When powering up G4 FW800: A graphic of the World appears

13 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 9 years 7 months ago
Joined: May 1 2008 - 17:23
Posts: 9
When powering up G4 FW800: A graphic of the World appears

I have a used G4 FW800. When powering up, it emits the startup "chime," and when the video screen first comes up, it shows a small graphic which depicts North & South America. This image blinks on and off for a short time and then goes to a question mark, which remains blinking.

The computer came without an operating system as a condition of the sale. There is no information on the hard drive whatsoever.

What is the computer telling me? What is the problem?
How do I repair it?

Thank you.

GEOS's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 334
I've never heard of that befo

I've never heard of that before. If there isn't anything on the HD you need, I would just erase and re-install Mac OS. If it works, then I would assume it was some sort of software issue. Doesn't sound like a hardware problem to me.

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 7 months ago
Joined: May 1 2008 - 17:23
Posts: 9
G4 boot problem

The computer will not go to the HD, even when holding the "C" key during boot up.
Unable to load OS X disc.

Hawaii Cruiser's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jan 20 2005 - 16:03
Posts: 1433
So what are you saying? There

So what are you saying? There's nothing on the hard drive, and you don't have a Mac OS X installation disk in the disk drive? Nothing yields nothing. I've not heard of the world icon before, but if you've got nothing on the HD and nothing in the disk drive, the question mark is what you get.

Offline
Last seen: 14 years 11 months ago
Joined: May 29 2005 - 22:35
Posts: 284
G4 FW800

Its looking for a WAN (Wide area network). If you have one boot from a firewire drive. hold down the Option key at startup. Make sure you have the firewire drive plugged in to the firewire port.

when the computer boots up you will have a choice of boot drives, use the firewire drive to boot from.

Hawaii Cruiser's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jan 20 2005 - 16:03
Posts: 1433
Oh, that's what the world is.

Oh, that's what the world is. If you're not booting from an external drive, then hit the CUDA button on the motherboard to clear your PRAM and install from an installation disk. Do FW800 G4's have CUDA buttons, though, and where are they located?

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 7 months ago
Joined: May 1 2008 - 17:23
Posts: 9
CUDA button

OK! That's something that no one has come up with! I'll have to search to find out if this box has one. Thanks much!

Offline
Last seen: 14 years 11 months ago
Joined: May 29 2005 - 22:35
Posts: 284
G4 boot

Resetting the Cuda will not work on that. It needs to go to the terminal mode and reset the boot paramiters as it is setup to boot from a WAN. I stumbled on to that via a iMac 1.25 gig machine.

I'm not sure exactly what it was I did but it has to be changed using the terminal mode

Hawaii Cruiser's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jan 20 2005 - 16:03
Posts: 1433
What about just going to OF a

What about just going to OF and doing a reset-all? Or, are you saying this is in the hard drive's firmware and not a motherboard issue?

Offline
Last seen: 14 years 11 months ago
Joined: May 29 2005 - 22:35
Posts: 284
boot issues

I tried all that on my iMac 1.25Gig and nothing worked except going to teminal mode. After I got the iMac to boot from the firewire drive I went to teminal mode and typed boot help or something like that and it gave me a help screen. Once you get there you can look for the boot sequence and if it has not been passworded you can change the boot from a WAN to the internal drive.

I did this thru trial and error and nearly made the computer useless. If it had not been for the intervention of a friend the iMac would have been useless junk. So If you are uneasy using teminal mode I strongly recommend finding some one who does and let them fix the boot problem

Offline
Last seen: 14 years 11 months ago
Joined: May 29 2005 - 22:35
Posts: 284
boot issues

The hard drive has nothing to do with it. it is the logicboard. Resetting the Pram or doing a OF reset will not fix it it must be changed thru the teminal mode. The machine is looking for a WAN and it has been set thru teminal mode to boot from a WAN or look for a WAN before it boots up

Hawaii Cruiser's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jan 20 2005 - 16:03
Posts: 1433
I'm just curious where in the

I'm just curious where in the motherboard this sequence is located, and also, if this is the reason why a FW800 cannot boot to OS9?

Offline
Last seen: 14 years 11 months ago
Joined: May 29 2005 - 22:35
Posts: 284
I'm just curious

HC, I'm not sure and I was not aware the you couldn't boot to OS9 thru FW800. The onle experiance I have with Terminal mode is from dealing with the iMac.

Log in or register to post comments