1998 iMac G3 Bondi No Chime after RAM/HDD/Battery Upgrades

[gocarlo]

Hey there. I've had this iMac G3 is perfect working order since it arrived in August of 1998. I've kept it running since then - boot it up a few times a year and keep it in a temp controlled space in my home. I've made minor upgrades to RAM and VRAM in the 20+ years since then. Machine works beautifully still. This weekend I installed some upgrades that just arrived from OWC: New PRAM battery, two sticks of 256MB RAM, and the OWC Legacy SSD. Installing the hardware was easy. But now the machine doesn't make the startup chime, and won't boot. It just sits there w/ light on, fan running, CD-ROM drive makes a little noise, but not like it's booting. 

Here's what happens when I hit the power switch:

• Never makes this startup chime.
  
• The light comes on in the power switch.
  
• The fan starts running.
  
• I hear the monitor power on (but no signal, stays dark)
  
• I hear the CD-ROM drive come alive (sounds like it spins a little, but not spinning like it would if it was booting from CD)
  
• Because its an SSD, no HD noises, as expected
  

I've read the tech manual for this iMac, and have tried:

• Pressing the CUDA button
  
• Resetting the logic board
  
• Resetting the RAM
  
• Putting the original memory back inside.
  
• Installing a backup processor card I have.
  
• Re-inserted all the internal connectors
  
• Connected an old 14" Apple Multiple Scan external display to see if it was a display issue.
  

The iMac still turns on without a chime, blank screen, fan running, power button light is on. I can see the little light on the logic board is on too. 

Any thoughts on what I might've missed? Thanks!

 

[gocarlo]

OK, I popped the original hard drive back in, and everything is working just fine now! Any ideas why the 120GB OWC Mercury Pro Legacy 3.5-inch IDE/ATA Solid-State Drive Kit would be a problem?

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMXLE120/

 

[waynestewart]

There's probably a jumper for cable select/master/slave. If so, try setting it to Master

 

[gocarlo]

There's probably a jumper for cable select/master/slave. If so, try setting it to Master

Indeed! I have it set to master, and the drive is been partitioned so that the first partition is 6GB and has Mac OS 9 already installed. Maybe I should try with some other jumper settings.

 

[gocarlo]

Indeed! I have it set to master, and the drive is been partitioned so that the first partition is 6GB and has Mac OS 9 already installed. Maybe I should try with some other jumper settings.

Switching to Cable Select enabled me to boot to an OS 9 CD and I could see the SSD partitions on the desktop. Installed OS 9 on the first partition, but the iMac refuses to boot from the SSD. Flashing folder w question mark - until a CD is inserted. Drives show up On desktop sometimes, not always.

 

[LaPorta]

Were the disk drivers installed? What file system is the drive formatted as? Unless it is Apple Partition Map, you won’t be able to start a PPC based Mac off it. Usually today they will be formatted with GUID partition used by intel Macs.

 

[gocarlo]

Were the disk drivers installed? What file system is the drive formatted as? Unless it is Apple Partition Map, you won’t be able to start a PPC based Mac off it. Usually today they will be formatted with GUID partition used by intel Macs.

I used an iMac G4 running Mac OS 9 to partition the drive and format it as Mac OS Extended. Mac OS 9 drivers were installed when I ran the OS 9.2.2 CD installer.

 

[LaPorta]

You can format the partition as Mac OS Extended, yes, but that does not change the partition mapping scheme. That is lower level. To be thorough, I’d hook it up to that G4 and (assuming it has it), start on Mac OS X and use Disk Utility to check the partition mapping scheme. That will tell you for sure.

 

[gocarlo]

You can format the partition as Mac OS Extended, yes, but that does not change the partition mapping scheme. That is lower level. To be thorough, I’d hook it up to that G4 and (assuming it has it), start on Mac OS X and use Disk Utility to check the partition mapping scheme. That will tell you for sure.

I used Drive Setup on Mac OS 9 to create the partition mapping scheme, and it was created as Mac OS Extended. I wanted to be certain the drive was completely configured using period-correct tools knowing that out-of-the-box it wouldn't be configured with vintage machines in mind.

 

[LaPorta]

The drive appears as a valid device in the Startup Disk control panel?

 

[gocarlo]

The drive appears as a valid device in the Startup Disk control panel?

It sure does! But when I reboot it gives me the flashing question mark icon. If I pop in a bootable OS 9 disk, it boots from that instead.

 

[waynestewart]

Check that it also has an Apple Partition Map. You can have Mac OS extended format on a disk with Master Boot Record or GUID partition map. I did that a couple of times and was able to install an OS but ran into issues at boot time

 

[gocarlo]

Thank you for confirming. Disk Utility reports that it is formatted in the Apple Partition Map scheme.

 

[LaPorta]

Yes that was exactly what I said before, I’m glad you rules it out.