PowerMac 9600/350 (NO Video)

Question

PowerMac 9600/350 (NO Video)

Okay, I have a PowerMac 9600/350 that worked when I bought it used a while, but has since stopped showing Video, Powers Up, Chime, Fans, HD is going, so I assumed it was the Video Card, I have a Vodoo 3dfx card, so I assumed it was bad, so I tried the stock video card, and another PCI Mac video Card, and no luck, I reset the PRAM, did CUDA Reset, and NO VIDEO still, 95% sure it can't be the main board.

I have a 8600/200 and a 8600/300 I don't use that are doing the same thing,but all I need is the PM 9600/350 working now, ram I checked out too, I am thinking it could be the PRAM battery dead? What do you think any help would be great

PM G4 DP 1.25ghz MDD, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 4, 2008 2:39 AM

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Answer 1

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

23,497 points

Jan 4, 2008 8:22 AM in response to Mr. Macintosh

A bad internal battery can cause startup problems, no video or other difficulties. This KB article mentions a number of older Macs. It is (normally) easy to check the battery. A replacement is not too expensive, if you find the right source, so you may just want to test a new battery directly.

Jan

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Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

72,704 points

Jan 4, 2008 11:20 AM in response to Mr. Macintosh

Although the article Jan references does not list the 9600 as one that suffers the "low battery--no video" problems, I have found other models not on the list that do the same thing. I vote for trying a new battery first as well.

The only part that concerns me is that, often, when you do a CUDA reset, that's enough to get the thing running again, at least temporarily.

On the models in the list, I've found that booting from a system CD, or doing a warm boot once you hear everything running, usually restored video temporarily.

Don't know about the 9600 but the Beige G3 always boots to a desktop res of 640x480 and then switches to the user-prescribed res when the user preferences load. If the PRAM battery is dead, the user's settings are not preserved. If the connected monitor and/or video card do not support 640x480, you can get a black screen. Again, try a warm boot and see if you can get video, then immediately restore your desired desktop resolution.

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Answer 3

Jan 4, 2008 2:57 PM in response to Mr. Macintosh

Bought a brand new pram battery ($19 bucks, and that was the CHEAPEST!), and STILL no luck. Changed PCI slots, put the stock 350 back in because it had 800mhz g4 upgrade, many video cards, differnt monitors. Whats going on >.<

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Answer 4

Jan 4, 2008 6:35 PM in response to Mr. Macintosh

You did not mention doing a PRAM reset AFTER the battery replacement. The battery allows your Mac to remember, but what it remembers may be garbage. The PRAM Reset with a good battery should clear it up.

Jim (Apaloosa Mac Man) swears by doing a warm reset:
Power up. Wait until hard drive stops seeking.
press Command Option keyboard-power-button to cause a reset

your Mac restarts but does not cycle the power to do so, and sometimes the screen comes on.

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Answer 5

taerchen

Level 5

5,430 points

Jan 6, 2008 11:59 PM in response to Mr. Macintosh

Did you press the CUDA reset button after you installed and re-installed the hardwware? I've found that leaving out that step, especially in certain circumstances, was significant, especially when trying to make a new piece of hardware work.

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Answer 6

Melvin C

Level 2

229 points

Jan 7, 2008 5:23 AM in response to Mr. Macintosh

After installing the new PRAM battery, I recommend that you reinstall the stock video card and wait patiently while it boots up.

I had the same problem and after the PRAM battery discharged, I was unable to boot the machine with an aftermarket (Radeon 7000 Mac Edition & another one ROM flashed) video card, despite trying everything. I had to dig up the original graphics card to boot the machine up.

Read my reply here

Message was edited by: Melvin C

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