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User profile for user: aembleton
aembleton Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

My Powermac G3 B&W freezes on Startup

Hello I my Powermac G3 decided to poop out on me today. i recently installed OSX Tiger with all the latest updates. i also put a Belkin Wireless G PCI card in it to get Airport working. I want to use this machine as my main iTunes machine for my stereo setup. It worked fine until i put a CD in the drive and it would not recognize so I figured that the IDE cable was unplugged and it was so I reconnected everything and turned it on. I see the Apple Logo and the scroll wheel but then it stops and I get a solid Black box over the apple and the wheel stops the machine completely stops. I have done some tests like replace the DVD drive still know luck I took the wireless card out still nothing but if I disconnect the DVD drive it will boot into Tiger. I disabled the Airport then reconnected the DVD drive and it did the same thing. I tried putting the OSX install DVD in but it wont read it even holding down C. I reset the PRAM still no luck. it all worked the day before so I really don't know. the DVD drives do work in my PC so they are good drives the Original Apple CD drive does the same thing.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jul 31, 2014 6:45 PM

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7 replies
User profile for user: Jeff
Jeff
User level: Level 6
12,058 points

Jul 31, 2014 7:12 PM in response to aembleton

There are two things to consider regarding the optical drive: (1) Third-party drives don't always respond to the "C" key for booting. Did you try holding down the "X" key to boot from the Tiger disk and is the disk a retail/universal installer disk (black with large "X" across it)? A gray-colored Restore Disk for another model - like a Power Mac G4 - won't reliably boot your G3 (if at all). As for third-party optical drives - all of which work perfectly in a PC - the brand used in an older Mac can make a difference. I had an LG DVD±RW drive in one of my B&W G3s that ignored the "C" key, so I finally pulled it and installed a Pioneer. That solved the problem. (2) The B&W G3s don't support Cable Select configuration for dual devices on the same ATA channel. You must select "Master" or "Slave." As for the Belkin Wireless G PCI card, unless it came with a Mac driver for a PowerPC processor-based (non-Intel) Mac running OS 10.4.x, it will likely not function.

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User profile for user: Jeff
Jeff
User level: Level 6
12,058 points

Jul 31, 2014 8:13 PM in response to aembleton

Are you using a Belkin F5D7000 Wireless G PCI card? From the Belkin web site: "works with Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, XP and Mac OS X 10.2.6 with AirPort installer 3.0.4 or Mac OS X 10.3." Did they release an updated driver for Tiger or are you using the driver that came on the included CD? Also, did you recently replace the hard drive with a larger capacity one? If so, is it connected to an ATA controller PCI card or the onboard controller? Does your B&W have the first or second revision motherboard?

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My Powermac G3 B&W freezes on Startup

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