iMac G3 won't boot

[Johnny_L.A]

I liked my PowerBook G4 so much that last year I decided to buy an old iMac Indigo PowerPC G3. The idea was that I’d leave it at the house while I was in SoCal, and I’d have a computer up here to use so I wouldn’t have to bring my PowerBook on the plane. (Incidentally, I’m jealous of you guys who are getting newer Macs!) The iMac functioned normally last July and October.

I tried to use it when I came up last month, and it wouldn’t boot. I get a white screen with black text that says something like ‘To continue to boot, type mac-boot and enter’.

Only the keyboard doesn’t work. It’s as if it’s not getting power or something. I’ve plugged the mouse into each of the two USB ports, and it works. I’m guessing I have a bad keyboard, but I’m also wondering why the iMac isn’t booting up in the first place.

[AHunter3]

That is the open firmware prompt you’re seeing. Normally you would not get that screen unless you had done something to invoke it (e.g., ⌘-Option-O-F on bootup). So something’s amiss.

Was it plugged in the whole time? If not, the PRAM battery may have died, and Macs with dead PRAM batteries often behave oddly.

Wouldn’t hurt to try resetting the PRAM itself, incidentally: hold down ⌘-Option-P-R and hit the power key to boot, keep holding down those keys through 3-4 cycles of boot chime before releasing. That may fix things.

If not, you need some other bootable volume to troubleshoot/fix with. A copy of the MacOS X installation CD or DVD would be ideal (boot from that and then run Disk Tools to repair the regular drive and/or do an archve-and-install if necessary).

It’s possible that you could power up your G4 PowerBook in Target Disk Mode and attach it via FireWire to the iMac and boot the iMac from the PowerBook’s HD. (Might not work, given the disparity in processor, computer form-factors, and age, but it might).

[Johnny_L.A]

@AHunter3

Was it plugged in the whole time? If not, the PRAM battery may have died, and Macs with dead PRAM batteries often behave oddly.

No, my roomie unplugged it. I don’t know when he did, but it had been unplugged for months.

@AHunter3

Wouldn’t hurt to try resetting the PRAM itself, incidentally: hold down ?-Option-P-R and hit the power key to boot, keep holding down those keys through 3-4 cycles of boot chime before releasing. That may fix things.

Only the keyboard doesn’t appear to be working.

@AHunter3

If not, you need some other bootable volume to troubleshoot/fix with. A copy of the MacOS X installation CD or DVD would be ideal (boot from that and then run Disk Tools to repair the regular drive and/or do an archve-and-install if necessary).

I upgrated it to OS X last year. I’ll have to find the discs.

@AHunter3

It’s possible that you could power up your G4 PowerBook in Target Disk Mode and attach it via FireWire to the iMac and boot the iMac from the PowerBook’s HD. (Might not work, given the disparity in processor, computer form-factors, and age, but it might).

I don’t know how to do that.

IIRC there’s some sort of reset button (?) on the iMac that can be pushed with a straightened paperclip; only I don’t remember exactly what it is.

[Johnny_L.A]

Okay, the iMac has been plugged in for a few days now. When I started it up, it booted normally. So that leads me to believe that it was the internal battery as AHunter3 said.

Only the keyboard still doesn’t work in either USB port.

[Johnny_L.A]

It must be the keyboard. I’ve just tried plugging it into each USB port on my PowerBook and it doesn’t work. Weird. It was NOS when I got it last year, and has hardly been used. (FWIW it’s an Apple USB Keyboard that matches the iMac.)