Over a year ago, I bought a Powerbook G3 Main Street (the one with the passive matrix screen). Since I owned it, it takes a long time to start up. When I plug it in, the HDD starts up immediately and the power light comes on and then the HDD stops. I press the power button, hear the startup chime, and then silence for the next two minutes. After two minutes the HDD starts up again and the screen turns on and everything is normal. The computer runs fine otherwise. At first I thought it was just a quirk of this particular model, but now I'm beginning to wonder if maybe something is wrong. I tired replacing the HDD and nothing changes. Maybe it's nothing, but I thought I would ask here for your opinion on the matter.
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Powerbook G3 "Main Street" Long Startup
- Thread starter MacFox
- Start date
Zippy Zapp
Well-known member
Mine also does the first part when you plug it in and the HDD spins for a second. I think as pointed out it is because of the dead PRAM battery. They are rechargeable but I have 3 PBG3s and none of them will charge. They are a pain to replace in the first gen models but a bit easier in the lombard/bronze keyboard models. Of course the cells are pricey. I wish there was an alternative. Mine, however, turn on and boot right away. There is not a 2 minute delay.
I have read all of your replies and I will keep what you guys said in mind.
Since making my last post, I have added a PDQ to my collection and it starts up about the same length of time as the Main Street, but it behaves a bit differently. Instead of silence I can hear HDD activity the whole time. Despite this, this laptop has a great screen, which is much better to look at than the passive matrix screen I had to stare at while writing 800K disk images to floppy for my SE.
Since making my last post, I have added a PDQ to my collection and it starts up about the same length of time as the Main Street, but it behaves a bit differently. Instead of silence I can hear HDD activity the whole time. Despite this, this laptop has a great screen, which is much better to look at than the passive matrix screen I had to stare at while writing 800K disk images to floppy for my SE.
Since my last post, I tried disabling the memory test, but I guess because the PRAM battery is dead my changes weren't saved. I have since downgraded the PDQ from OS 9.2.2 to OS 8.6 and it starts up a little quicker, the delay is only a minute now instead of two. The startup RAM test option no longer appears, was that not a thing in OS 8? Still, I really like the PDQ. It's currently my most used Mac.
Well, after years of putting it off I finally opened up the PDQ. It wasn't easy, but easier than opening up an iBook. I removed the PRAM battery, but I did not replace it with a new one. While I do like the PDQ I don't use it as often as I do my other PPC Macs. I only put PRAM batteries in Macs that I use frequently. I used a stopwatch to time the delay and the result was about 40 seconds under OS 8, both with and without the PRAM battery, so I was off with my earlier estimates. The PRAM battery wasn't leaking, thankfully, but better be safe than sorry. I should also mention that I don't use a main battery with this laptop. The ones I have don't work. I reduced the RAM from 256 MB to 128 MB and that brought the delay down to about 30 seconds. I decided to just live with the delay.
swamprock
Member
I bought a parts Wallstreet a while back, and it came with a working system battery that lasts over 3.5 hours, if you can believe that. I found that even with a working system battery and dead PRAM battery, the delay is still there. Just a note if you decide to try that route.
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