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iMac G3 not booting

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Original Message
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 18, 2003 at 12:24:58 Pacific
Subject: iMac G3 not booting
OS: OS 9
CPU/Ram: 400/64
Comment:

I have an older blue and white iMac G3 that will
not boot.. it chimes, and seems like it is going to
load, but never shows anything on the display. I
hooked it up to a VGA but still nothing.

I did however turn the power on today and after
the apple chime, it gave 3 short low pitched
beeps.. some kind of code i am guessing... any
idea what that code means or what my problem
might be?


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Response Number 1
Name: Kerry
Date: March 18, 2003 at 13:55:59 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

There may be a couple problems, depending on the age.

Number one, the motherboard PRAM battery may be dead. Replacing this may not be for the faint of heart, but not impossible.

However, if you are opening your case, take your hard drive out and look at the bottom. There may be a chip that is fried -- blown-up -- on one corner. I have seen this several times and it totally keeps the computer from working at all.

Also, you may have a bad BIOS. This is rare, and may only be fixable by an apple tech. It is also hard to diagnose, so I wouldn't jump to this conclusion unless ALL ELSE fails.

K


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Response Number 2
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 19, 2003 at 09:51:43 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

ok I THINK that the problem is the video board,
but I need to know of a place to buy a
replacement CHEAP and also if someone could
point me to some kind of instructions or diagrams
to take apart the imac, that would help a LOT...
thanks in advance


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Response Number 3
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 19, 2003 at 12:27:37 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

added bit of info that might help someone help me

when i plug it in and turn it on, it does not chime...
when i then hold down cmd-option-p-r and do a
hard reset it DOES chime every time its reset
thereafter (still does not bring anything on screen
or on external vga) unless it is unplugged...
following the chime on reset though, the green
power light comes on for a few seconds, then
turns yellow for 2 seconds, then blinks yellow 3
times, then turns green again.. this repeats until
the imac is turned off....

any idea what the blinking means?

thanks again


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Response Number 4
Name: the pickle
Date: March 19, 2003 at 17:57:48 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

Grab the service manual from google (hint: search for "gamba") and see if that flashing pattern is listed as a diagnostic code.

p


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Response Number 5
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 19, 2003 at 20:15:56 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

Thanks pickle... this should help me figure out the
problem...



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Response Number 6
Name: the pickle
Date: March 19, 2003 at 20:28:25 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

BTW, if it is the video board (by which I hope you mean the power/analogue board), a TV repair shop may be able to fix it cheaper than Apple will. If it's the video *card*, which is part of the mobo, you'll need a new mobo.

p


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Response Number 7
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 20, 2003 at 06:46:39 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

yeah i think it might be the card on the mb now
that i think about it.. since the vga output also
does not work and that is on the motherboard...
time to look for a new logic board on ebay or
something :)


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Response Number 8
Name: McHoffa
Date: March 20, 2003 at 08:38:19 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

Well i did some testing, and found there was not a
full 5+ voltage on the logic board on J9, which
according to the manual means the analog/video/
power board is bad

also found a place to buy the part...
preowned.com... $129 and they said they have
so far had 10,000 of this product sold by them
over the years


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Response Number 9
Name: the pickle
Date: March 20, 2003 at 16:12:58 Pacific
Reply: (edit)

Yep. Doesn't surprise me. The early iMacs are starting to drop like flies.

p


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