Imac G3 wont Boot,load and now wont start up.

Restart your computer holding down the apple key option key and the letter r and letter p

Apple Key - Option Key - R - P alll at the same time. Wait till you hear 3 dings..... then let go.

Then goto Utilities and then disk utility. Highlight your hard drive then verify hard drive on right side bottom window then repair permission

Can't hurt to try this

The most likely think is that the harddrive has gone bad.

I'm guessing that this is a tray loading iMac. Not sure if it is worth replacing the hd.

>but it just stay stuck with a question mark inside a folder

The blinking question mark means that the firmware could not find a valid OS on your startup disk. The likeliest possibilities are your OS has become corrupted or the harddrive has failed.

If you have a second Mac computer, you may want to try to copy over as many files you can. One way is to use target disk mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

http://lowendmac.com/misc/06/0710.html

Another way to recover any data on the harddrive, you can try removing the harddrive from your system and placing the harddrive in an external harddrive enclosure. You may be able to read the data on a second computer.

For slot loading machines... Try holding down the option key then power on. This brings up the startup manager. Click on your hd. Click on right arrow key.

Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime. Then, before the screen lights up, hold down Command-Option-O-F until the Open Firmware screen appears. Then enter these lines, pressing Return after each one:

reset-nvram

set-defaults

reset-all

"The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings."

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1812?viewlocale=en_US

How to eject a cd from the internal cd drive:

eject cd

List of devices:

devalias

List of variables:

printenv

----------------------------------------

Query by serial number

Apple's warrenty database will identify the type of Mac you have. Your serial number is securely sent, but you get only the name of your machine.

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

This site provides more information, but lacks security.

"A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software. It's used for various things depending on the product / brand but what is your Mac's serial number for and more importantly... what is it hiding and what can it do for you ?"

http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

I don't know the difference between tray and slot loading but here is some more detail.

Tray models have a button you need to push to get out a tray where you drop a cd.

The slots loaders you push in the cd as you would on a car.

Here is a picture of the orginal tray loader ports.

Here is a later tray model iMac g3 333.

The later slot loader added two firewire 400 ports.

As has been indicated above, resetting the PRAM would be one thing to try first.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Also, a bad internal 3.6 V battery cannot be ruled out.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMacG3_originalInstallGuide.PDF

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iMacG3_originalEmergencyHndbk.PDF

Regarding key equivalents on a PC keyboard, the following web page could possibly be of interest.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970299

Jan

Using a windows keyboard is fine.

pc key board key is

windows key is used for command key

alt key is used for option / alt key

control key is used for control key

enter key is the return key

other keys are in the same position but different names. Few key maybe mission but are redundant/ not needed.

Robert

command + q would be windows key + q on a pc keyboard.

Robert

You have not reported what type of iMac g3 this is.

Find the serial number and type into one of these sites.

Query by serial number

Apple's warrenty database will identify the type of Mac you have. Your serial number is securely sent, but you get only the name of your machine.

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

This site provides more information, but lacks security.

"A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software. It's used for various things depending on the product / brand but what is your Mac's serial number for and more importantly... what is it hiding and what can it do for you ?"

http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

or

This site provides more information, but lacks security too.

"A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software. It's used for various things depending on the product / brand but what is your Mac's serial number for and more importantly... what is it hiding and what can it do for you ?"

http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

( hint by K Shaffer )

The image in this link:

,http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m5hahNr08cY/TYv3J37ndOI/AAAAAAAAFJ4/L7-6clQcm2E/s1600/ PearPC%2B10.1%2Bboot%2Bhappy%2Bmac.png

indicate that your mac found an os on the hd. It is booting up the os. The os should boot in 1 to 3 minutes.

Disconnnect all exteral usb devices from the machine. Including keyboard & mouse. poweroff machine. Poweron to boot. Any luck?

attach keyboard. hold down shift key to do a safe boot. Any luck?

get a copy of mac os 8.6, 9.x, or 10.2 or 10.3. Re-install Mac OS.

Robert

Yes, if you get the full install cd.

It is best to update the firmware to the latest for a tray loading machine.

What firmware do you need?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1395

For folks reading this post and have a slot loading machine; you must update the firmware to the lastest for your machine.