333 Trayloader -9.2.2-setting up for charitable donation, screen went black

Question

I planned on giving my old 333 trayloader to a local organization that cares for abused and difficult kids.
It was working fine, I reformatted the HD and reinstalled OS 9.2.2, everything went fine.
I then went to install an old copy of the STARRY NIGHT Astronomy program left it loading and when I came back the screen was black, the on/off button on the display is orange.
I couldn't shut it down with the power button on the keyboard but when I hit the orange button on the display it shut down and the orange light went out.
I can turn it back on again with either the power button on the keyboard or the one on the display. When I hit either one the CAPS LOCK light blinks once very quickly, the machine chimes and the power light on the display immediately goes orange, the screen stays black.
I can only turn it off with the button on the display, I cannot turn it off with the button on the keyboard.
I tried zapping the PRAM, it only chimes the one time and then nothing else happens.
Was I lucky enough to be present when my video board went bad?
Appreciate any help, I'd like to see if I can get this going so these kids have something to use.
Thanks, Rob

Answer 1

That's too bad. A video board problem now seems more likely. Since it's a 333 MHz iMac, and you mentioned having a few other iMac, so if they are slower tray-loader iMacs, you can take this 333 MHz board and replace one of the slower boards.
Or you can keep the board (and RAM) as spare parts. The CPU board is just the small +daughter card+ that connects to the motherboard, and where the RAM is installed.
You can actually test to see if the problem is the analog video board. Take the bottom panel off. You will see an internal cable that looks like a video cable; it is one of the cables you disconnected when you pulled out the internal chassis. Leave the other cable or cables connected; just disconnect the one that looks like a video cable.
Now try to start the iMac. If the problem is on the analog video board, your iMac will now start up normally. You have bypassed using the analog video board, so the startup self-test does not fail and the iMac starts up. Obviously, you won't see anything on the display, but by the sounds it makes, you should be able to tell that it is running normally. Note: You can shut down without video by waiting until it completes the startup, and then pressing the power button, followed by the Return key.
You can use it this way, by getting an adapter for the internal video connector (about $5 on eBay) and attaching a standard VGA cable and VGA display. If you want more info about doing so, please post back.