Help for FLOWER POWER imac!!!!?!!!!

first thing I would try is to reset the PRAM. to do so restart your macintosh and hold the option - apple - P - R buttons at the same time. it will redo the startup chime. I would hold it for 3 startup chimes just in case.

let me know if it helps if not there are a few other things to try.

sounds like you have a few problems going on with the flower power mac:-)

First off Disk Warrior is a great program I use it all the time at work. I would try safe boot first. and then try disk warrior. Safe boot does a few things with the system here is more info on it

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

Secondly it does sound like the battery could be going. however, it could also be becuase the PMU button on the logic board needs to be reset. Doing both those things requires the bottom housing on the mac to be taken off. Something you might want an apple service center tech doing.

Just to Clarify, she starts the computer, the apple appears, the gear below it spins, then the desktop appears and that is where she gets the spinning color wheel?

If that is the case the problem might be in the user account she is using on that mac.

firstly I would let the ball spin for a while to see if the account or OS needs to load or configure something. fonts for example are bad for making that spinning ball spin for sometimes up to 5 minutes ( I know from experience)

However, here is what she can do if the ball spins past 5 minutes.

restart the mac in safe mode (holding the shift key)

when the desktop appears under the blue apple menu select system preferences.

look for the account option. select it and create a new user. she might have to click on the lock icon and enter a password to do so. plus to make the new users u click on the plus + button just above the lock

then try logging in as that user to see if the problem is fixed.

I have set up a few users on my own computer for when I have load problems like you mentioned.

Let me know how everything goes

ok this is what she should do.

restart the machine

make sure it starts up in os X

if she changed the start up disk (in the control panel) to 9.2.2 it will boot in 9.2.2 so make sure to change it back to OS X

during the bong (start up chime) tell her to hold down the apple and V key..

what she will do is boot into Verbose mode. ( it allows you to see what Unix is doing during startup)

in normal verbose it will run a bunch of text on the screen then switch back into the graphic mode and load the desktop.

however, if it is freezing on startup it will stop at the point it freezes.

when that happens get her to tell you what the screen says and message me back.

Franco,

I know you are just trying to help, but never tell someone with an iMac G3 slot loader to reset the PRAM until 1) You at least find out what Operating System they have installed, and 2) If it is OS X version 10.2 or above you make sure they have updated their firmware to version 4.1.9.

Kathy,

Please check out this link. <http://www.gileskennedy.com/panthereatsimac>

Another option that you could do is with the install disk reinstall the OS. but if you do that make sure you use the archive and install option on the disk. that will perserver user and network settings. plus it creates an archive of your current system.

It does sound complicated. I can understand it is confusing to you. So lets make this simple as possible.

so before we go further I have to ask what firmware do you have?

To check, you mentioned your daughter can boot the mac from the OS 9 CD.

If you can get her to do that again, when she is at the desktop under the apple menu select apple system profiler.

at the very bottom of the System profile there is a section called Production information.

look at the Boot ROM version if it is has 4.19 (it should look more like $0004.19f1) then you have the updated firmware... if not then you will have to do the update.

there are OTHER ways to check the firmware on your iMac. They do work but not to complicate things further I would check by the method above. 🙂

I really think I have firmware version 4.1.9. Didn't you need to put this on before installing panther.

If you read the I. Preliminaries section, number 5 in the link I provided above, it will answer that question.

copy/paste:

5. Note that OS X installs successfully on a proportion of slot-loading iMacs with pre-4.1.9 firmware. Although you may not be experiencing the symptoms listed below at the moment, it is strongly recommended that the firmware is updated to 4.1.9 as soon as possible as problems may arise at any time.

Edit: Updating firmware is something you would remember doing, because it involves using the programmer's button. Not something that is used for anything else.