iMac G3… What is Happening?

[LogRawr]

Hi all, picked up my first G3 (my first Mac ever, to be honest) recently to take on the challenge of possibly repairing it. It is a late 1999 tray loader.

The first time I plugged it in, it made the startup sound then shut off. After some research, I figured it must be the PRAM. I replaced the battery today, same result. After doing further research (and my own troubleshooting), I have come to find the following:

- The power button light is orange.
- The fan does engage.
- The old PRAM battery has not leaked at all. It was deader than dead, but no leakage.
- No key combos or CUDA switch has led to success.
- If the VGA is unplugged, it actually runs, but if I plug it in while running, it does not detect display. Light is still orange.
- If I shut it off, plug the VGA back in and restart, same result as before; starts, chimes, shuts off.

I’ve been trying to dig up as much info as I can about this, with not much luck. I’ve noticed that this seems somewhat consistent with a flyback transformer, which seem impossible to get. However, I am not 100% confident about this diagnosis. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[oldappledoc]

Hi LogRawr,
there´s no fan in my iMac G3 trayloader (a blue One). Orange Power Button means "Sleep Mode". Try to wake him up by the power button on the keyboard. Reset PRAM (Start with Cmd+Option+P+R keys down). Does the internal HD spin up?
Regards from Germany
appledoc

 

[Nermal]

there´s no fan in my iMac G3 trayloader (a blue One).

Original ones didn't have a fan, but newer ones did.

 

[LogRawr]

Hi LogRawr,
there´s no fan in my iMac G3 trayloader (a blue One). Orange Power Button means "Sleep Mode". Try to wake him up by the power button on the keyboard. Reset PRAM (Start with Cmd+Option+P+R keys down). Does the internal HD spin up?
Regards from Germany
appledoc

Thanks for the reply, this one does have a fan in between the board and the monitor. I have tried the PRAM reset combo to no avail. HDD sounds like it engages.