Dead iMac 350MHz

Hello,
My sister has been using my old computer (iMac G3 350MHz, Blueberry, w/ 512MB RAM.) Over this past weekend, the computer was on, and it randomly shut off. When my sister tried to power up the computer, it wouldn't power up. I tried different outlets to no avail. I also swapped the power cords, but still no results. The only thing I noticed is when I unplug the power cord from the back of the computer and replug it back in, when the power button is pushed, the green light goes on and it turns off, but only stays on for 1/2 to a 1/4 of a second and shuts off. Any suggestions on tackling this problem? I replaced the PRAM battery about 3 or 4 years ago, but I can't see why it would make the computer completely unable to start up.

The most likely cause, based on the symptoms you describe, is that the analog video board has gone bad. This is the part that connects directly to the CRT display to show the image. I base this guess on the iMac not powering up after a shutdown unless it is unplugged in between attempts, and it powering up for only a short time before shutting off again. It seems to be the most common failure on these old CRT iMacs.
There is a lesser possibility that it is the power supply or the PRAM battery. If the battery has not been replaced recently (a few years), you may want to check that possibility. It looks like this
http://eshop.macsales.com/item-specials/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/
If you have access to a voltmeter, you can check your current battery for 3.6v.
Unfortunately, if it's the video board or the power supply, for most people, it is not an economical fix.

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<Personal Information Edited by Host>

On looking at the secure.log on the iMac with OSX10.6.8, I see these entries at each attempt to scp into the iMac:
Dec 29 11:06:20 molika sshd[7248]: in pam_sm_authenticate(): Failed to determine Kerberos principal name.
Dec 29 11:06:26 molika sshd[7246]: Accepted keyboard-interactive/pam for prowat from 137.110.243.132 port 35571 ssh2
Dec 29 11:06:26 molika com.apple.SecurityServer[26]: Session 0x236a14 created
Dec 29 11:06:26 molika com.apple.SecurityServer[26]: Session 0x236a14 attributes 0x20
Dec 29 11:06:27 molika com.apple.SecurityServer[26]: Session 0x236a14 dead
Dec 29 11:06:27 molika com.apple.SecurityServer[26]: Killing auth hosts
Dec 29 11:06:27 molika com.apple.SecurityServer[26]: Session 0x236a14 destroyed
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Well, low and behold, I used a hair-dryer to warm up the inside of the system, and it booted up fine!
Hopefully this might work for some others with presumable dead iMac G3s. But the question is why??? If I put the system to sleep I get the same "playing dead" iMac and have to wake it up again with the hair dryer. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your input. Yes I did check a number of things, including all connectors fitting ok, but maybe I missed something. I did try swapping out even the logic boards and hard drives, to no avail. My guess it is something with the monitor itself, since the other components work fine, and only when the monitor is heated enough will it start.
I have no problems with the computer otherwise, but I hate to waste electricity - it just can't sleep or it will play dead. Thanks again.
I hope this might help others who might have the same problem thinking it is something wrong with the computer, when it is really the monitor. Go get those hair dryers revved!

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Hi. I have a big problem with my iMac 350. When I want to turn my mac on it does not power on. I have changed battegy, resetted PRAM and nothing. This is weird because When I plug the cord I can see LED (near the DIMM slots) turns on and about half second later it turns off then power LED turns on. It has orange light. I can also hear that monitor "works". Is this problem with motherboard?

cavenba...
I very much doubt you have the same problem a Slot Loading iMac 350Mhz model would have concerning an LED in the DIMM memory bay.
Your touching story here reminds me about... The Boy Who Cried Wolf!.
WOLF!
...Ron

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I have a dead iMac (mobo fried) and was wondering if there is any way I can extract the display panel, and use either a bought or DIY/hacked adapter to use it as a standard monitor.

K Shaffer wrote:
This topic has been well-played here; the replies
given to several inquiries have been researched.
I'm not an expert, only having owned, repaired &
donated to charities, some 140 Macintoshes.
And I've not been heavily into dissecting my four
iMac G4 computers with 17" LCD displays. But
I do know the computer with a failed logicboard
will not support the display; the graphics or video
processor is integrated, and the panel has only
a few of the necessary support circuits with it
above the chrome arm in the panel's case.
There are a few ways of integrating a different
fully self-contained display into the dead iMac
case and perhaps use the existing LCD or an
other LCD and put additional circuitry into the
base of the iMac G4 instead of the dead LB.
And the earlier reply was essentially spot-on.
Other discussions on this topic are most likely
to be found in the proper forum for iMac G4,
Apple - Support - Discussions - iMac G4 flat panel:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=137
Later G5 & Intel-based iMac cases could be
used, empty, to support an entire complete
display of similar size; and the circuits likely
would fit if the case had room enough, empty.
An apology would be in order, if you came in
to a retail establishment and talked to a tech
with a determined to fail attitude like that.
Good luck & happy computing!
{edited to add correct iMac G4 forum link}
My attitude was like that because i know what I am talking about. I now it is not a display. That is what bugged me. he talked to me like I had no idea what I am talking about. he also did not provide an answer like you that was well thought out and seemingly well researched, he said "I guess." I will, and have accepted, that this is not really possible. It was not his answer, it was his attitude towards the question. and just a BTW, I am talking about the intel imac. The white one, not the g4.

Prohibitory Sign on Mac OS 10.3.9 installed onto an iMac 350MHz

Hi.
Mi name is Jose Blanco.
I have an iMac 350MHz which has the Mac OS 10.3.9.
Six mounths ago I installled a new hard drive into this computer and I installed a fresh Mac OS 10.3 onto it.
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Thanks for everything.
Jose Blanco

Hola Jose!
What size is the Hard Drive, and how much space is available?
How much RAM is installed, and is it original or added?
Have you run Repair Disk?
THESE ARE THE STEPS FOR USING DISK UTILITY TO REPAIR YOUR HD
1.Insert your Mac OS X CD-ROM disc or Restore DVD disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2.Once started up from CD or DVD, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from disc to access Disk Utility.
3.Click the First Aid tab.
4.Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5.Select your Mac OS X volume, if necessary.
6.Click Repair. If DU reports errors it has fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported.
7.When finished, select Quit Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
8.Select Quit Installer from the Installer menu.
9.In the resulting pop-up window, choose restart.
10.After the computer has restarted, you can eject the CD.
Have you run Repair Permissions?
TO REPAIR PERMISSIONS ON THE STARTUP DISK
1.Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the startup disk in the left column.
2.Click First Aid.
3.Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions. (I never "Verify". Just run "Repair".)
Rerun RP until the only message it reports is:
"We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util.
New permissions are 33261"
This is a status message and not a cause for concern. You may safely ignore it.
Or these:
"We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1"
"We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1"
Again, these are status messages, which appeared after Security Update 2005-001.
There may be others that you can ignore. Complete list at link below.
Spurious Permissions Errors Using:
Panther 10.3.x
When "Repair Permissions" is complete. Quit "Disk Utility".
If neither of those corrects it, Reset The PRAM & NVRAM.
How To
1.Shut down the computer.
2.Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3.Turn on the computer.
4.Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5.Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6.Release the keys.
Good Luck!
ali b

Semi Dead iMac

I just inherited a semi dead iMac. When booted it displays the OS 9 icon and never goes any further. The previous owner says he was running 10.3.X
I ran Disk Warrior. It completed and the system was rebooted. The drive spun up but the screen remained black. The white LED lit up. I rebooted and held the mouse down to eject the DW disk. The drawer wouldn't open but I was able to manually eject the disk.
I rebooted and attempted to reset the PRAM. I only got one chime. I powered down and unplugged the power cord for one minute. Plugged power in and attempted to reset PRAM with no luck.
I reset the PMU and powered up. The drive spun up, the screen stayed black and the white LED remained dark.
Anyone got any ideas?
TIA,
Mike
G4 400, iBook, G5 iMac, Pismo PB, 1G iPod Mac OS X (10.3.9) F87, Crappy Toshiba Laptop, Trek Y66, Ludwig Vistalites, Birth. Drums. Death.
G4 400, iBook, G5 iMac, Pismo PB, 1G iPod Mac OS X (10.3.9) F87, Crappy Toshiba Laptop, Trek Y66, Ludwig Vistalites, Birth. Drums. Death.

If you have the disks, I'd try installing a fresh copy of OS X. Or running Apple Hardware Test.
Have you tried booting in verbose mode (cmd-v). You might get more a more specific error that way.

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Ok...I'm finally gonna try and set up a home network. Actually, I think I've already figured everything out. I've got this Mac, and older iMac 350mhz running OSX, and an even older HP Pavillion 433mhz running XP sitting here in the same room all networked together from my cable modem and a wired D-Link Router via Ethernet. I was originally going to punch a hole in the wall and put the iMac in my son's room which is right next door. Well, I got to thinking and thought wireless may be a better route to go since I'm not sure if I'll leave that iMac in there or move it downstairs.
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Can I put OSX 10.4 on an iMac 350mhz?

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Robert

Robert,Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Duh...just realized that it doesn't have firewire so that's out the window.
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mrtotes

Retrieving data from a dead iMac

How do I retrieve the data from my white iMac G5 that has a fried logic board? Can I do this myself? And if so how?

Since the logic board is fried, you can perform a post-mortem yourself.
Go to ifixit.com, and find the instructions to remove the HD. NO warranty, and unit dead ... who cares if you crack the shell.
Then buy an external enclosure from macsales.com such as this one (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/FWU3ES2HDK/) or others you find by going to macsales.com and typing "enclosures" in the search box. Ths will access the old drive as "external".

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Hello everyone,
I have a big problem with my iMac 17'' intel, and a service provider in Serbia, the only service provider in Serbia.
I broth my iMac to a service provider in Serbia - GlobeNet (www.applecentar.co.yu ) a month and a half ago, on 13th December 2008.
I finally got some news today, and they said that my iMac is dead. It took a month and a half to find out that it's dead.
My iMac is a few months out of warranty, and it's dead. What does that even mean.
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Am I dreaming this.
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Vertical lines on the display
Super drive won't read or write DVD's
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Thank you for your suggestions.
I called again today, and today some other guy said that they still haven't diagnosed what's wrong with it.
Seams that it was in clinical death hehe. I'm laughing because I don't like the alternative.
They also said today, that they will check my iMac right now, and call me in a few hours. ???!!!!
Why was it there for a month and a half if they can diagnose it in a few hours.
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Hi there, I need help!
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All the best,
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Note, I've also posted this on Mac Fixit.com

Hi again,
just an update and another plea for help. I've tried a few more things, but still get the flashing question mark - zapped the PRAM (again), replaced the battery, checked the harddrive/cd cable, measured the voltage on the battery check points (3.61 vdc), and finally reset the PMU (pressed it only once). Still no sign of the hard drive and open firmware eject cd is still unable to do so.
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Can I say for definite yet whether the HD is dead or not? And if so, then what's happening to the CD drive?
Any help would be most gratefully received.
All the very best,
Kev.

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Dead iMac 350MHz

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