[donkerce]

Hi all, first time posting and hoping someone can help.
Have a 733 G4 on 9.2.2 that has gone all wacky on me.
When I hit the power button and let it start on it's own,
it defaults to 640x480 with a 67hz refresh rate.
Just horrid to look at.
And in the monitor control panel there are NO other options.
But if I start up and zap the PRAM,
it starts up with my 1024x768 85hz setting.
And all available options show up in the control panel.
Also, when I just let it start, there is no chime.
When I zap the PRAM, I get the chimes.
I just HATE having to zap it EVERYTIME I start up.
I changed the battery and hit the reset button on the board.
I also trashed the monitor prefs.
That did nothing.
So if anyone has any ideas how to solve this,
I would be eternally grateful!

don

733 G4
9.2.2
1.25GB RAM

[Big Mac]

Well, I don't have a fix, but why are you booting up so often? Sleep mode on modern Macs uses very little electricity.

[reader50]

The battery sounds like the right answer. Also, the CUDA reset after changing the battery. How long did you hold the CUDA button down? It should be held approx 10 seconds - with the computer off at the time.

If you boot with extensions off (shift-boot), does the behavior change?

Did you change any hardware around the time this started, like the monitor or graphics card? Do you use a monitor/vidcard combination that requires an adapter, such as a VGA -> DB15 or a DVI -> VGA adapter?

Go into the Memory control panel and enable the startup RAM test if it's disabled. Let it check the RAM for the next few startups over several days. Maybe it will spot a problem.

What does your hardware diagnostic disk have to say about your system?

[donkerce]

Changed the battery, held the reset button.
No help.
Ran the hardware test last night and it said RAM error.
Pulled 2 out of three sticks.
Tested again, no errors.
Restarted, and it worked normally.
Restarted again, and the problem returned.
Tested again.
Said no problems, restarted fine.
Restared again, problem returned.
Very weird.