How original I am for topics these days...
Anyways, yes I've tried to sell it and all that, but I figured I'd hang on to it for a little bit longer and find out what the problem is that I've been experiencing. In a nutshell it won't boot half of the time, no "bong", nothing. The drive spins up and I can hear the CD accessing or whatever it does, along with the onboard LED lighting up. Sometimes I can get it to boot fine, bong and all. When it does the OS loads like nothing is wrong (8.1) and the machine is somewhat useable. BUT, when I use the shutdown or restart command, I'm back to where I started as far as the bongless boot. My only guess would be the pram battery going crap on me, which might also explain the intermittant video problems that I've been having, but that might be the crap adapters I picked up from eBay.
What Mac is it?
A bondi iMac G3 revision A.
My guess would be the PRAM Battery as well.
Ok, I finally had the chance to go get a new pram battery, and it still has the same symptoms. Any other ideas? I don't have an apple USB keyboard, and the one I have is a Logitech Wireless, so I don't know if I can zap the pram using that.
i dont think you can use a wireless kbd to zap pram, or do any other startup keystroke thingies.
Download TechTools Lite to zap PRAM
Free
http://www.micromat.com/tt_lite/tt_lite.html
Dave
I'd suggest checking the RAM. If you don't have RAM to test with try removing half of the RAM (on the top and bottom of the processor) and if it's still an issue, try swapping RAM from the top slot to the bottom. Also, re-seating the RAM and/or the processor might help. In an old iMac, it might make sense to just re-seat all cables and connections in the unit. The battery has nothing to do with a "no chime" problem in this model Macintosh. Whenever I hear intermittant video, RAM is where I look first.
Ok I've re-seated the ram, tried one at a time, re-seated the CPU (not necessarily in that order), and Ive even went as far as pulling a sodimm from my Dell (PC-133 128mb) to try in it. Still no go.
Imacs can be quirky, but you are on the right track.
Did you try TechTools Lite for PRAM and Desktop rebuild?
Imac VooDoo:
Remove Power Cord
Remove RAM
Remove PRAM Battery
Push Start button on Imac
Replace all and restart.
Good Luck.
Dave
Try resetting the CUDA chip, on this unit it's a small red button. Also take a look here:
http://www.capecodgraphics.com/imac_firmware.htm
I saw that somoene else suggested the battery/PRAM problem, and I don't think that's where your problem is.