eMac screwy after power outage

andychrist

andychrist

devil's plaything
Yesterday evening there was a little lightening here abouts and the whole town lost power for around seven hours (I do not believe my home was struck, just the utility.) Upon manual restart, the date and time on my eMac had reverted to I think December 1977. Odd, because the PRAM battery is less than a year old, and they generally last me three to five years. Also now, when I start up my eMac, Airport asks me to choose a network to join and then asks me to enter a pass word. The Network Preference remains checked, "Remember any network this computer has joined."

What ever could have happened, and how do I fix this?

ThanX in advance for any help.
 
Well the weird thing is that it was only my external drive that was affected. Booting up from the internal disc worked okay, and now that I've booted back to the external the problem seems to have been cleared up.

Still I wonder why my PRAM battery did not preserve my settings, guess that's what happens when a Mac does not get a chance to shut down properly.
 
I have seen eMacs do that quite often. Power failures often lockup the logic board, so the system won't power up until you reset the system. The reset will force the time & date to go to defaults. Very common on eMacs, and might clear itself if you simply unplug the eMac and leave it unplugged for 30 minutes or so. If it powers back on, you can expect the time and date to be defaults, too. The situation will sometimes cause that backup battery to drain very quickly, so it wouldn't hurt to replace that battery now. You could also test that battery with a voltmeter, if you have one available. Replace the battery if it's less than 3.5 volts.
 
Good idea to test the battery. I've got a multimeter, so next time I power off I can turn this 50 pound sucker upside-down and open 'er up.

Funny thing, but when I bought this eMac used, it came with a dead battery but worked fine. When I replaced the battery and reset the PRAM, I lost all my settings.

Guess I'm just lucky it wasn't my house that was struck by lightening this time, I really hate when that happens.
 
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