Forums | MacLife
You are not logged in.
#1 2007-10-27 8:49 pm
- TBeamo
- Member
- Registered: 2007-10-27
- Posts: 1
PowerMac G3 won't start up
My powermac G3 running OS 8.75 won't start up. When I turn it on all I get is a icon of a disk with a question mark on it on the screen. I tried starting up from the CD that came with the computer but that didn't work either. HELP!
Offline
#2 2007-10-27 8:51 pm
- iMan
- New from Apple, the iMan!
- From: Maine, USA
- Registered: 2007-07-22
- Posts: 582
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
Question make means it can't find any OS to boot from. Did you make sure the keyboard works? Can you hear the hard drive spin up at all on boot?
iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz 17" main widescreen + 17" regular 2.5 GB of RAM
Offline
#3 2007-10-29 11:59 pm
- pkmgarf
- Member
- From: Sussex, WI
- Registered: 2007-06-13
- Posts: 479
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
^^^Even if the HD took a dump, shouldn't it still boot from the CD?
Offline
#4 2007-10-30 5:15 am
- iMan
- New from Apple, the iMan!
- From: Maine, USA
- Registered: 2007-07-22
- Posts: 582
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
Yea but if a keyboard or usb port is screwy it might not see you want to boot from cd.
iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz 17" main widescreen + 17" regular 2.5 GB of RAM
Offline
#6 2007-10-30 9:40 am
- pkmgarf
- Member
- From: Sussex, WI
- Registered: 2007-06-13
- Posts: 479
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
Yeah...if it doesn't find a HD, it should scan for other boot options, like the CD....
Offline
#7 2007-10-30 9:53 am
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
8.75?
Offline
#8 2007-10-30 11:18 am
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
Daniel wrote:
8.75?
Just noticed that.
With my B&W resetting the PRAM often helped when i had this issue, then again i only encountered it when trying to boot off an OS X CD
Powerbook G3 Kanga
Macbook 2.4 C2D 2GB Leopard
Powerbook G4 Pismo 550
Offline
#9 2007-10-30 1:32 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
- Moderator
- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18092
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
Dead PRAM Battery?
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
Offline
#10 2007-11-01 8:57 pm
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
I had this problem with my B&W also – regardless of type of drive hooked up it would flash the question mark endlessly on startup. Not sure if it was something wonky with the ATA controller, but some B&Ws had a reputation for questionable ATA controllers. I tried doing things like resetting the PRAM and pulling the battery, and even pulling the RAM and drives out and starting over again; sometimes that works.
Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious.
Offline
#11 2007-11-04 3:45 pm
- macrule413
- Member
- From: western, MA
- Registered: 2000-06-17
- Posts: 569
- Website
Re: PowerMac G3 won't start up
It also may be a bad ATA/ATAPI cable. This is not usually the case, but to my surprise it was the issue with a g3 or g4 tower that I had that would not use the optical drive. Are you sure the CD disk you have is bootable? is it an original disk from Apple or CD-R burned disk? Also you may want to try these two things, boot with the Apple-Option-O-F (as in open firmware) if this boots you into open firmware you can try to type in something like "boot cd" or something similar. You could also try holding down the Option key at startup to bring up boot manager, which is available on most Mac's that can run OS X. I have multiples of every part for the B&W G3 series, so if there is anything you need, let me know!
Early 2009 Mac Mini, 2.0Ghz Snow Leopard C2D/4GB/320GB/Dual 20"+22" LCD Displays
Power Mac G5 2Ghz, 3GB, 10.5 Leopard, internal 20X DVD/RW, BT, 23"LCD
2.2Ghz Black MacBook (Late 2007) 2GB/160GB/GMA X3100/Snow Leopard
Offline
