[kupan787]

I am having some issues with my PowerMac G4 AGP. First, a bit of a back story.

Whenever I would shut off the machine (which is rarley) the only way to start it up again is to hold down the programmers switch (the one you use when updating firmware). If you didn't hold this down, you wouldn't get a bong and the HDs would never power up (only the fans would). However, holding down the programmers switch, and the power button woudl get that long beep, and it woudl then startup fine.

Ok, now on to todays story. I was installing a Powerlogix upgrade card (1GHz). I put it in, and tried to power up, but got nothing (except the internal fans). I though ok, I need to hold down the magic combo. But no go, nothing powered on except those fans. So thinking the card was bad, I put the old 400MHz processor card back in. Powered up, but nothing. Tried the programmers switch power up, but got nothing.

At this point I was a little worried. Did I screw somethign up? So I unplugged the HD connector (from HD to motherboard), and tried powering up. Interestingly enough, the HDs came spinning on, but no USB or video. So I turned it off, and plugged the HD cable back in. Bingo! it all started up again when holding down the programmer button.

It boots into OS 9, but it crashed everytime I tried to do anything. So I botted into OS X (holding down the option key on the keyboard), and everythign ran fine (went online, changed soem settings, etc). So I though I had it all fixed. But I just went to shut it down and power back on, and it wont start at all. I tried everything, unpluging the HDs, plugging back in, nothign is powering her on now. I just hear the damn fans.

Any one have any thoguths at what could be going wrong?

The processor is always getting warm, and the fans come on. So I know the processor and PSU is ok. The odd thing is if the HDs are disconnected from the mother board, they turn on. But if they are conencted, they don't turn on.

[Cipher13]

You've been walking on a razors edge for a while. You should have addressed this much sooner.

How much RAM do you have/how many chips?

One may be bad.

When did this problem start?

Can you boot holding command-option-o-f?

Have you reset the PRAM? (press the CUDA switch near the RAM chips firstly, other methods come later).

[kupan787]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
You've been walking on a razors edge for a while. You should have addressed this much sooner.

I agree

How much RAM do you have/how many chips?

3 chips (512, 256, 256), 1024MBs.

One may be bad.

I tired removing them all, and then placing them back one at a time and saw no difference. I tried taking them over to the other machine, and placing them in one at a time, and it didn't effect that machien at all (all the RAM showed up ok). So I am thinking the RAM is fine.

When did this problem start?

Hard to say exactly, but probably a year ago.

Can you boot holding command-option-o-f?

The keyboard doesn't get power, so I can't do that.

Have you reset the PRAM? (press the CUDA switch near the RAM chips firstly, other methods come later).

Yes I tried that, but same results.

However, now for the good news. I let the machine sit overnight plugged in. I went down this morning, and turned it on. I held the power button in for about 15 seconds, and heard a long tone, and then it came on. So it is working now! I shut it down, and started it up again (having to hold down the programmers switch), but it all came up.

One thing I noticed is that the clock was reset to 1969. Could that battery have caused any of these issues?

[Scotttheking]

Try replacing the battery. Also, check the power coming into the system.

And if it turns out your mac is really fried, I'll take the new processor off your hands, assuming it hasn't been killed

[kupan787]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
Try replacing the battery. Also, check the power coming into the system.

I will try the battery thing. But just now I tried moving the machine to a different outlet, and it started fine (holding down the programmers switch that is). I don't get why it is acting so different today than yesterday...

And if it turns out your mac is really fried, I'll take the new processor off your hands, assuming it hasn't been killed

Heh, I installed the 1GHz upgrade just fine now