Dead G3 ??

D

dfemorton

Registered
Ok here is the problem and any help is appreiciated.
(This is my first mac and only had it for five days so bear with me...)
G3 blue and white tower with a 450 Mhz processor 256 meg and a 10 Gig drive (HD has been wiped)

Mac will not boot from CD,goes straight to a screen with a folder in the centre (with a face and question mark)
Tried booting in single user mode so i can run fdsk by holding command and s.
But machine WILL NOT enter single user mode ( iam doing it right as I have tried on the mac at work)
Have also reset the Pram twice,the second time we managed to get an apple on screen when booting from cd but this turned into a no entry sign and froze up (I can no longer get this far)

I have removed all the memory and replaced one by one but no joy.
I have also removed the Lithium battery in the hope that this might reset somthing but it hasn't.
Also tried holding down shift on start up but no joy.

This is a baptism of fire for my first mac experiance and I would really appreiciate some help.

I do have a copy of disk warrior but i presume you need an OS installed to get this to boot anyway (which it won't and the hard drive is empty).

I look forward to hearing your thoughts,is there something really simple I am missing? ( I am a proper novice when it comes to macs)
 
dfemorton,
Are you pressing the C key while trying to boot from the CD?

You do not need an operating system to run Disk Warrior. If you have the DW CD, press the C key while starting up... the CD has operating systems on it.

Obviously, if you have wiped the HD, you must startup from the system install CD and install an operating system before anything can work.

Good luck,
Clay
 
Hi Clay.
Yes I am holing down c as soon as the mac boots.
I have also tried to run disk warrior from scratch but this wil not boot.
Am i correct in saying that the Mac should be able to run singe user mode regardless of have the OS installed or not??
 
Since you can do anything without gui in single user mode... to have e.g. "fsck" recognized there, you should have a system installed to run it.
 
Maybe you can find something here that'll help:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50122

You have to be able to boot from a CD to install an operating system. I'm no expert, but there must be a problem with PRAM, the CUDA reset, Firmware, or even the Hard Drive which keeps your Mac from recognizing a startup system.

Sorry I can't help more,
Clay
 
What kind of install disks are you using? Retail? Or some OS X install disks that are grey in color and possibly for a different machine?
 
Still no joy whatsoever on this one....

Someone did suggest thtat the PRAM battery may need replacing.
Does anyone know of any imp[lications of doing this?
 
Reaplcing the battery is a snap and there are no negative implications from doing so.

Here's one for about $6: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

I doubt that the PRAM battery being bad would prevent bootup from a CD, but you never know... it may help!

How long have you left the computer with the OS X install CD in the CD drive and the folder/question mark screen showing? Sometimes, even when holding 'C' at bootup doesn't work, the computer will find the CD and boot from it -- it just takes it a while (sometimes around 3 - 5 minutes).

Is the CD drive the original drive that shipped with the computer, or was an aftermarket CD drive added?
 
i hade this with an iBook. in the end (after trying all the stuff you have tried) i realised it was the harddrive that was broken. if you have any chance lending an external harddrive from a friend or work, you should try that.
 
Is OS X already installed on that G3 machine? If not, that would explain why you can't boot in single user mode. Panther might be a bit much for the computer you have. How much RAM?

You can boot up with the option key down which gives you a start up disk screen. Be patient because it moves slowly. Choose your boot drive (or cd) and hit the arrow on the far right. The arrow on the left scrolls through your options—it only shows two at once.
 
The G3 blue & white machines do not support holding down the option key at bootup to select a startup disk.

It's a long shot, but you could try booting with Command-Option-Shift-Delete held down -- this will force the computer to search devices other than the hard drive for booting.
 
Do any of the bootup commands work? Like Target Disk Mode (Hold T)?

It's not usual that it wouldn't load the CD; it's a simplistic answer but perhaps your CD-ROM drive is buggered?

I've once had to fix one of those machines, doing wacky startup things, and it was the PRAM battery... might be worth a shot, especially considering how cheap they are.
 
Thanks a lot for all of the feedback.

My first thought was to change the CD drive which I have done and this makes no differance.

I am leaving the machine for about three minutes after the Error folder is on screen,however this makes no differance.

The disk is clean,I do have a hard disk with OSX installed already so I might pop that in there as this is also from a blue and white G3 (that works properly)

However I havent tried holding down the control-option-shift-delete keys yet,i will give that a go.

The machine is a G3 400 MHz machine with 256 meg of memory so I cannot see this beibg a problem.

I WILL NOT GIVE UP !!LOL
 
what a nice way to learn about the mac platform ;)
you get to know all the power user tips, and you will probably be able to work as an apple computer engineer, before you even have been a regular user... :D
 
Have you tried using a copy of OS X on DVD, and using your internal hardrive as an external one. This was how I got arround the problem. If you have replaced your original CD-ROM drive with another one (a non DVD-ROM capable drive), the G3 may not let you boot the disc. If you have changed it, you will have to try to find an original drive for it if all you have is the CD-ROM version of OS X. I know it can be frustrating, but is seems as though there is light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to squint really hard to see it. :)
 
Sorted.

When one of the engineers at work tested another disk drive,it was a CDRW.

Obviously the Mac didnt like this as I pulled an old CDROM drive out of an old machine yesterday and the disk booted up straight away.

All of that and it was the CDROM drive,engineers a? LOL

Thank you for all of your help in my Mac baptism of fire.
 
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