Power Mac 9500 startup woes

[Dog Cow]

I got out the ole' Power Mac 9500 last evening and tried to start it up. No luck. Though the hard drive in it is fine and has OS 7.6 on it, it did not work. I got to the gray screen with the cursor, and that was it. I heard the chime too, of course. But no disk activity, no happy mac, no question mark floppy, even after 5 minutes of waiting. I tried unplugging and replugging some cables. I also tried zapping the PRAM. No good.

Finally, I decided to strip down the whole tower and take out the motherboard. Just on a lark, I got out my big baggie o' RAM and put two RAM SIMMs (or whatever they are) onto the board. One was a 32MB, the other, I don't know. Certainly not the same brand, likely not the same size.

I put everything back together and pressed the power. Bad news. I heard a bit of click, as if the power went on for about a second, but then failed. The green power light just blinked on then off. I tried a few more times-- nothing at all. I waited about 30 minutes and applied power again. This time, the Power Mac turned on, the green light and all, but no video. Just fans running and the green power light. No startup chime, even. I took out the two RAMs which I had added, and tried again. Same result.

Anyone know what's wrong? Is it dead? The last time I used this Mac was July, just a few months ago.

 

[Gil]

What a coincidence - I just put back together my 9500 yesterday, and got it up and running today.

I can tell you from experience that the 9500 is a real B**** when it comes to crap like this. I can begin to tell you how many times I've gone through what you're going through. Wish I had some advice, but mine is usually based on luck.

 

[Dog Cow]

I just gave up and got out the 8100/80 instead, thinking that I'd post here the next day (which I've done).

Maybe someone else has a clue. I wonder if putting in the mis-matched RAM was a bad idea.

 

[protocol7]

It probably wasn't a great idea but I don't think it would have done any permanent damage. Have you tried putting in one good (compatible) RAM chip and resetting PRAM and perhaps CUDA as well?

 

[Dog Cow]

It already had enough good RAM chips in it, since I was able to boot it to OS 7.6 a few months ago. I assume that the CUDA reset is that small button on the motherboard? I pressed it at some point last evening, but don't remember when.

 

[beachycove]

A handful of observations:

1. A 9500 is now old enough to have capacitor failure. Sorry, but it's just possible.

2. I acquired an 8600/300 a few years ago that exhibited the same symptoms on first boot, or non-boot if you like. Perseverance paid off, however, and it has not failed since despite intensive use. Prior to coming into my hands, it had been sitting on a shelf unused at a dealer for an unknown time - months, at least. I suspect that the problem must have been PRAM related, but who knows? The moral of the story is that something in the machine needed to be reawakened, and that took some fiddling.

3. Have you tried booting from a floppy or from a CD?

4. Are you absolutely sure your scsi settings are correct? The symptoms are consistent with "scsi voodoo."

 

[Dog Cow]

3. Have you tried booting from a floppy or from a CD?

Yes. I put both a floppy and a CD ROM in, and it didn't acknowledge either one of them. This was when it was getting to the gray screen with cursor.

 

[Gil]

Now that I think about, and especially since beachycove said it, it DOES sound like SCSI issues. I recall having the exact same issue...and changing SCSI settings around, fixed it.

 

[Charlieman]

9500 startup problems... Now that isn't a surprise.

1. Check the PRAM battery voltage. While it's out, unplug the mains power cable, leave the Mac to rest for 20 minutes, and then hold down the CUDA for a minute. Reassemble the Mac with a reliable PRAM battery, and try again. If that fails, repeat the above, leaving the Mac without a PRAM battery overnight.

2. Check out 9500 pain at http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/. Moving cards, adding cards, changing CPU, changing RAM is always a headache. The 9500 is possibly the worst of the PCI PowerMac family, owing to case inaccessibility.

3. Check whether it is a SCSI problem by unplugging the cables from the logic board. You should be able to boot from floppy without SCSI devices present.

 

[Dog Cow]

The 9500 is possibly the worst of the PCI PowerMac family, owing to case inaccessibility.

Indeed. Getting out the motherboard is a real pain. The plastic is also getting brittle. I've snapped off 3 plastic pieces so far. xx(

 

[Unknown_K]

My 9500 had the whole back piece fall off because all the plastic holding it to the shell broke off. The 6 case screws are the only things holding the back on now.

 

[Gil]

Yeah, my 9500's case is pretty much trashed. :-/

 

[Dog Cow]

Am I right in assuming, from the replies, that no one thinks that putting in the two RAM SIMMs affected the 9500's condition?

 

[Gil]

Probably not. BTW, the 9500 uses DIMMs not SIMMs.

 

[Dog Cow]

I'm old-skool. And no, I didn't think so, but thought I'd ask.

 

[trag]

I don't think you mentioned the CPU card.

Given the symptoms, my guess would be a faulty/poorly installed CPU card. Try removing and reseating it. If that fails, unplug the power supply from the motherboard, pull the battery, press the CUDA button and let the thing sit for a while.

Make sure all your PCI cards are pulled except one video card.

Pull all DIMMs except one which you know is good.

SCSI problems usually manifest as a freeze at the grey screen, but one gets a good bong at startup.

It sounds like you're not even getting a bong. Which is what leads me to CPU card seating problems.

That connector for the CPU card is a pain.

 

[Dog Cow]

It sounds like you're not even getting a bong. Which is what leads me to CPU card seating problems.

Yes, I had been getting the chime, but now I'm not. I'll check the CPU card seating, then.

 

[equill]

As both trag and Charlieman have written, reset the MLB. Not a desultory random poke at the CUDA. The CUDA is the last thing to touch before putting the metal cover back on, with good battery (3.3V or more in circuit rather than in the hand). Its job is to provide a clean-slate inventory of the hardware to the system. Pulling the Mac completely apart will have gone most of the way towards reseting the MLB, but there is more to attend than that, in that your daughter card must be properly bottomed (which may take considerable force beyond the first stage) in its slot, as must a video card in its PCI slot. Every breakable/makeable connection along the top of the MLB must be attended carefully. SCSI power, data connection and termination must be scrupulously ensured. Your original RAM was almost certainly FPM if it worked, even if unpaired, and you must take care not to use EDO alone or mix EDO into an FPM installation, despite that EDO is FPM with pretensions (such as pipelining).

Then, having cleaned, polished, blown out, plugged, installed and rechecked everything in sight, and avoided snapping off as many of the snapdoodles as is humanly possible, install the PRAM battery. Wait 10-20sec, and then hold down the CUDA switch for 40-60sec. as your last act before recladding the box, plugging in externals and reconnecting to the mains. Use the soft-power switch on your Apple Design or whatever keyboard for startup. Note down the sequence of events (or non-events): chime, raster, Happy Mac, pointer, splash screen, march of the extensions, desktop. Record your success or the poop-out point so you can post whichever. Rots o' ruck.

de

 

[Dog Cow]

I tried taking out the battery, reseating the CPU card and everything else again, waiting, pressing the red button, and still nothing. Pressing the power button starts the fans running, hard drive spinning, and the green LED on, and that's it.

I have given up for now.