G3 Beige problem

arri

arri

Registered
i'm the happy owner of two old Beige G3's MT,
and as some sort of strange virus they both
suffer from a strange problem since about
four weeks;

at random moments the screen goes black
it's as if the videocard just quits working
the machine is still running just fine,
i can login remotely, but a black screen locally

if i have an apple monitor connected,
it turns off, just as with powersaving
but i have powersaving turned off...

the only solution to get the screen back
(temporary) is a reboot

the very strange thing is that they both suffer
from this almost simultanyously

They both have Jaguar installed, plenty of RAM
and i can't believe it's the battery, since they don't
have problems with finding the harddisk etc...

anyone an idea?
they're still very usefull for lot's of things
i don't want to set them with the garbage

thanks!

and merry cristmas


regards
arri
 
An indication that your PRAM battery is going south is when the time and date does not stay correct. Most PRAM batteries last about 4 years.

Check the cables from the monitor to the case. make sure they are snug in the port.

Have your reset the PRAM? Start up the computer and hold down the command (apple) + option + P + R. Continue holding down those keys until you hear the chime three times. Then release the keys.
 
If you hadn't posted exactly which system you were on, I would swear that you were using a PowerBook Wallstreet! That was the type of problem they were having starting with 10.2.1. It may be a problem with the older open firmware.

Which version of Jaguar are you using? It might help (if you have or can make the space) to archive and install 10.2 again and use the 10.2.6 combo update (I've had pretty good luck with 10.2.6, so I haven't moved to 10.2.8 on my systems).
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but this is *exactly* what is happening to my beige G3 desktop. It's very frustrating. Did you find a solution? I'm currently running 10.2.8, and it seemed like it only started happening after I upgraded from 10.2.6 to 10.2.8.

any suggestions? Change the battery or re-install?

I also run a web server (with ssl), phpbb forums (using mysql), a mail server (using sendmail) along with a few other things. Will an archive and install preserve all these old settings? Will the forum and mysql databases, as well as the apache config files still remain in tact?

Thanks for any help.

J
 
You try resetting the NV-RAM and PRAM?

start in open firmware (Command-option O-F?)
run these commands

reset-nvram (press enter)
reset-all (press enter)

The computer should reboot, you may want to replace the battery also. Good luck
 
Okay, I've tried that. We'll see what happens.

But does anyone know if doing an archive and install will preserve all the other settings I mentioned above?
 
Yes, the archive, preserve and install does save your home file and settings.

But you should use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up your home folder and any other folders you deem important.
 
Hi

after a lot of experimenting, re-installing etc... both the G3's i wrote about (1st post) somehow don't show the problem anymore...
i down-graded one to OS 10.2.5, as i had the feeling it was system related.
the other is running 10.2.8, but i use this as a (headless) server, so i don't really know if it still has the problem, but if i connect a monitor, it always works fine.

Also, attaching an other monitor seemed to have influence...
it's a weird problem, and a search on the net shows many people experience this problem. I had hoped Panther would run on those machines, as it's so much faster than Jaguar, but well...

goodluck
 
the apache config files, etc aren't stored in the home folder. I was just trying to confirm that archive and install archived and installed /etc, /var, and so on.

The monitor thing is strange, though. What monitors were you using? I am currently using an AppleVision 1710.

But so far resetting the PRAM has seemed to temporarily fix the problem. Or more accurately, the problem hasn't re-appeared yet (a day and a half later). We'll see how it goes. Perhaps I can hold out long enough for XPostFacto to gain full support for beige G3s.
 
QuadrupleJ said:
the apache config files, etc aren't stored in the home folder. I was just trying to confirm that archive and install archived and installed /etc, /var, and so on.

The monitor thing is strange, though. What monitors were you using? I am currently using an AppleVision 1710.

But so far resetting the PRAM has seemed to temporarily fix the problem. Or more accurately, the problem hasn't re-appeared yet (a day and a half later). We'll see how it goes. Perhaps I can hold out long enough for XPostFacto to gain full support for beige G3s.
Click to expand...

I DO know an archive and install preserving user and network settings preserves /private/var/db/ which is where the computer's network settings are stored (in networkinterfaces.xml and System Configuration) but I'm not totally sure about the other invisible folders, nor the other things in /var for that matter.

AppleGuy :rolleyes:
 
okay :) well looks like I better back up the whole thing just in case. Now going slightly off topic, but will carbon copy cloner make a backup that I can then restore and boot off just like before?
 
ehm.. theoretically YES!
i use CCC for maintaining a series of 12 ibooks used for workshops etc,
with a 'master-harddisk' (external firewire driver) that contains a complete installed system and all software needed for the workshops.
after every workshop i just reformat all ibooks, and copy the image from the masterHD. for me this works fine..
 
Well, as it turns out, zapping the PRAM didn't do anything. The problem still occurs. Furthermore, it happens consistently when I try to repair disk permissions.

I think (unfortunately) it might be archive and install time :/ Then the question is whether I install all the way up to 10.2.8 or stay at 10.2.6.
 
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