Power Mac G3 Beige: No Video

[RedStripes]

Hello,

I've got a Power Mac G3 Beige (266) with a DB-15 display connection. Since I don't have any compatible display I'm trying to use my LCD VGA ( Acer B193 19'' 4:3 1280x1024 75Hz native resolution ).

I hear the startup chime and the hard disk, fans are running and the green led is lit, but I don't get any video signal.

I have a VGA <-> DB-15 adapter but it didn't work, tried all switches positions.

Also tried a PCI video card with VGA output ( Formac ProFormance III 16MB, especificaciones: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/graphics/Proformance3/index6.html ) but no results.

Would other PCI video card work (like an ATI Radeon Mac edition)? Or the ProFormance should've worked? Should I get video signal even if I don't install drivers?

I did reset PRAM. Command + option + P + R didn't work so I had to remove the battery for 10 minutes to get the PRAM cleared, I also reset the CUDA chip.

Still not working.

Tested all RAM DIMMs one at a time, checked personality card... no results.

iMac G3 CRT has a DB-15 display, so I connected it to the PowerMac... no luck.

http://www.dellamea.it/docs/imac/

Should I try with a regular CRT display?

Any ideas please?

Thanks for your help!

 

[volvo242gt]

Was the iMac powered up while you were testing the Beige's video with the display? If not, try again with the iMac powered up. Or, try hooking up the LCD to the iMac and booting that machine. I don't think the stock video on a Beige G3 will handle 1280x1024. The Formac card, yes, it should've worked. It would be slow without the drivers installed, but it should show video. Otherwise, try a Radeon 7000 or 7500, making sure that the operating system is recent enough for the card.

-J

 

[bibilit]

Hi,

As far as i know, you could not hook the Imac to any external display (or the other way round)

If you look at the logic board craddle, a message is engraved to prevent from doing so.

So probably the connector is not wired for this purpose.

 

[RedStripes]

I tried with a regular CRT display but it didn't work.

Neither worked another video card.

I'll end replacing the motherboard...

 

[Macdrone]

Ok wait on the motherboard. The beige G3 is a strange bird, I have a bunch. All do the same thing. The issue is it tries to push to the newer monitor but can't, then it's stuck like that. Not sure why but resetting the pram and nvram doesn't change it. Only fix I found was to boot off cd, I don't know why it works or why I tried it but I get video back to the original monitor. Also sometimes I have to hit the power button twice even to make it boot off the cd even holding the cd key.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.