Need advice on iMac G3 troubles

[zhyla]

Ok, so I snagged a Bondi Blue iMac G3, the "B" version (6 MB VRAM -- woot!) at a garage sale yesterday for $5. Brought it home, fired it up, OS9.1 boots up fine. It's got 160 MB of RAM.

I should at this point mention that I've never used a PPC Mac before. I've got a Mac Mini and other than dropping in new RAM I really know nothing about Mac's in general. Which is why I'm here.

Today I got the bright idea to drop in a different hard disk with the idea of installing Ubuntu on it to play around with, or possibly OS X 10.3. Couldn't seem to get any of the old drives I had lying around to work (not terribly surprising) so I finally put the original 4 GB drive back in and now it boots up but the screen never comes on. I hear sounds and caps lock works and the hard disk whirs and clicks, but no screen. But sometimes it turns on and nothing happens at all. In either case the power light stays orange.

I did press the CUDA reset button on the mainboard a few times while I had it open. I did this with the power off, dunno if that does anything. And also I should mention that the internal battery probably isn't working, it wasn't holding date/time across a reboot back when it was working.

This is all a big bummer cause I got it for my 2 year old to play with and she's in love with it. I should have just left it alone.

TL;DR: it used to work, I pulled the HD out and put it back in and now the screen won't turn on and the power light stays orange.

 

[tom vilsack]

-when you used other harddrives could you boot comp to try and install osx? (osx on these has to install in first 8 gig..so you must partition first aprtition below 8 gigs and place osx on that partition)

-have you tryed this? "Open the cover on the side of your computer and locate the Reset hole (it’s the upper hole on the right side, between the Ethernet and modem ports). Carefully insert the end
of a large straightened paper clip into the hole and push gently. Do not use excessive force. Your computer should restart.
m If neither of the above suggestions work, unplug your computer. Wait at least 30 seconds,
then reconnect the power plug and turn your computer on by pressing the power
button (¨) on your Apple USB keyboard or on the front of the computer."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2581100?start=0&tstart=0

=have you tryed resetting the pram? before startup chime hold down command+option+P+R and release after second chime

 

[zhyla]

-when you used other harddrives could you boot comp to try and install osx? (osx on these has to install in first 8 gig..so you must partition first aprtition below 8 gigs and place osx on that partition)

I haven't tried installing OSX (don't have a disk for it), I was trying Ubuntu PPC (Linux) because it was available. But yeah I'd seen the 8 GB partition thing somewhere.

-have you tryed this? "Open the cover on the side of your computer and locate the Reset hole (it’s the upper hole on the right side, between the Ethernet and modem ports). Carefully insert the end of a large straightened paper clip into the hole and push gently. Do not use excessive force. Your computer should restart.

This does work (it restarts) but doesn't help the screen turn on.

=have you tryed resetting the pram? before startup chime hold down command+option+P+R and release after second chime

Just tried that... I don't hear a 2nd beep. Odd?

 

[tom vilsack]

your holding down till you try and hear second beep?

im thinking something maybe messed up with video when you took apart to try and install new harddrives....try this next

boot up holding down command-option-O-F if you get prompt type reset-nvram and hit return, then type reset-all and hit return again; then type mac-boot and hit return to restart

btw: when you took apart you didn't mistake video ram for mem did you? or knock lose somehow?

this shows what i mean

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iMac-G3-Model-M4984-Video-Ram/1565/1

 

[zhyla]

your holding down till you try and hear second beep?

Yes. The 2nd beep never happens. Well... I guess I only held it down for 60 seconds. How long should I wait?

boot up holding down command-option-O-F if you get prompt type reset-nvram and hit return, then type reset-all and hit return again; then type mac-boot and hit return to restart

Nothing happens.

btw: when you took apart you didn't mistake video ram for mem did you? or knock lose somehow?

I did remove the VRAM DIMM just to look at it and then reseated it. I really doubt I damaged it. It should function with just the 2MB onboard VRAM right? I guess I could remove that and see if it works.

My suspicion is the screen is physically not on. Is there a cable that can be knocked loose that controls/powers the screen? I looked around in there at the connecting cable assemblies, nothing looked loose.

BTW I really appreciate the help.

 

[MacinDan]

When the video board burned out on my mom's bondi blue iMac, she had the same thing happen -- power light staying orange, no video. So I'd say either the video board burned out or the video cable(s) weren't reconnected properly when you put the hard drive in.

 

[reddrag0n]

When i had a rev A 233, i had the same issue when i added the 4 MB video stick. This page might shed some light on your issue of things not powering up.

It's more so near the bottom of the page.

 

[zhyla]

So I'm pretty sure all the connectors are being plugged back in correctly. I've pulled the VRAM DIMM, the HD, and the CDROM and it still comes up in the same state.

I'm pretty sure the internal battery is 100% dead. It occurs to me that pressing the CUDA reset button does nothing when there is no power source. Do I need a working battery for this computer to function? Where do I find one of those? I think it says 3.6V lithium.

If that's not it I think this thing has hit the end of the road. Where do these go to die? Craiglist for spare parts?

 

[tom vilsack]

as macindan..normally i would say ya your video board died...but as it was working before you pulled apart...im guessing you knocked something lose ect when you put back togeather....

btw: you need vram mem in place to boot...try reseating

im guessing you used http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_G3_Model_M4984

take your time and pull it apart again...then put back togeather via the above link...