Intermittent power / boot prob: G3 b&w

[xgipper]

Hi
My G3 b&w tower seems to have an intermittent problem with booting - every few times I go to boot there is no power. I have tried it with different power cord/socket etc but it seems to make no difference. Any ideas what this could be?
Cheers

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

About your edit: when you post a new thread, you are automatically subscribed to it (if you haven't changed that in your preferences here). No need to go back and re-subscribe to a thread you've posted, unless you somehow unsubscribed from it manually.

Intermittent power problems, in my experience, usually stem from the PRAM battery on the motherboard going bad. They are cheap and easy to replace, and available just about everywhere that sells computer parts.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

One thing you can try is resetting the PMU (actually, on the B&W G3 it's called the "CUDA") on your machine -- perhaps somehow the PMU (er, "CUDA") got corrupted. To do this follow these instructions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760

 

[xgipper]

About your edit: when you post a new thread, you are automatically subscribed to it (if you haven't changed that in your preferences here). No need to go back and re-subscribe to a thread you've posted, unless you somehow unsubscribed from it manually.

Have changed settings so now subscribed by default. Don't remember changing them originally, but who knows....

Intermittent power problems, in my experience, usually stem from the PRAM battery on the motherboard going bad. They are cheap and easy to replace, and available just about everywhere that sells computer parts.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

One thing you can try is resetting the PMU (actually, on the B&W G3 it's called the "CUDA") on your machine -- perhaps somehow the PMU (er, "CUDA") got corrupted. To do this follow these instructions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760

I tried the suggestions made in this thread, specifically:

* Unplug the Unit
* Remove the Battery
* Push the CUDA (PMU) Switch (count to 5 slow) (I may have pushed it more than once given my inexperience!)
* Push the Start button on the front of the computer (count to 5 slow)
* Let the unit sit for 15-30 minutes
* Replace the Battery
* Plug it back in, and push the start button​

What happened was that it then booted from its front button. I shut it down and it booted again with monitor attached - got a message about wrong date - which I expected - and on next boot it re-set date. Then it failed to boot again using either the keyboard (ADB) or button on front of G3.

However when I accidentally moved a USB plug into the back of the machine from a camera dock, it re-booted! I tried unplugging the dock but still wouldn't boot using front switch. So now it seems I can re-boot by plugging in the dock at the back (also plugged into mains and turned on), but by no other means. Also I'm unclear whether it needs a new PRAM battery based on the above.

Any further ideas given this please?

Cheers