Very Random running B&W

Ok i had a typo at the header... RANDOM..... its morning for me i cant type LOL

have you reset the pram hold the command button thats the button next to the space bar option or alt key and p r at start sound and hold till you hear the start sound 2-3 times. now hold the command option or alt o f keys at start sound. once in the open firmware type reset-all hit enter type set-defaults hit enter then type reset-all hit enter. now it should start right if not the pram battery might be dead or somthings not connected right

Same issues and more...check my topic here...http://www.applefritter.com/node/9012
Alright i have a strange issue with my Powermac B&w. when i turns on i makes the happy apple sound and come to blinking apple/folder. When trying to boot from a hd that has os 9, it wont boot. when trying to boot from a os9 cd it wont boot. when using a os 10.X cd it boots right away. i have tried different hds, cd drivers, ide cables, etc... resetting pram, taking cmos battery out. any ideas? bad motherboard?

I have tried all the Pram and firmware stuff before.... ive made a battery pack and that didnt change much either..... i really dont know about this thing. i dont have another G3 chip to try in it so i cant tell if its the cpu. if it was a bad cpu why would it work only sometimes? most of the time when those things go bad, they never work again. but i suppoes i can try some new ram at some point in time... anyone know exactly what these things are suppoesd to run? ive had tons of PC-100 and 133 ram in this before, never had problems till now..... do you think bad ram over time caused this problem? becasue for a week it ran awsome then just started going slower and basically not running 100% like it always did. anyways hope that someone knows more about these things ....... thanks so much guys

I think I might suspect the CPU. I have a B&W G3 that had weird boot problems, locking up when booting or booting up and then locking up or some times running ok. It had a G3 450MHz with 256Ram. I changed out mem no change, changed out the peram battery no change, Zapped the Pream still no change. I finally changed out the CPU and all the problems cleared right up and its been working like a champ ever since.

well then as soon as i can update the firmware then i can try the G4, untill then it looks like i need a g3 to try out... thanks for the info.... does anyone have a working g3 they'll sell me cheap? i have paypal.. zip is 04090 any help would be appreciated. thanks again.

It's become my mantra to all those with B&W startup problems:
try removing the firewire module. Bad firewire modules kill B&W startup.
When my B&W's have slowed down, it was usually because of a bad RAM stick, but it sounds like you've checked that already. Have you tried starting with just one RAM stick installed, and then trying the one stick in each of the different slots?
You haven't mentioned what PCI cards you have installed, or did you?
I assume you haven't meddled with the 350mhz CPU jumper block?

well i have just enough hooked up to the board to fire it up. no firewire, no hd's just video pci stock card, original jumpers. as far as the ram goes it is ram that was working.. ive tried alot of configurations. how ever now im noticing that it wont boot at all with the g3 chip and the chip itself doesnt even get warm. the g4 chip does get warm. so im guessing my cpu is toast. the g4 chip gives me the bad cpu chime but i never got to update the firmware so im guessing thats why. the machine doesnt make any noise without a cpu in there and with no ram as well. i dont know what to make of it. i wish i had a good g3 to try in it, then i could rule out the cpu.

buy a G3 cpu off ebay for like $15-$20

i got one for $11 shipped. i hope it works... seems as if the g3 is dead though eh? maybe the board isnt bad? after i test it out and if it does work, any one have the firmware updater for the sonnet g4 chips? i downloaded what i thought was it but i couldnt get it to work at all... was a bad file or somthing. that was also in the last few running minutes of my poor g3. i bought a 300mhz g3, which i assume ill have to set the jumpers for cuz i dont want to cook this one first off right? lol... the systems seems to respond to having the g4 in it though and it gets warm so im hoping its not bad itself... i atleast get chime errors with that one. the g3 does nothing at all. half the time doesnt even get warm.

go here http://www.xlr8.com/Daystar_Technology_Mac_Support/Mac_Product_Support/Mac_CPU_Upgrade_ZIF_G3_G4.html
for the b&w G4 patch scroll down to where it say's G4 FirmWare Updater for B&W G3s 1.0.1

Thats awsome thanks! i hope that i can get that file to expand in os9..... but first i have to see if the g3 works.... gotta wait a week or so for it to get to me....

Sweet i hope it all works out if not we are all here to help one and another

Oh and BTW make shure you have the latest stuffit expander for os 9.2.2 cause if you dont and if its in a format that the older stuffit wont work with it wont expand it will just give you an error

well.... i did some more fooling around with the AIO machine and well.... the cpu jumper wasnt there from when it was given to me. so i just took the one from the B&W put it on there and stuck the g3 in 'er and she booted first try! so i put the G4 in and still worked... its a little less of a machine then the B&W but im guessing since this works the MOBO is dead on the B&W, which is what i thought all along... its a REV. a so that i guess says it all right there... maybe ill get a new one, who knows. i tore it all apart swaping parts out here and there for the AIO. if anyone has a good price on a rev b board please let me know.i have an idea that Thats all thats keeping it from running. basically i have enough parts to make two running machines now, i got the HD sleds for both machines, cd roms and a little ram, not much.. but im sooo happy i have a mac again.. i have old games i cant let go of :-D im sure youve heard of the marathon series. well ive been keeping up on that for a while, cept i need OSX to run the most recent version of the game and it would probly run really slow on this AIO. thanks for all your help though guys, ttyl

-Justin

oh yea i checked system profiler and it says the cpu is running at 525mhz when its a 500mhz chip.. is that jumper block from the B&W causing this?

I would say its just a little over clocked. if it runs well and does not give any problem leave it

ive pushed it pretty hard in a few open GL tests and no hang ups. after all its only got 2mb video ram right now... however i installed my G3's ATI 16mb and tried to run dual monitors. it hangs half way through an OS9 boot up. havnt tried OSX yet.if anyone has the 4mb video ram chip theyd sell for cheap let me know also please... i like this little machine for os9 it works awsome. it does take a loooooong time to count the ram when i turn it on or reboot it. it chimes then waits like 25 - 30 seconds before the screen comes up, but that was only after i stuffed tons of un known ram in there.... would you think that 128 mb ram is enough for os9? i mean i dont do much with it..... im going to try osx but i bet it will be painfully slow.

you can also find the 4mb vram chip for cheap on ebay or buy it bran new at a few of the mac sites

4meg Vram for the Beige $5.00 shipped. 128meg is ok for 9.XX but OS X you need more 256 almost 384 ok 512 better. Let me know on the Vram reply here or PM

yea whats the paypal addy or physical address you would like me to send you the money? that would be awsome...

-Justin

look in your in box for paypal address.
Thanks
Wally G.

Write to me and I explain you everything

johntvery@operamail.com

johntvery@hotmail.com

explain everything to me? explain what? or am i just being dumb haha.

i was reading another post on here and someone mentioned a bad PS causing a mobo to half work but not boot. does anyone else here think mine may be junk? if so will a regular ATX PS work? i have like a 150w or somthing kicking around not being used.... thanks

-Justin

I would much rather be using my B&W instead of the AIO..... ill probly sell the AIO if the B&W works

this is overly comprehensive...

this is a little easier to follow (look down the page for ATX Power)

make sure to snip the -5V wire!

well i guess my board is dead after all... i swapped in a PS real quick and it didnt do a thing more then before.... heres a question.... can i use one of the PCI Graphics G4 mother boards in its place?

oh yea.... i installed a new cpu i bought and still no workie workie. the board has to be junk.... 2 of the 3 cpus i have tried that work in the AIO dont work in here.....

is the jummper block on right have you took it off and made shure all the pins are not bent and all the metal things in the block are where they are supost to be. that sucks that the mobo might be dead could it be a dead pram battery causing it or a bad connection did you snip the right wire on the psu mobo connector.

i have fixed the jumper before, double checked all that, and no bent pins... as far as the PS goes the wire i was suppoesd to cut didnt exist on this one... there was a blank hole in the connector. im just pondering the idea of a newer g4 anyways now, but i have to say with bootable os9. i was hoping for maybe an agp model but the pci would be a direct drop in for my B&W right? they look the same to me. i was also reading that it really doesnt make any sense to buy that one because of how much parts from the g3 are in it. so maybe just a g3 board will work fine i dont know, im just tossing ideas around in my head.

edit:

well i just bought a Yikes! G4 that only needs cpu, video, and HD. the rest is all there and comes with 128mb ram. i already have the parts i need to make it work :-) my sonnet 500mhz should drop right in there no problems. now ill have an extra Zip drive, wonder what i can use that for :-) think i'll mount it in my PC and use it for file transfers from the internet or what not. soon as i get this, the AIO is going up for sale if anyone wants parts, it works ok, not all there, some custom stuff.. but looks fine. will come with 300 or 350mhz cpu, then after that the case to my B&W is going up for sale if anyone needs a case... it will come with power supply and all bezzels.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5823684440&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

im not shure the sonnet zif you got will work in the zif slot in the G4 you got. i could be wrong i think they changed the style of the zif socket when going from the G3 to G4 if im not mistaken

but why would they? they only used the zif because apple was trying to use up spare parts... doesnt sound like they would change it..... but if that is the case im going to be BS cuz i have no stock G4 cpu. im tired of spending money on these things lol i just want something that runs OS9 bootable and runs panther well but not super speedy. lowendmac.com didnt mention anything about the sockets being different, i sure hope they arent.....

update:

just did some reading and found out the stock g4 cpu will work in the B&W with the flashrom updated so im guessing its the same...

not only that, the sawtooth is the G4 in which they went from ZIF to somthing else..... i have the first G4 computer...

oops sorry its was the G4 sawtooth that changed from cpu socket designs

so no worries right? ;-)

i got my Yikes! today and installed everything i need to use it basically, but before that i tried it out and it works but it has a 10 - 15 seconds from chime to screen coming on at bootup... ive tried reseting everything in the OF, but its not changing much. i did this to my all in one machine and it works well when it had that problem. as we speak its installing panther. i havnt really done much to it. it seems to be crusing right along the intallation which used to take my imac dv atleast 35 min and my B&W even longer. i sure hope this isnt on its way out like my B&W was......

Update again! the reason it was taking forever to boot is because the HD was bad or somthing... it doesnt like my 40gb western digital drive. i threw in my 15gb maxtor and all is well!! had to also take out the cpu speed jumper than came on the board and put in my 350's jumper cuz it was messing up hardcore.... but it all works again!!! thank god!! im running osx again.... next to come is an ati radeon 7000.... after that i want a new mac if im going to do anything more than play 6 year old games ;-) i guess this board is soooo identical to a G3's board it even says G3 PCI in the system profiler.... haha i guess i should have just looked for a B&W board... oh well... this one works fine...