At 12:29 AM +0100 1/7/2010, Mac User #330250 wrote:
Thanks to all for the great help. It is good to know that people out there still care for old but great pieces of hardware.
Like the old Mac IIci, the Power Mac G3 B&W, aka SmurfTower, is a wonderful work-horse. Great as both a desktop and as a server. There are a LOT of them still in service.
Right now, I'm on a 300-MHz Smurf. It's my basic test machine. Sometimes it's stock, sometimes I throw a G4 into it. Always fiddling around with pci cards and such. Solid machine - takes lots of abuse / fumble fingering, and keeps on ticking.
At 2:07 AM +0100 1/7/2010, Mac User #330250 wrote:
I cannot believe it, but Mac OS X 10.3.9 works too on this G3 B&W.
The Smurf can run every Mac OS release, from 8.5.1 or 8.6 (depends on the model) to X 10.4.11. It was abandoned by Apple only recently, when they dropped G3 support in OS X 10.5 (Leopard). ...But... if you slap a G4 into it, you can run Leopard! (not really recommended tho; Leopard doesn't play well on slower machines, and there are a lot of things that really really really want advanced video cards/features that won't run in the Smurf).
At 1:49 AM +0100 1/7/2010, Mac User #330250 wrote:
I don't believe it! I just booted into Mac OS 9.2.2!!!!! I removed the CPU from its socket and replaced it there. That was the fault all the way it seems.
Great!!!!! [snip]
After shutting it down -- same situation as before -- no screen. Now the monitor goes on and of two times or so, and then it get stuck again.
Re-seat the cpu again, after cleaning.
When booting I always get the disk with the question mark in it.
The bootstrap first tries the drive:volume specified/stored in the PRAM. If that volume doesn't have a bootable system, the bootstrap begins to search through the device tree (internal buses - IDE then SCSI, then the external interfaces). During that search, that ? icon is displayed. When it finds a bootable system it will change to a happy-mac icon (gotta watch fast tho, as the boot replaces it quick!).
So: it is broken alright. I just don't know what's broken. Could it be the PRAM?
Could be. But more likely it just needs to be set. Get the machine booted, then select the correct system from which to boot, using the Startup Disk control panel (in OS 9) or Startup Disk system preferences (in OS X).
HTH, - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.
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