[terriny]

This is the first time I've been really, really stuck, so I hope someone might be able to help (or tell me the motherboard is dead...). I've already read similar postings and tried as many remedies as I could.

My brother got an old G3 350 B&W, put in a drive, 128 MB of RAM and installed 10.3 successfully from the CD drive. The CPU is Rev B. Motherboard says 820-0987-A. 200W Power supply. No PCI cards other than original ATI. CD-ROM drive, zip drive.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly. He didn't use for a while.
Then he drove it down to my place, and now it won't boot correctly.

I get the chime, the fan runs, the hard drive starts up, the front panel lights for the computer, the zip drive and the CD drive all turn on, there are LED lights on the motherboard, the CPU is warm. I am able to turn on/off via the keyboard.

But there's no video, and I don't get the sense that the drive has much if any activity.

I've tried the following:
- put the video card into my PowerBase's PCI slot. It works. (the clone, by the way, still keeps on ticking...)
- reseating/reconnecting everything I could, including the CPU
- taken out the battery 10 min/overnight etc... and put it back in
- tried my PowerBase's battery (which is old, so not conclusive)
- pressed the CUDA buttons I could find
- disconnected each of the drives
- taken out the RAM: system beeps when I boot, so at least it's detecting its absence.

Other symptoms:
- I was not able to zap the pram using the keyboard - never heard/got the successive system restarts
- I tried booting from the CD-ROM, just to see what happens, but the system never seemed to read from it. The drive light turns on at boot (which it does even when there's no CD), then goes off.

In all cases, no video.

What I haven't tried:
- haven't bought a new battery. Is it likely that the battery is the culprit - could it have suddenly becomes useless?
- I've assumed that the power supply is ok, hope not to tamper with it.
- haven't added/changed RAM because the other G3 that my brother got died altogether (or so it seemed) after he tried adding some RAM.

Whew! Thanks in advance for any suggestion/advice

[Bwa]

That machine is getting old enough it might very well need a new battery.

There have been some Macs over the years that wouldn't show video without an operational battery (6100s come to mind). I don't remember if any G3s were like that or not.

[terriny]

Thanks, will give it a try then!

[terriny]

Bummer - got a new battery, but still doesn't work

[littlegreenspud]

I have one of those and sometimes it just refuses to start just like you say. I have tried the cuda switch removing and reseating PCI cards etc. But I have most luck with simply not turning my monitor on until the mac has booted.

Don't know why this work for me though!