[Apollo_Racer]

My girlfriend shut down her iMac G3 last night. When she tried to turn it back on this morning, it "blipped"... made a sound with the speakers... but it refused to turn back on. Any ideas what could be wrong with it and how we can get around the issue?

[seanc]

Could be that the PRAM battery needs replacing.

[Apollo_Racer]

I wasn't aware an iMac had one. What's it for and how much would it cost to replace it?

[seanc]

All Macs have some type of battery or capacitor in them to store the clock settings etc. I'm not sure how much they cost but you should be able to get one from Radio Shack.

[imitchellg5]

I have seen some brand new ones for $5.00 before.

[Apollo_Racer]

So a PRAM battery would take care of this? I mean, we hit the power switch, the iMac turns on for less than a second, then turns off again. Doesn't give anything time to boot up.

[seanc]

The PRAM battery contains the things the mac uses to boot (and power up). The PRAM battery may not definitely be the problem, but it's a good start.

[keekeeree]

Do you get a chime?

[Apollo_Racer]

No, we don't even get a chime. It's that pathetic.

[Apollo_Racer]

I replaced the PRAM battery, made sure it was in correctly, then tried turning the computer on again. No such luck. I'm starting to get frustrated with this. What else could be causing this problem?

[seanc]

There's a reset button inside somewhere, try pressing that. Once.


If it still doesn't work, take out the new pram battery and leave the iMac unplugged overnight, then put the pram battery back in and try starting it up again.