On Dec 18, 2008, at 11:04 AM, Clark Martin wrote:
> > Peter Mc Court wrote: >> Learned ones, >> >> I just rescued a Ruby iMac (G3, 400MHz, 36GB HD, CD drive, 256MB RAM, >> OS9.2.1, Firmware 4.1.9) from the Uni skip. She (Ruby) is fully >> functional, except that I need to use the power button on the box to >> start her up. >> >> None of the keyboard power buttons for my other 3 iMacs (similar >> vintage) can start Ruby up, but they all can shut her down. >> >> I see that Ruby's power button is sits more deeply in the bezel >> than on >> the other iMacs, so I guess she has been subject to some abuse. Is >> there >> an easy fix for this power button issue? I've read that one should >> avoid >> using the power button that sits on the iMac box. > > Don't believe everything you read (except this :). There is nothing > wrong with using the button on the computer to power the computer up. > It is not recommended to use it to turn the computer off, you should > use > a controlled shut down instead. > > If the button works to initiate a shut down then the button is okay. > The difference is on power up the button sends a signal through the > USB > connection to start the computer. This was a non-standard > implementation of USB and Apple eventually abandoned it. It's > possible > the iMac is "new" enough that it doesn't implement the keyboard power > on, I don't know when things changed. > > Me, I wouldn't worry about it, just use the power button on the > computer. > What Clark said, plus this: Somewhere in the 400 MHz G3 iMac production run, probably fairly close to startup of 450 MHz production, Apple stopped using power on from the keyboard. I've seen some 400 MHz units that would power on from the keyboard; others that wouldn't. I've also seen some early 400 MHz units that wouldn't run Apple Hardware Test while later units will. So it's clear to me that some major shifts in iMac G3s happened during the 400 MHz run. I've not seen that many 450 MHz iMacs, but I don't think any I saw would start from the keyboard. All 500 MHz G3 iMacs (both those with Motorola processors and those with IBM processors) will start only from the built-in power button. The same is true of the IBM-only 600 and 700 MHz. Your built-in power button may have a weak return spring, which is why it doesn't sit flush with the bezel. Or someone may have opened up the unit, fiddled with the internal power button (yep, there are two -- three actually -- the outer button pushes on the spring-loaded inner button, which has a projection that pushes the actually power button), broke something and jury rigged a fix. As long as yours works, I'd leave it alone. HTH, Jim --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Low End Mac's iMac List, a group for those using G3, G4, G5, and Intel Core iMacs as well as Apple eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to imaclist-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
