iMac G3 won't turn on after hard drive and ram swap

[AlexDemoted]

Title basically explains it all. I just swapped out the 32MB ram stick for 2 512 sticks and swapped the 20GB hard drive for a 120. When I go to turn on the mac it doesn't do the start "chime" I'm guessing it has something to do with the hard drive maybe needing formatting or something of that nature? What do I do? I just get a black screen. Maybe there's some keyboard prompts or something?

***Also, I first maybe thought the crt monitor went out from being upside down for a week in pieces on my kitchen table but I hooked up and external monitor since in has a monitor out connection and still nothing.

 

[MechaSpanky]

Alex,

Did you install a copy of OS X on the new 120 GB hard drive before you swapped it out for the original 20 GB one? I'm guessing that you did put a bootable system on the new hard drive prior to installing it into your iMac. A Mac can't operate without a bootable system installed on the hard drive (unless you are booting from a CD, DVD, or some other external drive).

Have you tried booting from a CD or DVD? You didn't say but I'm assuming that you are using Tiger (OS 10.4 or before), as Tiger is the last version of OS X that officially supports a G3? Tiger came as a DVD but you could get a CD version of it if you specially ordered it. Previous versions of OS X came on CD.

If the RAM is bad, usually a Mac will beep three times and then do nothing or the screen will go gray (this indicates unseated RAM or bad RAM).

Best of luck,
MechaSpanky

 

[AlexDemoted]

Alex,

Did you install a copy of OS X on the new 120 GB hard drive before you swapped it out for the original 20 GB one? I'm guessing that you did put a bootable system on the new hard drive prior to installing it into your iMac. A Mac can't operate without a bootable system installed on the hard drive (unless you are booting from a CD, DVD, or some other external drive).

Have you tried booting from a CD or DVD? You didn't say but I'm assuming that you are using Tiger (OS 10.4 or before), as Tiger is the last version of OS X that officially supports a G3? Tiger came as a DVD but you could get a CD version of it if you specially ordered it. Previous versions of OS X came on CD.

If the RAM is bad, usually a Mac will beep three times and then do nothing or the screen will go gray (this indicates unseated RAM or bad RAM).

Best of luck,
MechaSpanky

Oh ok. No I didn't install anything on the hard drive. I just got it in the mail and put it right in. Ok, thanks! Sorry I'm such a noob. Haha. I guess I'll just YouTube how to install an OS on the hard drive prior to installation.

 

[MechaSpanky]

If you have a OS X install disk, you should be able to boot from the disk. Put the disk in the iMac, then turn it on and hold down the "C" key and it should boot from the disk.

From there, you can then install a fresh OS X system and then you will be up and going.

Best of luck!

 

[AlexDemoted]

If you have a OS X install disk, you should be able to boot from the disk. Put the disk in the iMac, then turn it on and hold down the "C" key and it should boot from the disk.

From there, you can then install a fresh OS X system and then you will be up and going.

Best of luck!

Awesome! Thank you MechaSpanky!