Got a new (old) IMac

H

hananova

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I was lucky to get an IMac at an auction the other day. This is kind that looks like a half-globe on the bottom, a silvery post then holds up the ultra-flexible monitor. The model number is "M6498 EMC No.: 1873." Copyright 2002.

When I plug it in the monitor glows with a soft white light, but nothing else happens.

How can I test this to see if it works, without having to buy new operating system software? I haven't been working on a Mac since I edited a newsletter using a Lisa, long time ago.

Thanks for any help.
 
Check to see what else does happen:
Unplug the power. Then, plug back in.
Press and release the power button on the back. You should hear the fan start, and feel air flow out the top of the 'globe'. You can hold the power button for 5 seconds, and the power should shut off completely - and the fan should stop running.
Try a PRAM reset: Is the keyboard an Apple-brand keyboard? Press and release the power button, and immediately press and hold the Command-Option-P and R keys. You should hear the startup boot chime sound. Keep holding the same 4 keys, until you hear the boot chime two more times, then release all the keys. If the screen continues to only have that dim glow (and still does not come on brightly), let it sit for a couple of minutes. Shine a bright light into the screen, looking for anything that is showing on the screen. Look in the top area for a menubar, or look in the middle of the screen for either a login window, or a flashing ?
Tilt the screen, or shine the light from various angles.
Do you see anything at all? Could be very dim, so take your time before giving up.
You also should listen for any other odd 'beeps', especially in a repeating pattern. The sleep light on the bottom right corner of the screen might even start flashing, too.

Any results...?
 
Wasn't thinking too clearly...There is no keyboard and no mouse.

Is it going to do anything without the keyboard and mouse?
 
You need at least a keyboard to attempt a reset.

However, you should be able to stare into the screen, using a bright light. You may find out that you can see a visual element, such as a flashing folder (which at least tells you that the operating system is damaged, or gone (erased), or even that the hard drive is dead, or maybe even removed because of security issues by the previous owner.
You can also tell if the internal fan is running when power is first turned on.
That's about all you can do without a keyboard.
This does NOT need to be an Apple-brand keyboard - any USB keyboard will work, with the caveat that some Windows keyboards may not send the proper boot commands from the keyboard, but many will work with no problems.
Any USB mouse will be OK.
 
I tried the USB keyboard and mouse. It's not an Apple keyboard, though. The chime (do-mi-so chord?) sounds once right after the power button is pressed, the screen lights up for an instant, then goes to black, then lights up again and stays lit. Fan is running, I can feel it. Don't see any hidden folders or menu-bars, the screen is bright. Wonder if it's possible to send those start-up commands from a non-mac keyboard?
 
try this on a Windows keyboard:
Shut down, by holding the power button for 5 seconds.
Press and release the power button, and hold the Windows-Alt-o and F (that's the letter Oh, and the letter F, of course). That should boot your to the Open-Firmware screen, which will be dark screen with light text. Type reset-nvram (no spaces), then press enter.
You should get an OK as a result.
type reset-all (again, no spaces), press enter, and your iMac should restart (the screen should go black for a moment), so immediately hold Windows-Alt-P and R.
Do you get a boot chime sound? If so, hold those same 4 keys until the chime sounds two more times, then release the keys. If you don't hear the boot chime at all (let us know about that), just hold all 4 keys for about one minute, then just release those keys, and give your iMac about another 4 or 5 minutes to do SOMETHING...
If the screen is actually bright, do you ever see the grey Apple icon on the screen?
If not, does the screen remain bright grey (or white), or does it change to a blue screen. that would be a light blue, and not the dark blue like a Windows 'blue screen"....
Do you ever see ANYTHING on the screen? Do a power shutoff again, and press and release the power button, then wait. Give it 5 or 10 minutes.
Do you ever see anything else on the screen?
 
I tried the Windows and Alt keys (on both sides of the keyboard), also plugged it into a Windows PC to make sure the keyboard is good, but nothing happens when I hold down ALT-Windows-F-O or with the Alt-Win-P-R, then press the power button. Aside from the chime which repeats every 10-15 seconds or so (P-R). Seems like it's restarting each time with the chime. F-O goes to the lit screen, but nothing else. I will leave it on for 30 minutes. Maybe I should get a screwdriver, take off the bottom.

Looks like there's a CD drive along the side. Any idea how to get it open up?

Got this from the auction of the "1-Stop Geek Shop" and it was under the repair bench, along with comatose monitors and blasted circuit boards.
 
If you are holding the P-R, and Alt-Win keys, and you get the repeating chime every few seconds, then that's exactly what you should get. Let up on the keys then, and the chiming will stop.

Here's how to open the CD drive: Power off. then, power back on while holding the left mouse button. The drive will open up shortly after the video comes on.

The bottom panel (round, sheet metal cover) can be removed, but all you will see are the RAM memory slot (for a SO-DIMM), and a slot for a wireless card (Apple's Airport or Airport Extreme card)
With that panel off, you'll see the 4 cap screws that you can remove, which will allow access to the inside of the base, the logic board, drives and power supply.

From your symptoms, I suspect that the internal video connection is bad (failed logic board), or the video is not connected (or just bad), and all you get is the backlight for the display.

If your iMac was sold with a bunch of other hardware, found underneath a service bench with other junk hardware that was probably not working, then I think it's not much of a stretch to think that your iMac was under the bench for a good reason - I mean a bad reason! And, it was junk, that you are now getting as far as that shop did to get it to work.
 
Well, the LMB to open the CD door doesn't work. All I get is the same (one) chime, the backlight, the flash to black, then the steady backlight.

I think I'll look inside tomorrow...

Thanks for your help!
 
You can manually open the little cover door in front of the CD tray. Push inward on one corner, and the other edge will open enough to grab and pull open. You can then insert an opened paperclip (I have always called this tool an "Apple Key"...) into the tiny hole underneath the tray, and then you can release the tray.
But, other than successfully opening the tray, I think the iMac is not working good enough for that to actually help you with any other task.

One more question - what happens if you try to boot while holding (only) the (left) alt key? You should get what is called an Option-boot (or boot-picker) screen, which will show at a minimum, two arrow icons, plus any available boot choices (there might be no choices) Do you get the screen with arrow icons?
 
Well, got the CD door to open, anyway. No luck with the (left) Alt key, though. Just shows the backlight.

When I put a CD in the drive, it pops back out after a minute. Nothing on the screen. I'll have to look around and see if I can find a Mac CD somewhere, but CD's are supposed to be platform-independent, like you said.
 
Reading CDs is platform independent, assuming that the files are readable on other operating systems.
If you can't boot at all, then the CD won't do much for you.
A good thing to try would be the Apple Hardware test, which does not rely on an operating system to boot the test, but uses Open Firmware (like a BIOS boot on other PCs.) The Apple Hardware test is ONLY for your model iMac, and is on the original grey installer DVD that originally came with that iMac. Other Apple Hardware tests, for other model iMacs will not work on yours - you have to use the one that was originally made for your iMac.
And - I suspect that won't work anyway.

I suggest that you look for a service shop that can test your iMac properly (if you want to spend the money just to test it.
You COULD find out if there's ANY video (and the problem is simply with the display itself) by plugging in a video adapter. There's a tiny square-ish connector that is for a mini-VGA adapter, which will allow you to connect an external VGA display. Don't try looking for a DVI adapter - they don't exist - only VGA (well, and a video adapter for coax video or S-VGA connection. That might give you video - or might also not work... No way to tell without trying, and that also means that you have to locate one of those special mini-VGA adapters. It looks like this - http://www.google.com/products/cata...56VMIqogweU57G3Bw&ved=0CLgBEPICMAk#ps-sellers
Don't get fooled by mini-DVI, or mini DisplayPort adapters, either of which cannot work. Only mini-VGA is correct.
good luck on that...
 
That loose connector is the antenna cable for an Airport (wireless) card. You can see that area has the normal position for that cable printed on the base, and the cable is usually controlled by a small adhesive tab - probably dried out by age.
You can always try the memory by removing both memory cards: The SO-DIMM inside the first cover, and the SDRAM chip inside the case, near that green battery. You will notice that both memory chips are different. With both removed, you should get repeating beeps, but nothing else will happen. You can then try just one chip at a time, watching for any change.
Important note: There's a mating surface for the heat sink, (near the big connector with yellow wires). You should not run power for more than a couple of minutes without having heat sink compound on that surface. That's easy to find at electronics parts shops. Clean both mating surfaces carefully, and apply the compound before reassembly.
 
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