See what I mean about having the forum reset the text in my previous post...yuck and I
know it isn't the fault of the moderator.
But, as difficult as it is to read, it is an outside confirmation of the many different
problems that show up with a bad battery.
Here's a bit more that I took out of the previous letter to keep it inside the text
limit:
As I said before, the staring sequences of the Starmax fit the same patterns of all the
macs I have used and a problem of a low battery appears to fit the various complaints
of different startup conditions.
The read-only-memory in our machines keeps essential information in place regardless
of anything else. Its function could probably only be changed by driving an ice pick
through the chip. As I've discovered, it's called the CUDA manager and it controls the
startup of most macs. When you start your mac or SM with the power key on the keyboard
you are using the CUDA manager.
The PRAM is another chip holds information that is important, but may need to be
changed from time to time. The battery, with a tiny current flow, keeps that
information alive so it can be accessed by the operating system and used to keep the
computer the way you want. That same current keeps the internal clock running and does
other things I don't know about--or want to in my old age.
The battery, if the voltage is low, still has a current flow but it may not be enough
to keep the information the same and so the instructions become garbled or corrupted.
That information the SM would use in some next part of a startup sequence perhaps gets
goofy and unusable and would freeze the sequence at some point.
And we would then see a non-predictable status of no power, no video, no arrow, no
icon, no blinking ?, whatever, etc. as an individual problem each of which may lead us
off to troubleshot a different cause: Power supply, RAM, hard drive, connectors etc.
The point is that all the problems are in the control of the CUDA Manager and we, with
all good intentions, are looking in the wrong areas based on where the sequence has
faltered.
When you replace the battery, I have found recommendations that you hold down the CUDA
switch for 30 seconds. I agree with them, and as I have though about it, the reset
button probably isn't a physical act of shorting or clearing the inside of the chip, it
may be more like switching on yet another software program which resets the info back
to the basic instructions mac provided at the factory.
It would take battery power to do that and that would explain why some problems exist
for those who still haven't gotten in a new battery. The corrupted info would persist
despite pressing the button and our collective frustration would continue since the
problems would stay the same.
I would suggest holding the CUDA switch down for 30 secs when you are troubleshooting
like Bill and Flicker are at the moment. I can't duplicate corrupted PRAM on my
machines right now since I'm using them to write, but I'll promise to give it a try.
In any case, I know I was accurate in stating that the SM will go through the startup
sequence without a hard drive. I've done it a half dozen times as a test. And, as I
discovered, if the CUDA has been properly reset, the SM starts up even without a
battery.
I'm not recommending running the machine without a battery. You can't change the PRAM
without the battery and the machine isn't useful in the basic state without the proper
date and time, etc., but I hope my explanations help in not wasting time in chasing a
infinity of other causes.
Batteries die, and they die faster without recharging because they're supplying
continuous current to the PRAM. Recharging means keeping the Starmax plugged in to the
wall power so the there is a trickle current for the battery.
Having a CUDA manager means software actually switches the power supply on and off, but
the battery circuit is independent and needs to stay on. The CUDA manager is a
wonderfully complex asset, and it's a pain in the butt as we have discovered. So, what
else is new?
Bob Wulkowicz
--
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