PM 6100 no boot

[pyl85]

I just got a Power Macintosh 6100/66 in a lot of computers off of craigslist. When I first powered it on, I got the chime but got no futher (no video). I switched off the computer and turned it back on, trying to reset the PRAM. The gray screen came up, and it chimed a second time. The happy mac appeared and it just stayed there. I heard the hard drive "knocking" so I figure the drive's probably toast. I powered the machine off again. Now I'm back to chime, no video and no boot. I've unplugged both the hard drive and CD-ROM and reseated all the SIMMs with no change in behavior. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Swap the PRAM battery. If it's dead, the machine won't boot correctly.

 

[Franklinstein]

Sounds like a PRAM battery issue to me. The 6100 is a hard-power computer, so they are more affected by bad PRAM batteries than soft-power models.

Here's a quick way to (probably) get the machine up:

1. Turn it on.

2. There is a reset button (marked by a triangle in a circle), and a programmer's button (a little wavy bump thing in a circle), on the back right-side of the computer. A few seconds after the chime, press the reset button once. The computer should chime again and take you to the grey screen.

3. Insert a system disk of some type (CD/floppy/spare HD) for the machine to boot from.

That should do it.

 

[The Macster]

The easiest way to get it to start up with a dead battery is just to press the power switch on the front three times in quick succession.

 

[Bolle]

two times should be enough to trickle it

 

[pyl85]

two times was enough! Thanks everyone! HD is dead but it booted from a floppy just fine.

 

[The Macster]

two times should be enough to trickle it

Wouldn't pressing it twice turn it on (in the non-booting mode) and then off again? The third then starts it up again (unless you mean that the first press is not all the way in ie so it just puts some power into it but it doesn't come on, as it's a hard-power switch, and the second press is right in to the on position?)

 

[Bolle]

two times should be enough to trickle it

Wouldn't pressing it twice turn it on (in the non-booting mode) and then off again? The third then starts it up again (unless you mean that the first press is not all the way in ie so it just puts some power into it but it doesn't come on, as it's a hard-power switch, and the second press is right in to the on position?)

meh... if you take it this way

I thought you mean turning it off and on three times

 

[The Macster]

Ahh, no, I just meant pressing the button three times ie on-off-on