[G4] G4 in a coma

[CJ Scaminaci]

Congrats!!!



> It's alive!!
>
> The battery-button-zap (in a particular order for a particular amount 
> of time) trick worked! My G4 lives again. 4 restarts, 2 shutdowns, and 
> no more problems. I seriously thought for awhile I'd need a new 
> machine, or an expensive repair (my sympathies to you, Snoke Jay). 
> Thank you all hugely for help and advice!
>
> -Bruce Meyers
>
> Here's the problem and solution recap:
>
>
> ---From: CJ Scaminaci <halogenius at sbcglobal.net>
>>
>> This has happened many a time to me. It's most likely corrupted NVRAM.
>> NVRAM stores startup disk and other information. There really is no 
>> way
>> to clear it other than pressing the CUDA button on your motherboard.
>> Here is the procedure:
>>
>> 1.Hold down the CUDA switch for 10 seconds.
>> 2.Remove the battery for approximately 30 minutes.
>> 3.On startup zap the PRAM (Command-Option-P-R) about 4 times.
>>
>> If this is unsuccessful you may have a hardware conflict or bad
>> hardware.
>
>
> --- btfarmer at optonline.net wrote:
>>
>> After replacing my (crashed) second hard drive, my
>> nice G4 dual 533 will not boot up.
>>
>> I turn it on, I get a startup tone, the fans go on,
>> the light on the front goes on. Then: nothing. No
>> hard drive activity, the screen stays totally black.
>> It will not boot from any CD either.
>>
>> The weird part: I took it to Tekserve in NY, a guy
>> there started it at least twice... successfully!
>> Told me it was probably just a power surge, nothing
>> really wrong with it. Just needed a few hours
>> unplugged. I took it home, and booted it myself.
>>
>> It started fine - once - then went black again when
>> I restarted!!  It was like that Warners cartoon with
>> the singing frog, in reverse... :(
>>
>> I tried:
>> disconnecting all USB/Firewire/ethernet cables.
>> taking out and trading the RAM
>> zapping the PRAM
>> replacing the motherboard battery and pushing the
>> reset button
>> leaving it unplugged all night
>> trying a different outlet
>> trying a different surge strip
>> trying a different power chord
>> taking out ALL the hard drives.
>> taking out all the PCI cards (except the graphics
>> card)
>