[Slackard]

The pointer icon on my G3 has turned into the spinning disk icon. I can only logon from the keyboard after startup without the use of mouse. After logon the spinning disk keeps spinning. It's been spinning for a week now. The mouse will not move the spinning disk. However, I don't think the mouse has failed. Also after logon, keyboard entry does not work.

Has anyone run into this before? Can you offer a fix?

It seems as if some process is running indefinitely & will not give up control or just cannot complete.

I cannot do any work on the G 3. It runs OS 10.2.6.


Thanks in advance.

[bowwowman]

Possible causes:

1) The ports you have the mouse & KB plugged into are failing, causing a hardware fault.....which is causing the spinner

2) The mouse & KB ARE failing, same as above

3) The preferences and/or drivers for the M & KB are corrupted

4) Your HD is failing

5) Your OS is borked

Does the system ever finish booting to the desktop? Have you tried to boot from an OS CD or another HD ? That might help narrow down the causes somewhat

[Slackard]

The G3 never completes boot up. Not quite all the files on the desktop get drawn.

I have tried to boot up from an OS CD to no avail. The pointer turns into a spinning disk and will not respond to mouse movements.

There is only one hard drive on system. For that reason I can not boot from another drive. I suspect a corrupt OS. I will install another hard drive and attempt to load a fresh OS into it.

Could a failing computer battery cause these symptoms?

I do not think hard drive has failed as this G3 is part of a home network & I can access shared files on the G3 from another computer on the home network.

[bowwowman]

Being able to share the files is a good sign...it eliminates problems with the files, your network settings, your motherboard, and probably the HD itself.

However not being able to boot from a CD and incomplete booting are bad ones....this could mean your optical drive is failing and/or has a bad/loose connection, and a borked OS....

a failing battery could be a link in the chain, since it maintains the pram settings. Have tried to reset the pram (cmd+option+p+r keys) ?

my other guess would be the corruption I mentioned earlier, it very well could be a combination of these things. Keep trying, the answer will become evident sooner or later