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Help with B&W PMG3

bigfatipod

bigfatipod

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 22, 2011
360
190
I have a rev1 B&W PMG3 that I haven’t used in a few years. I needed access to ZIP disks (!) and tried to power it up. Immediately concerning, I did not hear a start up chime. Even worse, I nothing appeared on two different monitors after waiting for 5-10 minutes.

I do hear the fans spinning, the hard drive moving (sounds normal/good), and have tried zap’ing the pram. When I attempt to boot from CD (tried 10.2 and OS 9), I can hear the CD going but experience the same issues otherwise.

I’m wondering if it could be the graphics card.

Appreciate any suggestions anyone can offer - especially the ones where I don’t have to buy anything :)

Thanks
 
When starting your mac, try pressing these keys on your keyboard at the same time...
"Option" + "Command" + "P" + "R"
When you hear the tone for a third time (yes, i go for three tones), then press these keys...
"Option" + "Command" + "O" + "F"

This will now bring you into the Open Firmware screen.
After is says ok, type these in exactly as shown...

reset-nvram
"press the enter key"
set-defaults
"press the enter key"
reset-all
"press the enter key again" and hopefully your mac should boot properly
 
reddrag0n said:
When starting your mac, try pressing these keys on your keyboard at the same time...
"Option" + "Command" + "P" + "R"
When you hear the tone for a third time (yes, i go for three tones), then press these keys...
"Option" + "Command" + "O" + "F"

This will now bring you into the Open Firmware screen.
After is says ok, type these in exactly as shown...

reset-nvram
"press the enter key"
set-defaults
"press the enter key"
reset-all
"press the enter key again" and hopefully your mac should boot properly
Click to expand...

He can't see anything being displayed, so Open Firmware isn't a good idea. Start with the PRAM reset though.
 
B&W G3's sometimes refuse to boot without a working PRAM battery. They're one of the few Macs that do this.
 
Well, I don't have a brand new 3.6v battery but I did remember I had one in an old PM G5. I put it in the G3 and zapped pram several times, but that did not see to make any difference - and still no chime.

I can try swinging over to Radio Shack today for a new battery. Is there anything else I might be able to do without having extra g3 parts on hand?
 
Its alive!

I took out the video cards and all the ram chips and cleaned them up a bit and reseated. Zapped pram a few more times, and it came up! 10.4!

Thanks everyone!
 
No I did not replace the battery. I swapped it in/out several times and hit the 'reset' button near it, as well. I also started it without it, as was suggested on an older post.
Not sure what exactly cleared it up.
 
Well, I am very excited to have the G3 boot up - but, I am now experiencing a small problem.
I inserted an IBM formatted disk into the internal ZIP drive. However, its not mounting and I don't see a way to eject it. I tried the mouse on boot with no luck. Disk Utility is not showing the disk. I did not see any physical eject button, either. The System Profiler does show the ZIP drive itself as being recognized.

Any ideas on how to eject it?
 
bigfatipod said:
Well, I am very excited to have the G3 boot up - but, I am now experiencing a small problem.
I inserted an IBM formatted disk into the internal ZIP drive. However, its not mounting and I don't see a way to eject it. I tried the mouse on boot with no luck. Disk Utility is not showing the disk. I did not see any physical eject button, either. The System Profiler does show the ZIP drive itself as being recognized.

Any ideas on how to eject it?
Click to expand...

Start while holding the Left Mouse button, or only mouse button if using an Apple mouse. Alternatively, if you open the machine, there is an eject hole on the front of the ZIP drive.
 
I had no idea the front blue section came off like that, thanks!

I did find Oregon Trail on one of the Zips.
 
The mouse didn't work for me. Had it plugged into the tower itself (versus the keyboard). It wasn't an Apple mouse. It had two ears, but I tried all combinations during start up. It was USB. I resorted to physically taking off the front panels - which was much easier that I realized.

Left it plugged in last night, so it scared the heck out of me when it auto booted at 4am this morning from an old boot schedule!
 
bigfatipod said:
The mouse didn't work for me. Had it plugged into the tower itself (versus the keyboard). It wasn't an Apple mouse. It had two ears, but I tried all combinations during start up. It was USB. I resorted to physically taking off the front panels - which was much easier that I realized.



Left it plugged in last night, so it scared the heck out of me when it auto booted at 4am this morning from an old boot schedule!
Click to expand...


Certainly wakes you up when it chimes.
 
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