So try installing OS X from a cold start with the ethernet cable disconnected. If it loads without a problem, then you’ve got a bad ethernet port or a crossed circuit or somesuch in your logic board.
If that were my iMac, I’d take it apart to see if there’s anything in there that could be bridging a circuit. Metallic glitter can cause havoc, for example. Or a staple or something. Don’t forget to use a new thermal pad or thermal paste when you put the logic board back onto the divider board. I’ve found all sorts of cruft, garbage and the like inside G3 iMacs that have been exposed to elementary and middle school kids. eMacs too. All those holes, slots and ports are an invitation to inquiring minds. The convection-cooled design, with all those ventilation holes on the top case, is worse than the early fan-cooled G3 iMacs. The perforated divider board, to which the analog board and logic board are affixed, will let anything that gets in make its way to the backside of the logic board where it can’t be seen without disassembly. A friend with a machine shop once lost his G3 iMac when one metal shaving too many made it through the top. He said it was a very brief but short fireworks show inside the case of his Snow model, which became a Coal model. If you had two G3 iMacs, of course, it would be a simple matter to swap out parts to isolate the bad one(s) from the known-good one(s). But since you don’t, you’ve probably found the culprit. Strange things can happen to electronic devices that continue to be used for years and years past their prime. Jim Scott > On Dec 24, 2015, at 5:49 PM, Thomas Fritsch <[email protected]> wrote: > > oddly yea but i think i narrowed it to something i tried this morning to > start it w/o the network cableleft idle for 2hrs came back.. no freeze, > connect it , it locks up within seconds tried again 3 times start up w/o > power wait a few connect to encounter freezing, > > On Thu, Dec 24, 2015 at 8:00 PM, Bruce Johnson <[email protected]> > wrote: > If the RAM and HDD’s were bad, I doubt you would get as far as you get; after > all, the Finder is running at that point if nothing else. > > Have you tried logging in as a different user? If the problem is something in > your user profile, you can re-install OSX from now until the heat death of > the universe and it won’t fix a thing. > > > On Dec 24, 2015, at 1:51 AM, Thomas Fritsch <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > i managed to find a spare hdd now unless i got THAT unlucky that its bad > > too, i'm right back at the orginal issue (apps bounce but no open/freeze > > up) i tested the ram but im Still thinking thier faulty and i dont have > > any pcs to run a ramtest on. > > > > unless hdd + ram's bad i'm curious just how far i knackered my old iMac ;-; > > -- > Bruce Johnson > University of Arizona > College of Pharmacy > Information Technology Group > > Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs > > -- -- -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iMac Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
