[l008com]

So I had this Blue and White G3. It was a 350 Mhz model, I'm pretty sure it has that motherboard IDE bug. I did a full upgrade on this beast, to an 800 Mhz G3, PCI IDE card, 80 GB hard drive and OS X 10.3. It was running like a champ for like 2 days, and now when its turned on, the monitor turns on for a few seconds, then turns off and thats it. I'm pretty sure I upgraded the firmware, so I'm not sure what it could be off the top of my head. I will try resetting the cuda and zapping the pram. Other than that, I'm not sure what could be causing this strange behavior?

[Lateralus]

All I can think of would be to:

1) Reset the PRAM or cuda the machine, as you said.
2) Remove the IDE controller and hook back into the onboard controller.
4) Take out all of the RAM modules and try running the machine with on DIMM at a time installed. Run through all of your DIMMs this way.
3) F*ck with the dip switches on the processor ZIF. Set the card down to 700MHz, or some slower speed.

Let us know.

[l008com]

The processor has no dips, its speed is hardcoded. And you can't use the onboard IDE with this machine, as it kills large hard drives. But there should be no reason why such a setup shouldn't work. I even did the exact same upgrades to an identical computer this guy had. I bet the cuda/pram will solve the problem.

[l008com]

OK I have more info. The problem started when someone put Ram for a beige G3 into this BWG3. It is the wrong kind. So upon removal, I reset cuda, pram, i even removed the mobo battery and let it sit for 15 minutes. Nothing works. The problem is that you have to reset the PRAM on startup EVERY TIME you start it up, or else it won't start up. Same exactly thing every time. No Command Option P R, no boot, do it, and then it will start up. Every time. I've reset all there is to reset as far as I can tell. Did he fry something? I wouldn't think that too-slow ram could do that?

[Detrius]

Originally posted by l008com:
OK I have more info. The problem started when someone put Ram for a beige G3 into this BWG3. It is the wrong kind. So upon removal, I reset cuda, pram, i even removed the mobo battery and let it sit for 15 minutes. Nothing works. The problem is that you have to reset the PRAM on startup EVERY TIME you start it up, or else it won't start up. Same exactly thing every time. No Command Option P R, no boot, do it, and then it will start up. Every time. I've reset all there is to reset as far as I can tell. Did he fry something? I wouldn't think that too-slow ram could do that?

command-option-o-f on boot
reset-nvram
reset-all

Worth a shot.

[l008com]

Ill try that, although I read on apple's support pages that resetting the PRAM resets the NVRAM. Who knows, we'll see. If not, looks like someone fried their motherboard.

[Jack The Dog]

I had the same problem on an old Quadra. Had to reset the PRAM every time in order to get it to boot. Turns out it was the little battery on the motherboard that went dead. Try one of those, they're about $10 at Radio Shack.

[l008com]

I tested this one's battery, its is running at full capacity

[l008com]

So I finally got the customer to do the command-option-o-f thing, I talked him through it over the phone, and it still needs a pram reset to boot up. Very strange. The last thing I can think of was to have him unplug the computer and the motherboard battery and have it sit for at least a day, maybe more, to absolutely completely reset EVERYTHING. I let it sit for over 10 minutes, which is what apple says to do.

[tooki]

It still really, really, really sounds like a bad battery to me. A new battery is cheap -- like $6. Get one and try it. If it doesn't help, put the old one back and keep the new battery for the next time you need a replacement.

By the way (and I'm not assuming you're stupid, just making sure I'm covering all bases), you do know that that battery should measure around 3.6V, right? At 1.5V (the nominal voltage of a regular alkaline battery) it's dead to the computer.

As for your assumption about revision, based on CPU speed: your assumption is wrong, the 350MHz model was available throughout the B&W's whole career, through the revision, originally as the middle model, later as the low-end. The ONLY infallible way to be sure about the IDE bug is to check the number on the IDE controller chip. More practical is to see if the computer came with the drive caddy for two stacked drives and an IDE cable with connectors for two drives. (I have heard rumor that some Rev B systems shipped with only the caddy and cable for one drive, but have yet to encounter such a beast myself.) If the replacement battery doesn't help, check to see if it's a Rev B machine, and if it is, unplug the IDE card and try the motherboard IDE. Test the original CPU. Try some known-good PC100 RAM (be sure it's not PC66, nor PC133 that uses high-density chips).

tooki

[l008com]

i tested the batter with a voltmeter and it read a perfect 3.6

[Eriamjh]

Batteries tested with no load will appear to be good. You need a real battery tester to be sure.

Buy a battery anyway.

[l008com]

Its a voltmeter, dead batteries show as dead on it.

[l008com]

Besides it was running perfect until the bad ram.