The lights are on but nobodys home.

[rackconfig]

Hi,

I have an iMac 350 and it has a weird problem.

When you turn it on the power light comes on, you get the little chime and after that nothing.

Is this something that anyone else has ever come across? And if so please could you point me in the right direction to fixing it.

(I am very new to Apple Macs so please use little words!).

Thankyou in advance


Martin.

 

[Mblazened]

Had you just upgraded to jaguar recently?

 

[rackconfig]

Hi,

No I have'nt done anything to the box at all. (I wouldnt know how to).

I've seen some messages about the PMU and the PRAM, would this be a possible reason? If so how do I go about finding them?

Thanks


Martin.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Could be the hard drive, or even logic board....

But you could try resetting the PRAM.
You can do this by turning on the Mac while pressing (and holding) the following keys:
<COMMAND> + <OPTION> + P + R
You should hear the startup chime 3 (or more) times. Then release, and hope it will boot.

 

[pseudobrit]

Could be bad RAM.

 

[Nermal]

Can you hear the hard drive running after the chime?

Also, try holding Cmd-Option-O-F when you boot up, see if you get a screen full of text.

 

[arogge]

Run the Apple Hardware Test CD and see if any error codes are reported. I had this happen too, and it was the ATI video RAM from Elbonia that broke. I called AppleCare and the PowerBook was fixed and back to me within a week. Have you noticed any other problems with this iMac like Fawlty graphics?

 

[mkaake]

those early imacs were notorious for dead (i wanna say apv) boards... which controls the monitor output. if resetting the pram doesn't do the trick (read the thingy above, let it reset at least 3 times is the general rule of thumb), then there's a good chance it's something not worth fixing...

matt

 

[rackconfig]

Theres no RAM!

Bearing in mind that I have only had this Mac for 2 days, I have gone through the forums to find ideas on how to fix the problem.

So, I took the lid of and there is no RAM in the slots.

The company that i bought it from (for only £35) said they bought it in an office clearence so the only testing they have done is turning it on and thats it, so there is the possibility I guess that this is the reason nothing happened.

The fans come on, the HDD spins up, but there is no POST screen (I dont know if there is one on Macs), so, is this the likely reason why nothing appears on the screen?

I know this makes me sound like an idiot, but I really dont know the way of the Mac - yet.

My next question is, can I use PC Memory or is it Mac specific?

 

[neut]

check crucial for your memory type, but to answer your question, yes; pc and mac ram are compatible if you match the specs correctly.

good luck yo!


peace.

 

[manitoubalck]

Re: The lights are on but nobodys home.

Originally posted by rackconfig
When you turn it on the power light comes on, you get the little chime and after that nothing.

I have the same problem with the LC 475 I keep in the Shed. I ust swith it off and on again and, bingo it works. I don't know why it just does, try that,

however no that I've read the rest of the thresd, BUY RAM, find the most budget, backdoor, likely to go brock PC store and pay cash.

 

[rackconfig]

Hurrah! But now the next silly question.

Well everyone, I pinched the memory out of one of my PC's and it it booted fine!

Now the screen is a little dark, and little blurry, is there a Tuning setting on the outside of the box (I noticed when i took it all apart in the living room a few hours ago there was a couple of tuning looking dials inside).

Thanks everso much for all your help, you have all been brilliant.

 

[pseudobrit]

Holy **** I got one right on the first guess.

AFAIK, the monitor settings are controlled only in software.
I know on my old Bondi iMac (original 233 Rev. !) that the screen is noticeably duller and darker than on my newer 500 MHz iMac. It's something I've come to accept as part of keeping a classic (though still young for a Mac at the tender age of 5) iMac running.

 

[rackconfig]

Yay You!!

Well done. Right I now I have a new question ("Oh God!" I hear you all sigh).


Swithing it on I get the little apple and its all blurry, then it comes up the MaxOSX screen, and thats blurry, then to the desktop, and thats all blurry.

But

If I switch it on, Command-Option-P-R The screen switches off and stays off. The disks still all come up, the light stays green.
If I leave it a few minutes, and hit the power button, the light goes to flashing amber, and then hit it again it goes to green and hey presto the screen comes on and the desktop is as clear as a bell.

This is very consistent, to a point where now when I switch it on I have to go through this process just to get a clear desktop.

Has anyone ever heard of this? And if so any ideas how to resolve it?

 

[Stike]

What kind of blur in on the screen... is it maybe over-bright, almost as you would see everything through white glass?
I had this issue with my old iMac 400 (same series) once. I think it was an issue with the power supply. I don´t really know, but it helped (!) to try playing around with the power connector at the iMacs back and its power button.
I sold that machine in the meanwhile, strange enough the error has never occured since then.

The amber pulsating light is normal, this is "sleep mode". The computer and the screen are virtually off, only the RAM is kept alive. You can compare it to standby mode of many electronic devices. Press any key to wake the Mac up again.

 

[rackconfig]

Hi,

I checked the brightness and I dont think its that.

The blur makes the the screen quite dark and all pictures and icons have a dark shadow on the right hand side of them.

What I will do is see if i can take a picture of it and post it (around 12.30 UK Time).



Martin.

 

[Nermal]

Turn it off, hold Cmd-Opt-O-F while you turn it back on. You should get a prompt that says ok>

Type:

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

The system will restart. Immediately upon hearing the chime (but not before), hold Shift. Release it when you get the spinner thingy. Hopefully the picture will be clear, let us know whether it works or not

 

[rackconfig]

Hi

I have just tried your idea and unfortunately their is no difference, when the box starts up there is still a blank screen.

Interestingly, the command prompt where i typed those commands was also all blurry - I tried taking picures but they wouldnt come out clear enough to show the problem.


Thanks for having a go though.


Martin.