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G3 iMac wont start at all.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Telford UK
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I went to a friends house the other day to help her set up an e-mail account on a G3 iMac (Graphite 600, 40 GB HD, 768 ram).
She mentioned when i arrived that it had been acting a bit weird i.e freezing up and the screen flickering.
When i started it up it appeared to be going ok but once it got to the desktop the mouse froze the screen flickered for two seconds and it then went dead.
So i unplugged everything and just connected the the keyboard and mouse and tried again.
There was no light on the power switch and the only noise was an intermitent "clicking" sound coming from near where the usb ports etc are on the side.
I thought it may have been a power cord gone bad so i swapped that over but no improvement other than when i press and hold the power button i get a short flash of light at the power button but still no startup.
Does anyone have any ideas on the cause of this?
Thanks in advance.
Ali P
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Sounds like a bad flyback transformer or something similar.
What OS is she running? If it's 10.3, has she done the necessary firmware updates?
Does it boot up with an external monitor plugged into the vga monitor port on the back of the iMac?
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Telford UK
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Originally Posted by seanc
Sounds like a bad flyback transformer or something similar.
What OS is she running? If it's 10.3, has she done the necessary firmware updates?
Does it boot up with an external monitor plugged into the vga monitor port on the back of the iMac?
She is running 10.3 Panther and it was bang up to date in relation to firmware as far as i am aware as i set it up for her clean install etc when i sold the mac to her about 12 months ago?
I don't have a sperate monitor to test it on.
What's a bad flyback transformer?
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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I'm not sure what a flyback transformer does, but it sounds like it's broken.
It may be the PAV board.
I have no technical knowledge of CRT's i'm just relaying the most common problems with the iMac g3 - Flyback Transformer, Firmware not up to date, Pav board broken.
If you can beg/borrow a spare standard vga monitor, hook it up to the iMac and see if it boots.
If it does, get an OS 9 cd and the latest firmare from Apple for your iMac and see if you can update it.
If it is already up to date then it is most likely something gone wrong with the CRT e.g flyback transformer.
Mac os x 10.3 and firmware that is not up to date can cause all sorts of strange problems, including the one you are having.
DO NOT ZAP THE PRAM. This may make things worse. Try the firmware update and see what happens.
Don't go playing round inside the case with the CRT, you will most likely electrocute yourself.
If it does seem to be the flyback transformer and you can get hold of another working one (try e-bay) then I see no reason why you couldn't ask a TV repair shop to try and fit it for you.
Good luck
Sean
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Baninated
Join Date: May 2005
Location: England
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OK! i have just had this amazing therory that it could be ur Hard drive.
take it out and start it and try taking the cd drive, ram modules.
if ur lucky it might not be the CRT.
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
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You're right it could well be the hdd but with the pasty history of iMac G3's it never occurred to me that it could be that!
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Telford UK
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Originally Posted by kick52
OK! i have just had this amazing therory that it could be ur Hard drive.
take it out and start it and try taking the cd drive, ram modules.
if ur lucky it might not be the CRT.
I know how to take the hard drive out but how do i then start it and are you referring to it as the HD or the mac?
Please excuse my ignorance.
KRO
Ali P
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
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I think he's referring to the iMac.
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Baninated
Join Date: May 2005
Location: England
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take the HD out, and start up the mac. if it starts up normally (apart from the fact that you cant use an operating system) then YAY! its not the mac, its only the HD!
also try taking out RAM, and the cd drive. also, if you take it apart and see anything unusual, take a picture and send it to us
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
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Originally Posted by kick52
if you take it apart and see anything unusual, take a picture and send it to us
You mean like a half-eaten sandwich or a used bar of soap? 
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Originally Posted by kick52
take the HD out, and start up the mac. if it starts up normally (apart from the fact that you cant use an operating system) then YAY! its not the mac, its only the HD!
also try taking out RAM, and the cd drive. also, if you take it apart and see anything unusual, take a picture and send it to us
What's wrong with booting from a CD?
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Baninated
Join Date: May 2005
Location: England
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maybe the imacs HD is completly busted and stops the imac running, even if it hasnt told it to spin up yet.
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