Imac Firmware installation crash - help!!

[voycie]

Hi folks, Im stuck wonder if anyone can help.

I have a very early bondi blue G3 powermac, tray loading front.

It had system 8.6 - i wanted to upgrade it to 9.x but in the process I was asked to upgrade the firmware. The Imac crashed during the firmware update. I now am unable to do anything with the imac-

-it wont chime/start up
-the hard-disk does not boot up
-the screen doesnt power up/do anything
-no combination of keys or use of developer buttons fixes it

it does however have power:
-have a red LED light at front
-the fan is turning

I have taken out the harddisk and reinstalled a clean copy of 8.6. This didnt help.

I have also pressed the CUDA reset switch on the motherboard. This didnt help.

I have removed/replaced the Imacs battery, and tried another battery.

Does anyone know is there a way of resetting the Firmware contents? Is there a way of salvaging the motherboard, or is it unfixable and therefore needs replacing?

Tearing my hair out trying to figure out where to go from here, so any advice greatly recieved.

Cheers
Richard

 

[robbieduncan]

Crashes during firmware updates tend to spell the end of whatever device was being updated. I imagine the logic board is now basically useless although I hope someone else can prove me wrong

 

[voycie]

damn thats what I thought...and no doubt a new motherboard is going to make the IMac beyond economical repair? Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[applemacdude]

Put a paper clip into the programmers button( the one near the reset button) and turn on the computer and hold the paper clip in the button. do with reset button too. i thin this resets the firmware i dont know tough

 

[Sun Baked]

I think you have to replace the CPU module on the bondi iMac, we had a firmware update kill one on the first couple gen iMacs -- and it was diagnosed with a dead CPU module.

Basically the bootROM is probably fragged/corrupted on the CPU module, due to the failed firmware update.

 

[applemacdude]

I could sell you one for 20 bucks obo if you want one....

 

[voycie]

thanks for the replies guys - I've tried every developer trick to bring it back to life - I think it probably is fried! For 20 bucks I'd gladly take you up on the offer - though I'm in England - would you consider posting it out? cheers.

 

[applemacdude]

OK you pay for shipping + handeling emai lme @ accrcboy@aol.com