Re: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question.
On Sep 28, 8:03 am, Aaron wrote: And how do you measure the amperage of a battery? If you have a DVM with a milli-amp capability that is greater than that which you expect is being drawn from the battery, you might try hooking it up in series with the battery circuit. Put a jumper across the meter leads before you connect it to the battery. This will protect it from any potential surge which might be greater than the DVM can tolerate. Remove the jumper once the rest of the circuit is established. Might work...not responsible for damage...blah, blah, blah. -- T.T. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question.
Thanks to Dan, moss and Simon Royal for their responses. I did finally manage to test my PRAM battery and it's quite strong -- about 4V according to my meter, which is only a bit inaccurate. I don't remember what motivated me to check it, but I decided to try different RAM configurations, and it seems (tentatively) that one of my 512-MB sticks may be defective, or perhaps incompatible with the rest of my RAM. Anyway, my computer seems to be running a lot more reliably with just the remaining three sticks in it, and 1.5 GB is enough RAM for whatever I do, although I imagine that switching between programs may be faster with more physical RAM. - Aaron My original post: Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:19:20 -0700 To: g3-5-list@googlegroups.com From: Aaron [EMAIL PROTECTED] I'm sharing this here, since a search of my archive of the list doesn't turn up this info. A couple of days ago, when I was doing various cabling changes inside my FireWire 800 MDD, at one point it wouldn't start up at all. I mean no visual or aural indication of any activity when I pressed the power button in various ways. Then, after other changes, it finally did and then, shortly after in the same configuration, it didn't! To make a long story short, after I had given up and was starting to move my drives and more into my old Dual 867 MDD, a friend came over for help with his Pismo that he was having a problem with.* I was able to do a web search that quickly turned up the solution: ::: When the MDD won't power up, just unplug the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it in again! I realize that if I had done the right thing and unplugged the power cord before working inside the computer, the problem wouldn't have arisen during that process, but it might have shown up the next time I shut down and tried to restart after I finished working on it. QUESTION: Is it likely that this strange behavior presages any more serious problems? If so, what can I do about it beforehand? Also, (1) can I check the PRAM battery without removing it and (2) how does one remove it? I'm guessing the PRAM battery may be bad because, when I reconnect after disconnection, I get the message about the computer's date being too old. (Since the computer automatically connects to the internet, the date time get corrected quickly.) Note, though, that the same person who reported the solution above also said that replacing his PRAM battery, although it solved other problems, didn't solve the startup problem. - Aaron --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question.
At 5:19 PM -0700 9/20/2008, Aaron wrote: A couple of days ago, when I was doing various cabling changes inside my FireWire 800 MDD, at one point it wouldn't start up at all. I mean no visual or aural indication of any activity when I pressed the power button in various ways. Then, after other changes, it finally did and then, shortly after in the same configuration, it didn't! ::: When the MDD won't power up, just unplug the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it in again! QUESTION: Is it likely that this strange behavior presages any more serious problems? If so, what can I do about it beforehand? Depends on what'all you did in the system. Sounds like the PMU needed rebooting. You do this by (one of): a) Pressing the CUDA button ONCE. b) Removing the PRAM (Backup) Battery and replacing it after about 30 seconds. c) Removing main power from the system. In general... DO NOT be fooling with the hardware of a system while it has power. Some people like to keep it plugged in, to provide a good ground. And that's ok, if you've cut the power off at a power strip or something. But otherwise Also, (1) can I check the PRAM battery without removing it and (2) how does one remove it? No. Unplug the system and pull the battery. If it has a plastic cover on it, use a small flat blade or screwdriver to widen its wings. I'm guessing the PRAM battery may be bad because, when I reconnect after disconnection, I get the message about the computer's date being too old. Yes, loss of time is the one of the primary symptoms of a dead/dying PRAM battery. Definately time to replace it. - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question.
I have a similar sort of problem with a MDD i recently bought. It will not restart if you shut down from the software (menu). It will only restart if you unplug it for a few seconds, and then plug it back in. If you do a hard shut down by holding the power button, (hardware shutdown), it will start up fine. I thought it was a software/pram issue, but the more i searched this on various boards (i'll find a link tomorrow- sorry) it seems to be a dying power supply issue. Please let me know if you get it to work with a reset, i haven't been so lucky and have been thinking about finding a power supply. I hope your issue is a bad battery. If it wouldn't hold the time/date for an hour if you had the computer unplugged, just replace it. they are cheap enough and you can rule that out. -moss On Sep 20, 8:19 pm, Aaron [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm sharing this here, since a search of my archive of the list doesn't turn up this info. A couple of days ago, when I was doing various cabling changes inside my FireWire 800 MDD, at one point it wouldn't start up at all. I mean no visual or aural indication of any activity when I pressed the power button in various ways. Then, after other changes, it finally did and then, shortly after in the same configuration, it didn't! To make a long story short, after I had given up and was starting to move my drives and more into my old Dual 867 MDD, a friend came over for help with his Pismo that he was having a problem with.* I was able to do a web search that quickly turned up the solution: ::: When the MDD won't power up, just unplug the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it in again! I realize that if I had done the right thing and unplugged the power cord before working inside the computer, the problem wouldn't have arisen during that process, but it might have shown up the next time I shut down and tried to restart after I finished working on it. QUESTION: Is it likely that this strange behavior presages any more serious problems? If so, what can I do about it beforehand? Also, (1) can I check the PRAM battery without removing it and (2) how does one remove it? I'm guessing the PRAM battery may be bad because, when I reconnect after disconnection, I get the message about the computer's date being too old. (Since the computer automatically connects to the internet, the date time get corrected quickly.) Note, though, that the same person who reported the solution above also said that replacing his PRAM battery, although it solved other problems, didn't solve the startup problem. - Aaron * Actually, the Pismo was having a problem with _him_. The problem is that, despite having good enough mental powers to be a decent casual chess player, he's so tech-phobic that he can barely use his cell phone beyond calling and answering. More to the point, he can't remember what the TCP/IP Control Panel is for. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
RE: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question.
Aaron. Kind of related. I recently had 50 blue and white G3s to repair, and some showed no sign of life. However, most of them were fixed using a good PRAM. Also my sister-in-laws Quicksilver G4 lost power unexpectedly in a power cut, and wouldn't start up. Inside the door is a reset button labelled S1 (or maybe P1), pressing this allowed it to boot up again. This might help. Simon --- www.simonroyal.co.uk and www.nmug.org.uk (sent using Nokia E71) -original message- Subject: MDD startup problem and solution, and a question. From: Aaron [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 21/09/2008 01:19 I'm sharing this here, since a search of my archive of the list doesn't turn up this info. A couple of days ago, when I was doing various cabling changes inside my FireWire 800 MDD, at one point it wouldn't start up at all. I mean no visual or aural indication of any activity when I pressed the power button in various ways. Then, after other changes, it finally did and then, shortly after in the same configuration, it didn't! To make a long story short, after I had given up and was starting to move my drives and more into my old Dual 867 MDD, a friend came over for help with his Pismo that he was having a problem with.* I was able to do a web search that quickly turned up the solution: ::: When the MDD won't power up, just unplug the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it in again! I realize that if I had done the right thing and unplugged the power cord before working inside the computer, the problem wouldn't have arisen during that process, but it might have shown up the next time I shut down and tried to restart after I finished working on it. QUESTION: Is it likely that this strange behavior presages any more serious problems? If so, what can I do about it beforehand? Also, (1) can I check the PRAM battery without removing it and (2) how does one remove it? I'm guessing the PRAM battery may be bad because, when I reconnect after disconnection, I get the message about the computer's date being too old. (Since the computer automatically connects to the internet, the date time get corrected quickly.) Note, though, that the same person who reported the solution above also said that replacing his PRAM battery, although it solved other problems, didn't solve the startup problem. - Aaron * Actually, the Pismo was having a problem with _him_. The problem is that, despite having good enough mental powers to be a decent casual chess player, he's so tech-phobic that he can barely use his cell phone beyond calling and answering. More to the point, he can't remember what the TCP/IP Control Panel is for. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
