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ninja007 · Oct 1, 2006, 06:15 PM

Hello All:

I recently pickup an iMac G3 (266 mHz) and noticed the following:

1. I did not have a hard disk. ( i installed a 20 GB IDE)

2. It only has 32 MB RAM.

3. It did not have a backup battery installed.

4. No keyboard or mouse

When I plug it in and press the power button the following happenes,

the disk drive starts spinning,

the lights turns from amber to green,

then about 5 - 10 seconds later the unit powers off.

The monitor does not display anything.

Can someone please let me know, based on the information provided,
what the possible situation with this unit could be?

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.....

--
Jorge

jamil5454 · Oct 1, 2006, 06:38 PM

It could be a number of things, but most likely either the power supply or logic board.

JKT · Oct 1, 2006, 06:49 PM

Without a functioning PRAM battery those Macs will not start up. You need to replace the PRAM battery.

iMacfan · Oct 2, 2006, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by JKT

Without a functioning PRAM battery those Macs will not start up. You need to replace the PRAM battery.

I don't think that is correct, because I have a bondi iMac whose PRAM battery has run down. I've left the battery in, but every time I start up after having it unplugged, it resets the clock. Otherwise, everything works fine apart from the odd complaint of wierd dates.

David

JKT · Oct 2, 2006, 01:54 PM

My bad, but I recall someone else having the same issue fairly recently which was due to a flat PRAM battery... maybe I just didn't remember correctly. However, as it only costs less than or around $10 to replace, I would start there as its the cheapest option

Dave B · Oct 2, 2006, 04:17 PM

Before you spend $12 on a new PRAM battery, keep in mind that that's more than what the machine is worth.
The machine should start-up with a dead PRAM battery, or even an empty slot.
Are you hearing a chime when you try to start it? Also, what operating sytem is on the
hard drive you put in? Note that Panther won't boot with less than 128 MB RAM,
and Tiger needs 256. However, if you have OS 9.2 (or lower) on the drive, it should eventually
boot. Try reseting the PMU by zapping the PRAM; hold down the Option Command P and R keys
while pressing on the power button. If that doesn't work try removing the RAM and testing
with RAM that is known to be good.

JKT · Oct 2, 2006, 05:17 PM

I was assuming that the OP didn't install any OS on the hard drive as they couldn't get the machine to start...

Also, as the machine doesn't have a PRAM battery in it, would zapping the PRAM do much? It'll have been reset anyway...

P.S. I knew something similar to this had been brought up before - perhaps this thread could help - you'll need to read the entire thing. It's possible that "the flyback transformer is fried"

ninja007 · Oct 3, 2006, 01:05 PM

In reference to this issue.

I have since done the following:

Plugged in an actual apple imac keyboard and mouse.

Also I have installed a PRAM battery of the correct type.

Still the same problems.

It seems to boot up, BUT, I head the hard drive spinn,
I see the amber light turn to green, then I heard the familiar
sound of when a computer monitor powers up, then
everything turns off.

If I try to restart the imac, nothing.

I then unplug the power cable from the wall, wait 5 - 10 seconds
and try it again.....SAME RESULTS.

Any more suggestions????

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out, IT REALLY IS APPRECIATED !!!!

--
Jorge

jamil5454 · Oct 3, 2006, 01:39 PM

I say it's the power supply. You might be able to further diagnose the problem with a multimeter.

Big Mac · Oct 3, 2006, 01:42 PM

If there's no chime, that means there's a good chance it's not making it through POST; if that's the case there's not much you can do with it. It's dead, Johnny.

JKT · Oct 3, 2006, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by ninja007

Any more suggestions????

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out, IT REALLY IS APPRECIATED !!!!

--
Jorge

Read the thread I linked to in my last post. It is possibly the flyback transformer for the monitor.

ninja007 · Oct 8, 2006, 07:13 AM

Ok here is the latest on my iMac project.

I was able to obtain 2 other iMacs really cheap.

One functioning, one not.

The one that is not functioning does have a working monitor so
I moved the whole logic board,hard disk, cd assemble from the
original iMac and inserted it in this new iMac and IT BOOTS.

Now I know that the logic board, hard disk, and CD work.

What could the problem be with the original iMac that keeps it
from functioning???

Also since I'm on a roll...

I tried to upgrade from the original 6gb hard disk to a 20 gb,

The formatting went well, I partioned it into 2 partitions,
the first one 8 gb, the second 12 gb.

Now here is the problem, The iMac will boot and install from the
installation CD, OS 9, but once everything is done and I try to boot
without the CD, I get this Mac icon and ?, and it will just stay there.

Now I do know from reading your posts here that, that means that
the iMac can not find the system software, so I did the following:

1. I did verify that the system folder is located on the main partition.

2. I did verify that the selection for "Startup disk" is selected to this first partition.

But still when I boot, I get the Mac icon and ?

Any suggestions to my two questions??

Thank all again for your input, it had been helpfull!!!

--
Jorge

Dave B · Oct 8, 2006, 04:58 PM

I assume the Mac is a tray-loader, since those are the ones that need an 8 GB or smaller boot-partition.
Reading the many reports in the Drive Upgrade Database at 8LR8yourmac.com, it seems that
the partition needs to be slightly less than 8 GB - even just a few MB. This is how I did it.

Since nothing else was changed other than the bigger HD, this would be my best guess.

P · Oct 9, 2006, 09:07 AM

Clarification: Yes, the boot partition needs to be below 8 gigs (=8192 megs). You can then make a second partition of the rest of the space and store other stuff on. Don't know why it isn't working for you.

ninja007 · Oct 9, 2006, 06:19 PM

Hello All:

Just to clairify.

The primary partition is exactly 7.89 GB in size.

So if I understand it correctly this should be ok.

Also I am installing OS 9.2

Any more suggestions, would be appreciated.

Thank you....

--
Jorge

P · Oct 10, 2006, 10:47 AM

Are you really installing 9.2 (as in 9.2.0), or are you just saying 9.2 and really meaning 9.2.1 or 9.2.2? Because 9.2 is a special version that was delivered with some Macs (PowerMac G4 Quicksilver, at least - maybe some others) that is not compatible with older Macs, including that iMac. Of the OS 9 versions, the ones that are compatible with all Macs are 9.0, 9.0.4, 9.1, 9.2.1 and 9.2.2.

ninja007 · Oct 10, 2006, 04:18 PM

Hello All:

I stand corrected.

The version that I was trying to install from a CD is OS version Z1-9.0

Thank you...

--
Jorge

P · Oct 11, 2006, 09:47 AM

International version (that's what the Z means), but it should work. Is it a store bought disc or one that came with a computer? It could be a 9.0.1, 9.0.2 or 9.0.3 disc that came with some computer, and they do not support your older iMac.