I have a pre-Intel Power Mac. Before I stopped using it and packed it away, it worked fine.

Question

I have a pre-Intel Power Mac. Before I stopped using it and packed it away, it worked fine.

I have a pre-Intel Power Mac. Before I stopped using it and packed it away, it worked fine. I connected the monitor and tried to boot it up. The screen stays dark. My reason for wanting to boot it is to search/wipe the drive. Then I'll either set it up as a server to use with movies and music, or wipe it and donate it.

I'm thinking the thing to do is to plug it into my cable modem/router and access it via my iMac. Would I use Remote Desktop or can I just browse the hard drive?

The other thing that's bothering me is it worked fine before it was packed away. I'm wondering if I'm not hooking up the monitor properly or making some other silly mistake. I have an Apple flat panel display.

Posted on Dec 21, 2014 10:13 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Dec 21, 2014 11:37 AM in response to SimonJester753

Hi Simon,

Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & can cause strange startup problems...

See which one yours has...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/CR2032/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

If it's booting, but not displaying & you have another Mac with Firewire, might try FWTDM...

Target mode...

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

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Answer 2

Dec 21, 2014 11:45 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks-

It may be a while before I try anything. I just moved and I'm surrounded by a hostile army of packing cartons.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Dec 21, 2014 2:38 PM in response to SimonJester753

Boy, I know how that is... good luck & Happy Holidays! 🙂

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Answer 4

AJsApple

Level 1

16 points

Dec 24, 2014 4:57 PM in response to SimonJester753

The other thing you might try is to remove the RAM, make sure the pins are clean, and re-seat them. I was given a PMG5 from a Woods Hole lab because it wasn't working. The only thing I found wrong with it was one of the RAM cards either had dust in the socket, or it wasn't seated all the way. Once I gave it a thorough cleaning inside, and removed and re-installed them, it has worked flawlessly ever since. My 1.6GHz surprisingly appears to have the original PRAM battery... however, it hadn't been unplugged for any length of time.

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Answer 5

notcloudy

Level 4

1,252 points

Dec 24, 2014 5:31 PM in response to SimonJester753

I have the G4 cube - that I had to get some data off of that was in appleworks database and draw options. The cube had been unplugged for 3 years when I did it and booted up fine no problem except of course the date -- I did hook up both the monitor and keyboard before powering up.

Still using the Apple flat panel studio display (whatever) that I purchased with the cube - just had to purchase an external power setup as with the cube it was powered through the cubes power system.

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