On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:58:13 -0600, Jay E. Krauss, Jr. wrote: > I had a similar problem with one of my MDDs several months ago. Took > it to an Apple authorized repair store. Happily the computer was > still under Apple Protection Plan; they replaced the motherboard. Has > worked well since. Sorry I don't have a more encouraging answer. I want to thank everyone for their help. I believe the problem is fixed now. Apparently I either didn't leave the battery out long enough or I left the power cord connected so that the pram was not drained. This time I left it sitting for an hour and made sure the cord was detached and it started up OK. S. Kennedy