[wetstuff]

Needless to say .. a year's worth of accounting is in there. I got a new battery because the date keeps wanting to go back to 1957, but .. it's busy here. I started it this morning; typical Boing.. starts, etc. I came back to it maybe 20min later and it appeared to have put itself to sleep.. But, I cannot waken it. I switched the power cord .. tried another outlet .. ck'd the USP cord for the keyboard (has power button - as well as front of machine) .. No Go. Any thoughts? I could use the help. Thanks.

Jim

[wetstuff]

I went to Apple and found the manual for the G3 .. found the little LH Arrow that is a 'reset' button .. pressed this in (goes about 2mm) .. NADA? (While I was thinking about it, I replaced the battery. that went smoothly..)

But it's dead quiet.

Jim

[BLAZE_MkIV]

It's dead Jim.

(sorry couldn't resist)
Will it boot of of a CD? Is it still starting to boot? The reset button only works when it running. Pulling the power cord would do the same thing.
Last resort, pull the drive and pop it into an external ide->usb case.

[wetstuff]

... It logical - but tragic: es muerte. Nothing seems to get the chime to ring. I just put a WTB ad on Craigslist. I'll look into an ide-usb case also. Thanks Blaze.

Jim

[wetstuff]

Besides Craigslist.. I ordered a ide-to-usb 'kit' from NewEgg. Most of the 'cases' I saw had only usb power - this one comes with a PS.

Question: If I get this kit and it fires .. and I can attach the usb to one of my other iMacs .. what do I do about the fact that the G3 was running OS 9 ? If I remember correctly, you could mount 10 over 9 .. but can you add OS 9 under 10?

Jim

[indigoimac]

You *should* be fine mounting the drive under osx. You won't be able to boot, but to copy files off you should be fine.

[seanc]

[rant] You're running your accounts on a ~11 year old machine with no backups? You were asking for that one. [/rant]

If it has one, try unplugging the screen cable from the back (I believe it's the old Apple monitor style), it's tucked in near the optical drive.
As for recovery, the easiest way is just to pick up another CRT iMac and swap the hard drive into it.

I'd suggest that before doing that, pick up a new IDE HDD, as small as possible since it won't address past 128GB anyway, and copy the entire contents of the existing hard drive over to it, you'll have to fiddle around with an 8GB partition at the beginning of the drive, if you ever want to actually boot from it.

Someone with more OS 9/older G3 Mac knowledge may be able to chime in here.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

1. Put the drive one the usb to ide adaper
2. plug it into another computer,
3a. copy everything off
3b. use disk utility to make an image of the drive.
4. put the drive back in the imac
5. recycle it.

[wetstuff]

seanc: Mea culpa .. you're right it was stoopid to trot along as if nothing could ever happen.. I got casual because I really only use it a couple of times a year. The accounting program was from '86 - MacMoney, perhaps the most simple acctg. program ever devised. Both my Intel and recent 27" have backup HDs w/Time Machine. It's actually easy to recreate the files, it's just the program died years ago and needs OS9. I'm still hopeful I can find another G3 (there are many on Craigslist 2-3hrs from me..) and simply do a transplant. As always, thanks for the help ...and warranted criticism. Stay warm over there Sean.

Jim

[Waragainstsleep]

The symptoms certainly sound like a power management issue. Did you try booting it without the battery installed? Did you hit reset after changing out the battery?

The tray load iMacs do indeed have an easy-to-disconnect internal monitor cable which is either DB-15 or VGA, I forget.

[wetstuff]

Wara____-p: It's started... I took the battery out: BOING! ...put batt. back in (checked polarity..) --it tuns on (power) but no chime. I'm going to see if I can reset the time/date without a battery.. (battery is new - old one gone..)


Jim

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by wetstuff 

The accounting program was from '86 - MacMoney, perhaps the most simple acctg. program ever devised.

Perhaps it's time to switch to a more modern app instead? Perhaps you can get two, three, four years more out of it, but why not switch before you absolutely have to switch?

I'm sure some members here can make suggestions. If you don't mind the iTunes-like interface, perhaps Money is worth a look. If you want something simpler, perhaps Koku is better-suited. Alternatively, you can have a look at Apple's Business & Finance category in its app store.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by wetstuff 

Wara____-p: It's started... I took the battery out: BOING! ...put batt. back in (checked polarity..) --it tuns on (power) but no chime. I'm going to see if I can reset the time/date without a battery.. (battery is new - old one gone..)


Jim

There you go. When these die, its usually the CRT. And that was much more of a problem on the slot loaders.

[wetstuff]

Well, with the new battery out - it starts/works. I just have to set the date. A) I hooked up a USB HD to copy the files, but it must not see it - maybe because it's also used to BU my Intel. running OS 10+..? I have another, old, dead Mac tower that was running OS9 so maybe I'll see if I can use this ide/usb adaptor to make its HD a BU for this G3... And then still look for another G3 to replace this one. I'll post more if something interesting occurs. I really appreciate the consideration youall provided.

Jim

... I went and looked at other accounting programs, but I can do a complete FY for my business in about 3 days with this. It makes the accountant roll his eyes compared to his other clients - but he works for me. I work to make things, not spreadsheets, etc. (funny story: I had a Maryland wage/labor compliance inspector in here a few years ago - he got to look at the G3. Why make his job easy, eh?!)

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by wetstuff 

... I went and looked at other accounting programs, but I can do a complete FY for my business in about 3 days with this.

And newer ones can't?

[wetstuff]

OC: I'm iobstinate, not stoopid. Of course they could-maybe? But, I have done this program since the late 80's. I can prerun it in my sleep. My accountant knows what to expect.. It works for me. I could give a rat's-ass, if it is made of cast iron vs. titanium.

Same with the G3.. I posting this on a 27" i5, but that dumpy little Star Wars helmet does (did) accounting jes' fine.

Jim

[Waragainstsleep]

Here is the exact procedure for resetting the logic board.

1. Unplug the computer.
2. Disconnect the cable that runs from the power supply to the power filter board on the bottom side of the logic board/mass storage chassis.
3. Press the Power On button on the front of the unit.
4. Remove the logic board/mass storage chassis from the unit.
5. Remove the battery from the logic board.
6. Wait at least 10 minutes before replacing the battery.
7. Make sure the battery is installed in the correct +/- direction.
8. Reassemble the computer and test the unit.
Note: This procedure resets the computer’s PRAM. Be sure to check the computer’s time/date and other system parameter settings afterwards.

If you still end up with a Mac which only boots with no PRAM battery, just point it at a network time server it will reset by itself every time it boots.

-War