[Madison]

Hi all,

My sister gave me her old G3 powerbook, I think it's the wall street or lombard version, whichever one does NOT have USB is the one I have. Anyway, when you power it up, nothing happens. I'm thinking the hard drive is gone (the power light comes on, but the screen stays dark, and there is no apparent disk activity). My buddy says that it should still boot to some sort of BIOS screen like Windows does, is this true? I was under the impression that without a startup disk, it could go no further. Although, I've tried putting a CD in the tray at holding down C when I try to start it up and have had zero luck there too.

Any help would be great, thanks.

Tom King

[ibook_steve]

That's a Wallstreet if it doesn't have USB. If the machine can't open a valid system on a disk, you'll get the flashing folder with a question mark. This is built in to the firmware (not BIOS; yucky PC term ;-) )Since you are not even getting that, this machine has other problems. Do you get a startup chime at least? Search Apple support for resetting the PMU and PRAM to see if that helps. Otherwise, there may be further issues that require repair.

Steve

[Madison]

No, no startup chime. As soon as I plug it in, the power light goes green, and I can hear what I assume is the cooling fan going full bore. That's all that happens. Oh well...

[Eriamjh]

No chime = bad

Start by making sure the CPU is properly seated. Then check that the charger is plugged in all the way. Without a chime, you can't do squat. You can't enter open firmware, you can't zap PRAM, nothing.

If all fails, sell it on ebay someone who can fix it.