Beige G3 All of a sudden won't boot up

Question

Level 2

299 points

Beige G3 All of a sudden won't boot up

Hi all! Haven't been browsing the Beige G3 board in awhile since I got a G4 a couple of months ago. But I now have a problem that I hope someone can give me some ideas on.

When I got the G4, I made the G3 strictly an OS 9.2.2 machine and used it for recording my cassette tapes to the RCA plugs in back of machine. Then transfered the music over my network to the G4 for cleanup and putting in my iTunes. Worked great.

Here's where I ran into trouble. I had two drives in the G3. The master was a 8g and the slave was a 4g. I recorded the music onto the 4 g. I got the bright idea to switch out the 4g HD with a 13g. At the same time, I switched out the cable with a new one and took out the ATI MacEdition7000pci card and the USB/Firewire card to put in my G4. I booted up the G3 and it sounded like everything was booting up fine. But its not! I'm not getting any video. The Apple 15AV monitor was connected to the OnBoard video card all this time.

I have moved everything back to the way I had it before I got my wonderful idea but still nothing. I have checked all my connections to make sure everything was snug. Still nothing. The power light goes on. Things sound like their booting up but no video. I'm reasonably sure that the HD isn't booting up either because I can't connect with my G4 to the G3 over my network.

Anybody have any ideas why I can't get my trusty Beige to work? I sure would appreciate it! Thanks!

G4 Dual 450Mhz; 512mb Ram; 120 & 40 gb HD's;Epson 1640; Pioneer DVR-110 DVD/RW Mac OS X (10.4.4) BeigeG3/300MT(B) Mac OS 9.2.2; & a Compaq S4300NX;XPsp2;1.5g Ram

Posted on Feb 13, 2006 11:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 14, 2006 1:08 AM in response to Brian C.

have you held the cuda button for 20-30 seconds ( its the gray button next to the last pci slot make shure the Mac is unplugged from the wall when you do this and make shure everything is the way you want it before you plug it in and power up.

it should solve your problem after you do the cuda hold it might take a few seconds to turn on the monitor cause it has to register everything so just let it set for about a minute.

if nothing happens check all the pci cards to see if they are properly seated . pull and replace all the ram or before you replace the ram to make shure it is seated properly. check to see if both hdd's jumpers are set diffrently.

Reply

Answer 2

Brian C. Author

Level 2

299 points

Feb 14, 2006 11:11 AM in response to Frank McHugh

Hi Frank! Thanks for your response.

Yes, I held the cuda button down for the 20-30 seconds. I do that after installing and uninstalling anything in my macs. BTW, in the MT, you can't open up the mac to get to the cuda button without unplugging the power cord from the mac.

I have reseated the ram and rom stick. I have reseated the personality card along with the pci cards which really aren't being used anyway. I unplugged the slave drive and tried just booting off the master. That didn't work. I even tried booting off my OS 9 install disk. That didnt' work. I'm just not getting any Video. I did plug in the monitor to my G4. It works on the G4 but not the G3. Just in case, the onboard video port had gone bad on me, I even plugged the monitor onto the ATI Mac7000 card. Still didn't work.

This is frustrating. I have been taking apart Macs and putting them back together for years without too many problems. I like to tinker with the inards.

G4 Dual 450Mhz; 512mb Ram; 120 & 40 gb HD's;Epson 1640; Pioneer DVR-110 DVD/RW Mac OS X (10.4.4) BeigeG3/300MT(B) Mac OS 9.2.2; & a Compaq S4300NX;XPsp2;1.5g Ram

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 14, 2006 11:46 AM in response to Brian C.

One more thing to try -- try getting that Mac down to LESS than 192 MB RAM and see if that changes anything.

Reply

Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,266 points

Feb 14, 2006 2:46 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant,

I believe I see where you are going with this. However, the black screen problem with more than 192MB RAM was, I thought, strictly a "feature" of 10.2.8.

Is there something else about having more than 192MB RAM that you know about that affects running OS9? Would love to hear about it. I've learned a lot from you.

A

Reply

Answer 5

Feb 14, 2006 4:36 PM in response to Allan Jones

I have been wrestling with a cranky beige system off and on for about a week. I have a drive on the built-in IDE, a drive on the built-in SCSI, and a drive on a SCSI Controller card.

Whenever I try to re-boot into Mac OS X, the green light comes on the CRT, stays on a few seconds, goes out, and then it boots into Mac OS 9.

I am trying everything I know to get Mac OS X back on this Mac and on two of its drives. I have reset the PRAM and the CUDA button lots of times. And when I thought about it, it sounded like two or more other posts from folks who had not been able to get Mac OS X to cooperate.

I tried to boot from a jaguar 10.2.4 CD. It failed in about the same way.
So I said, what if somewhere along the line I have installed that old driver that had given some users a dark screen? I removed the 256 MB DIMM and installed a 128 MB I had lying around. It booted.

Thats about where I am now. I am slowly reformatting each of the drives and trying to re-install System Software. No proof yet, but I am suspicious.

Reply

Answer 6

Brian C. Author

Level 2

299 points

Feb 14, 2006 7:20 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant: Thanks for responding!

I'm not running OS X on this machine just 9.2.2.

I have taken out two 256mb ram sticks leaving me with 128mb. And replaced the pram battery.

Still nothing! This is really weird. It sounds like the HD is booting up (ie: get the chime) and then nothing happens.

Trying to boot up using the CD doesn't work either, I'm not hearing the cd spin up.

Any other ideas? I appreciate any help.

G4 Dual 450Mhz; 512mb Ram; 120 & 40 gb HD's;Epson 1640; Pioneer DVR-110 DVD/RW Mac OS X (10.4.4) BeigeG3/300MT(B) Mac OS 9.2.2; & a Compaq S4300NX;XPsp2;1.5g Ram

Reply

Answer 7

Feb 14, 2006 7:54 PM in response to Brian C.

The chime that sounds shortly after the computer starts up is generated in software, after your computer has successfully executed millions of instructions. It is an indication that if an appropriate source for software can be found, booting is likely. A more extensive memory test follows, and any tones during this test are an indication of memory problems.

The screen should light up even if no hard drives or CD drives can be found, but will likely be displaying an error Icon, such as the flashing question mark.

The traditional approach to debugging suggests that you must get the screen on first, so remove anything and everything (drives and extra cards, memory beyond the absolute minimum) and try to get the screen to light up.

Often, corruption to the Parameter RAM can cause the stored value of the screen resolution to be out-of-bounds for your display, so a PRAM Reset, CUDA Reset, and/or battery replacement are to be considered.

The next phase involves booting from a CD to bypass your hard drive and its contents.

Reply

Answer 8

tigger5

Level 1

73 points

Feb 14, 2006 8:00 PM in response to Brian C.

this may be a long shot, and may not even help, but I had this problem OFTEN with my g3...
what i'd do is shut down holding the "green" button in the front for about 30 sec...then fire up..IF it wouldn't I'd unplug it for about 10 min, then it would ALWAYS fire up...

THEN, if u have it running, turn off file sharing, and then delete the hidden filesharing files from the drives (i forget what they are named exactly, but i'm sure someone here will know), there are 2 files per drive.

Again, like i said, this was my problem, may not be the same as yours, BUT, it is VERY similar.

Reply

Answer 9

tigger5

Level 1

73 points

Feb 14, 2006 8:03 PM in response to Brian C.

On a side note...

YES, u can get to the cuda button without opening/unpluging the tower.

Just remove the side panel, then using something the close to the diameter of a pencil and long enough (I use a paint brush), looking under the handle, you will see it, just guide your way in and push.

Reply

Answer 10

Brian C. Author

Level 2

299 points

Feb 14, 2006 10:36 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant: It's after the chime that I get the problem.

I agree. The screen should be lighting up even if there was no hard drive or CD drive to be found.Right now, all I have in the G3 is the one ram stick of 128mb. One Hard Drive (I've disconnected the slave drive) and the CD/RW drive.

The monitor is plugged into the On-Board plug. I took the Mac7000 card and USB/Firewire card out.

I'm not getting anything on the screen. It stays black. The monitor power light stays orange. (The monitor works fine with the G4).

I've replaced the battery. Pressed the CUDA reset. Tried to do a PRAM reset but it didn't do anything.

I've not been able to boot from my install CD because 1) the screen doesn't light up and 2) the CD drive doesn't spin up. I can open the drive right after pressing the power button so I know its getting juice.

Any other ideas?

Reply

Answer 11

Brian C. Author

Level 2

299 points

Feb 14, 2006 10:46 PM in response to tigger5

tigger5: Thanks for responding. Your idea is the only thing that I haven't tried. I'm willing to try anything.

Out of curiosity, what would the file sharing have to do with this? Never heard that one. However, that will not stop doing what you suggest if I can get my beige at least to a point where I can just erase and start all over again.

PS: You are right! My apologies to Frank. I never even considered pressing the CUDA button the way you mentioned. Didn't even dawn on me.

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 12

Admiral

Level 5

5,792 points

Feb 15, 2006 12:28 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant and Brian:
I'd like to add a few thoughts here, since I've experienced similar problems with my Beige.

Usually, either a failed install of OSX (those requiring XPF) or a switch to a new hard drive would result in a black screen upon startup. The computer would fire up, green light on monitor would come on then go off to orange. A boot to OS9 would require holding down the Apple-C keys or sometimes the option-C combination. The computer would exhibit the same symptoms, but continuing to hold down the combination of keys would get the monitor to switch from orange back to green and fire up (this takes about 1min, sometimes a bit longer).

Often, I could not get the CD drive to respond either. First, I'd check that the cable in the back of the drive is completely pushed in. If that wasn't the problem, then one way around this was to unplug the hard drive and force the computer to boot from the CD. Sometimes this required holding the option-C or Apple-C keys.

Doing an nvram-reset usually gets this situation (both the hard drive and the CD issues) to go away.

Reformatting the drive with a new install of OS9, XPF and OSX got rid of the problems.

A.

Reply

Answer 13

tigger5

Level 1

73 points

Feb 15, 2006 5:23 AM in response to Brian C.

I can't remember why it has to do with it. I was having this problem often and came across this fix in an article way back (before OSX was even out..lol). with nothing to lose, i tried it and it did the trick...something about the files getting currupt. Forgot to mention, IF you get it running and are going to delete the files, you'll need resedit to see them and make them visable.

Reply

Answer 14

Brian C. Author

Level 2

299 points

Feb 15, 2006 11:07 AM in response to Admiral

Admiral:

I'm beginning to think that perhaps I fried my logic board somehow. (but if I had would the chime still be working?)

1)I tried pulling the battery out and leaving the computer unplugged overnight.Then rebooting (after putting the battery back in and reseating the personality card). That didn't work.
2) I tried the Apple-C and the option-C keyboard combinations. Neither of that worked.
3) Couldn't get the CD drive to respond either.

This is really wierd. I've moved hard drives in and out of this machine before but never had this problem.

G4 Dual 450Mhz; 512mb Ram; 120 & 40 gb HD's;Epson 1640; Pioneer DVR-110 DVD/RW Mac OS X (10.4.4) BeigeG3/300MT(B) Mac OS 9.2.2; & a Compaq S4300NX;XPsp2;1.5g Ram

Reply

Answer 15

Feb 15, 2006 11:51 AM in response to Brian C.

Go to the motherboard, unplug the SCSI cable if so equipped), unplug the two IDE cables. Remove all PCI cards. Make sure the personality card is seated, press the CUDA reset button. Hold down Command Option P R on the keyboard while you touch the power key. Continue to hold the four keys until you get 4 chimes.

If your display does not light up after this, you have a local hardware problem with your display (motherboard circuitry), adapter (if so equipped), cables, or the display itself.

If your display does light up, you may have the creeping crud that has dogged Admiral (and my latest beige) for a while.

Reply