I recently gave me father my old Mac, a 8100. He lives 50 miles away from in London and despite long phone calls, I haven’t managed to solve his problem. He has been using the Mac for a few weeks without problems (I even had quite a hefty PShop session on it one afternoon) and then yesterday he set it up to be online with the external 56k modem and using a Yahoo/BT account. All was well and he emailed me successfully etc. This morning, however, he started up and logged on to use the web. The Mac froze as he booted up Explorer and so after leaving it for a few minutes, he restarted using the small button on the front of the 8100 (using OS8.6 by the way). Now, although the Mac sounds like it is starting up fine and although the monitor is still powered up (the green light on it is on), the monitor refuses to come on. I have tried (over the phone) all the usual tricks – extensions off, zapping the P-RAM, taking the external modem and SCSI CD out the loop by unplugging both, trying to start up from the OS8.6CD by holding C key, all to no effect. As I say, it sounds like the Mac is booting up but it just won’t drive the monitor for some reason. He has checked the cables, all seems fine. Any help much appreciated, he was so excited last night to be able to email his pals…
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When it boots up, can you shutdown by the keyboard (power key, then enter key OR force shutdown: Shift+Option+Command+Power (key)? OR booted off the Install CD (to rule out the installed System)?
Have you Reset the logic board, replaced the battery, reconnected the cables…
I’m hoping it is the Mac’s battery, certainly not changed in the last four years at very least. Ordered one off the web and will try that at weekend hopefully…
Another possibility no one has mentioned … could he have accidentally adjusted the brightness setting on the monitor down, maybe while looking for a restart button? It would be nice if it were something that obvious and simple.
You’re certain the Mac is working? Do keyboard commands seem to work? For instance, if you have a power button on the keyboard, can he shut down by using the button, listening for the ping, and hitting return?
The same thing has happened to my upgraded Power Tower Pro. Twice in less than a year.
The only thing that brought it back was to re install the old Twin Turbo video card. After a successful boot and shut down, put the Radeon Mac Edition back in and all is well again.
Sorry for slow update but as I mentioned, he lives a few miles away. Anyway, managed to get over there, armed with a new 3.6V battery. My brother was there too who has hardly any experience of Macs but seems to have a knack for thinking stuff through.
So, I open up the PowerMac 8100 case, search around for where the battery is. Can’t find the bugger. Get torch, poke around, nothing. Thinking may have to lever (somehow) the motherboard off. Then my bro spots it, in black casing, on back of main motherboard section. Put in new battery, start it up (attached to monitor)… nothing. Again, as before, Mac sounds healthy but nothing on the screen.
Try this and that, extensions off, usual tricks, nothing.
Open Mac again, try pushing in videocard nice and snug (maybe it was loose), put Mac on its side to get gravity on my side as I slot video card in, feels better, restart… nothing.
Try wiggling cables, try changing power leads into both monitor and Mac, no joy.
Try a few more times, ring another pal (who might have old monitor), no joy.
Eventually, give up, have cup of tea, talk to step-mother. Meanwhile, brother is putting back the external CD-ROm on top of Mac and plugging in the modem to back of Mac again. Amazingly, while I’m not even watching, he restarts it and it comes on!
Hurrah! Couldn’t believe it. Today I get email from my dad who has used it to book a hotel for a long weekend on the coast, he’s v happy.
Many, many thanks to all those who helped and gave advice here 🙂
Did you brother take the sensible precaution of pulling the power cord from the wall while he worked on the machine?
I have found that actually yanking the cord; leaving it unplugged for a while; and then re-plugging and booting somehow resets some internal circuitry.
A perfect example of this: unplug and take Mac to the repair shop. Repair Shop plugs it in "What problem did you say you were having ?"!
