trouble > with the FW ports, a real battle to get them recognized, > also some times don't want to boot, in which case I reseat RAM and video > cards and up it'll come up. I like my Cubes I just wonder if others > have these problems too. Get the endless grey screen some times and then what > a pain to get a FW boot to fix it. > > I'm used to the normal switch problem I can fix that in two minuets. Funny > thing though, I have one with a Sonnet Encore 1.2 GHz > card and it's the most stable of the four I have. > > > John Carmonne > Yorba Linda USA > Sent from my MBP > > > > -- > You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for > those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power > Macs. > The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette > guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml > To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
