Resetting SMU PRAM & NVRAM iMac G4 Flat Pannel

Halo Marc,

Thank you for responding.. I did in fact do a search and I read the two documents you referred to among several other documents. After reading all of them, I was a little confused which is why I asked for further help. I do not feel those documents or the others I read fully explained all of my questions, and I felt it better to ask instead of furthering my problems..

I went ahead and reset the PMU; there is still no change. I am unable to follow the other reset instructions (Command, Option, P, and R) in the other document because my computer no longer recognizes my keyboard etc.

I maxed out the RAM years ago now, so I don't think that would be a contributing problem, so it looks like I have to take my iMac to the dotor. =`(

Thank you for your advise.

Guess I never thought of RAM being able to die before.

Do you know if that would make my screen and keyboard go dead like they did, Marc? I had several, 'memory almost full' warnings before my iMac froze and stoped responding. Would it be possible for the 1 GB of SDRAM to die all at once and if that was possible, there would probably be no way for me to retrieve the data that was stored on my computer right?

Hallo Marc,

I just removed the SO-DIMM chip under the hatch as you suggested and powered back up.. still nothing new however. Don't know what else I could do myself.

I'll make sure to tell the Tech that the issue might be with the interior DIMM. I probably shouldn't try to mess with the interior one.

I'm mostly hoping I'll be able to access my iTunes library again.. I'm wondering if you would know, if I do have to buy another computer and I re-use my old DIMM from this computer (If they're fine), is my iTunes library stored on them and if I put them in my new computer, will those files be on my new computer? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I just don't know and wasn't able to find an answer to this question.

Thank you for all your help; I really appreciate it.

Excellent.. I'm really hoping I'll be able to do that. I'll read up on the subject more before I go so I don't sound ******** when talk to the Techie. =P

Danke again for all your advise, Marc; I appreciate it very much. Have a fun weekend; TGIF!

Cor blimey, it's mrtotes =) ..thank you for responding!

I am, very unfortunately, unable to boot from the OS X install discs. When I boot up my iMac, nothing happens except I hear the fan go on. My computer's screen is blank and my computer won't recognize my mouse or keyboard either so I can't even eject the CD that is already stuck inside of it either. I don't see any images when I shine a flashlight on the screen; nor does the little 'power on' light come on the screen when I press the power button.

I know I should have emptied the trash before I started to import another cd into iTunes, but I procrastinated because I was in the middle of adding to and backing up my iTunes library. I noticed, when trying to burn a CD, I got an error message and it would not let me burn the CD so I decided to import another CD while I tried to figure out what that first warning message meant. While I was importing the CD, all open programs and my screen froze. After that, I couldn't get my computer to respond to anything. I tried to force quit iTunes etc, but it wouldn't force quit or respond to any mouse or keyboard commands. I then tried to force shut down my computer by pushing the power button in back.. still no go. So then I cut the power on the power strip; when I rebooted, nothing happened except I could hear the fan go on.

I know I did something very bad and my poor computer is punishing me. I I deserve it! I think you are correct about my filling the hard disk up, mrtotes. I was getting warning messages about it for quite some time which is why I was backing up my iTunes library in the first place. I wanted to back them up so I could delete more files afterwards.

Is there anything I can do to fix the issue even if I can not boot from the OS X install disc? Any way to free up memory by doing something with the hardware under the dome? I've already reset the PMU which did not help. I've also removed the user accessable SO-DIMM to see if that would make any difference.. still no change. I just ordered some Silver Themal Paste so I could replace the RAM inside of the computer and be able to seal it correctly. I'll try anything! =)

I don't have an external firewire hard drive; should I buy one? And if so, might you have any suggestions about which one to purchase? I was also wondering, would any software have to be installed beforehand for it to work?

Do you think it would help if I opened the computer up and got the 'stuck' CD out manualy? Curious.