Starmax Mac Clone issues

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macg4's picture
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Starmax Mac Clone issues

yeah when i got it looked nice, no damage, etc.. then when i plugged it in pressed the power button, tried the power on key on a keyboard and nothing. then i remebered that i have a powermac 44400 which used almost the same parts as the starmax. so i took the powersupply out of my 4400(which works fine) and put it in the starmx, went to power it on in starmax and still nothing. so im guessing maybe its a motherboard issue possibly. do these tend not to power on with a dead pram battery?

eeun's picture
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A dead pram battery should ge

A dead pram battery should get you fan and hard drive power, and a startup chime.

If you're not getting those, I'd say you're correct. Have you tried the ram, cards, etc. from the Starmax in your 4400?

After that, I'd move onto pulling the motherboard, cleaning out the case and spraying the board with compressed air.

The 'taking things apart then putting them back together' method solves a very high percentage of non-working hardware I've bought/scavenged.

macg4's picture
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alright cool. i tired also sw

alright cool. i tired also swapping the rom chip with the 4400 and reseating the ram. i was thinking maybe the pram was causing it. i have a powercomputing powerbase 180 that should have similar parts as well that i could try things with too

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Starmax

I had the same issue with mine. The fix was a new pram battery and a cuda reset and the little gem powered right up. The power supply did not run until I replaced the pram battery and did the cuda reset

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starmax clone

I have the same problem. Starmax, inactive for 3 years or more, won't boot. I want to sell it. Where do I get a PRAM battery? How do I install it? What is a cuda reset? What about the regular battery? I can't find anything in any of the instruction books or on a web page anywyere.

lhsetzer@isp.com

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Joined: Dec 14 2004 - 20:14
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Look here

Check this site for battery part numbers and sources. Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial
http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html

Look here for a manual. http://www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

Cheers, Tom
Mac Troubleshooting, Maintenance & Tips
http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/MacTroubleshoot.html

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My Powerbase would seem dead

My Powerbase would seem dead with a dead PRAM. Just replace the battery. Don't know about the Starmax, but the 4400 used the odd 3.3v DRAM and the Powerbase used regular 5v EDO. I'd be curious to know if the ROM from the 4400 actually works in the Starmax. I suppose you checked to make sure the CPU daughtercard is properly seated.

Oh wait, the 4400 doesn't have a ROM card, if I remember correctly. The ROM is soldered to the motherboard like the Powerbase. That is probably the cache card you think is the ROM.

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