Wont Boot after unplugged?

Question

Just received an iMac g4 and it didn't come with a power cord. I will be receiving one in a couple days anyways. I have to unplug the cord and use it to charge my laptop and am wondering if this is the reason why my imac g4 700mhz 256 mb ram wont boot up. It hangs at the apple logo with the spinning loading symbol. I usually have it unplugged for a max of 12 hours and most often have it unplugged for about 3-5 hours though. Now when I get a chance later today I am going to attempt to reset the pram and check to make sure my imacs startup disk isn't set to network boot. Any help would be well appreciated.

Answer 1

You could try to boot the computer while holding the Shift key down, but
if you do not know the Admin password, you won't get past the next step
where you'd have to log in with that, in order to proceed. This step can
take time, as you hold the Shift key to start in SafeBoot mode, and at the
login, you let go of the button (to be sure it boots Safeboot.) Then one can
generally run Disk Utility, and choose 'repair disk permissions' in Disk First
Aid, on the volume Macintosh HD, or the name given the computer drive.
If the small battery on the logic board of the iMac G4 no longer has power,
it would need to be replaced. The battery is a 1/2AA Lithium 3.6v battery.
And getting there is a chore.
You could try resetting the PMU (power management unit) as one of the
temporary last resorts; since the lack of a good battery on the logic board
may require this action if resetting the PRAM/NVRAM doesn't help it.
• How to reset PRAM and NVRAM:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
• Resetting the iMac's (Flat Panel G4) - Power Management Unit (PMU)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1712
A take-apart guide is available to help get into it, to replace battery and
also upgrade RAM and both kinds of drives within the computer.
• iMac G4 Take-apart for Drive and Ram upgrades (and battery)
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/imacg4/imacg4takeapart.html
The original power cord with the 'odd end' that goes into the iMac G4
is one of the harder ones to get; except for the fact some PC portables
use a similar cord to go into their power brick, may help find another.
Usually, the original cords go missing if a computer is sitting around
where someone may decide to use it elsewhere, or on another iMac.
Hopefully this helps somewhat.
Good luck & happy computing!
+{ edited to add safeboot info }+