DOA G3 MT

[quinterro]

I'm trying to get a Beige G3 MT to boot. Three sticks of RAM (PC100) has been added to it. When powered up there is no video. Everything else sounds OK.

Currently it has the A/V personality card, the three sticks of RAM, a 6.4GB IDE drive, a Panasonic 24x CD-ROM drive and a SCSI Zip drive. I'm not sure what revision the motherboard/ROM is.

 

[Dan 7.1]

tried removing ram and/or a different video card? it might also help to reset the pram, video or no.

 

[Christopher]

You could try to reset the nvram too.

 

[quinterro]

tried removing ram and/or a different video card? it might also help to reset the pram, video or no.

Currently it is using the built-in video. Somewhere I have a Mach64 PCI card that I can try.

 

[Dan 7.1]

you might also check to see if it has a VRAM expansion card, and whether or not thats properly aligned in its socket. possible its halfway out or something from shipping or however you got it.

 

[Unknown_K]

Try using a PCI card to see if it works. Beige G3 MTs have been known to get scrambled PRAM settings from people trying to install OSX onto them.

If that is the issue then it is easily fixable.

 

[Temetka]

Remove everything except 1 stick of RAM.

Work your way up from there.

 

[quinterro]

I tried one stick of RAM with the same results. I'll play around with it tomorrow morning when I have more spare time.

It would be nice to get it up and running. I'm trying to finish Redneck Rampage and it's a bit slow on my B/W G4. It requires a 200mhz processor, but I think OS X is slowing it down a fair amount. On my Dual G4/450 Sawtooth it runs OK but the videos are a little choppy.

 

[quinterro]

So far:

- Removed PRAM battery for a while, requiring the removal of the A/V card.

- Tried three different sticks of RAM. I know that at least one of them came from my Blue/White G4.

- Added the ATI Mach64 PCI video card.

Each time it powers on but the the video does not become active.

 

[iMac600]

Tried pressing the CUDA reset button on the motherboard? Can't remember exactly where it is but I think it may be alongside the PCI slots. I had a Beige G3 that did exactly the same thing, not even a PRAM reset did the trick, but the CUDA reset did.

I'm just throwing that out there as a suggestion. I can't tell if it was luck of the draw that the switch solved my woes, or if it truly did work intended wonders. Regardless, it got my video working again. (and several times afterward from borked Panther installs)

 

[quinterro]

Just tried that. So far, same response (or lack of).

 

[quinterro]

It might be the Mac-VGA converter. I let it run Friday afternoon and it went to sleep (pulsing green power light). This was with a 4GB hard disk that had 9.22 on it.

Somewhere around here I have 2 ATI Rage 128 PCI video cards. One was in my Blue/White G3 before it became a G4. I bought a Rev 2 motherboard with 400mhz processor and video card, the old board was boxed up. The second one is a Rage Orion video card (I think).

If I can find either of those I'll try them out on Monday.

 

[quinterro]

It was the Mac-VGA adapter that caused the problem. When I connected a Viewsonic Mac-VGA adapter it powered right up. Woohoo!

EDIT - not so fast. While it now works, there is no sound. The A/V card is connected but nothing comes out of the speakers.

 

[Bunsen]

That AV card can look like it's in but still be loose. Push it down till it gives an alarming kerCHUNK sound.

 

[Christopher]

That AV card can look like it's in but still be loose. Push it down till it gives an alarming kerCHUNK sound.

Wouldn't that mean you broke it? :lol:

 

[madmax_2069]

The Personality cards in the Beige G3 line had a tendancy (or was shipped like that) to work loose or not to be fully seated. the issue was the metel tab that cought on the casing not allowing the card to be properly seated. bending the tab up a little will allow the card to go down further and seat properly.

and then again the personality card maybe hosed.

 

[quinterro]

The Personality cards in the Beige G3 line had a tendancy (or was shipped like that) to work loose or not to be fully seated. the issue was the metel tab that cought on the casing not allowing the card to be properly seated. bending the tab up a little will allow the card to go down further and seat properly.
and then again the personality card maybe hosed.

The last time I used the G3 it worked great. Then I tried to install Linux. [] ]'>

Disgusted, I pulled the memory and drives out for a while and it sat under my desk for a few months. Recently I have been playing some Classic games and while my B/W G4 at work is great running Tiger for iTunes and other stuff, it's not so nice for Classic. Games are rather jerky on it.

I also have the normal personality card with only the sound in/out. As soon as I get a chance I'll re-seat the A/V card and see if the sound decides to work. If not I'll try the other card.

 

[quinterro]

Apparently it was the built-speaker that went out. When the headphone jack is used the sound works just fine. Weird.