iMac (G3 slot-load) firmware refuses to apply!

O

Ogredude

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OK, so here's the deal.

I picked up a 350MHz G3 slot-loading iMac used. It had OSX 10.2.8 on it already. This is the first Mac I've ever had. (Well, second, I had a Quadra 660av a couple years back. But definitely the first potentially *useful* Mac.) I've been a PC tech for many years, though.

If I knew then what I knew now, the fact that the screen was warped like ) ) would have tipped me off that something was up. I figured it was just an adjustment that needed twiddled.

After reading about it and OSX for a while, I decided to upgrade it to 10.4. Here's where the problems really started kicking in. I booted to the disc, ran the installer, it tells me I don't have the right firmware. Great. So I do some research, and find out I need to install OS 9.2 to install the firmware to install OSX. Fine. Borrowed a 9.2 disc from a friend, got to work.

But the computer started doing Really Weird Things. To the point I thought it was actually broken!

Googled for a while, found http://www.capecodgraphics.com/imac_firmware.htm that showed me how to deal with all the symptoms and go on with the update.

So I finally get OS 9.2.1 installed on there, and get it connected to the Net, and download the firmware update, and run the firmware update, and hit the Shut Down button on the firmware update, and hold the programmer's button in, and poke the power button, and it gives me the long BEEEEP that it's supposed to... Followed almost immediately by a startup chime.

Then it usually goes into S4 behavior (powers down after 7 seconds, PAV overloading). I can usually clear the S4 by unplugging for a few seconds. Then it usually goes into S1 (loads normally, screen never turns on), and I hear a startup chime, a pause, a second startup chime, a long pause while the OS loads, and a "ding". I put the machine to sleep, wake it back up, to get the monitor to turn back on, and I'm presented with a little box that says something to the effect of:

The iMac firmware didn't apply. Read the instructions and try it again.

Not very helpful. I'm following the instructions exactly. It refuses to apply the update.

Upgraded to 9.2.2, symptoms remain identical.

I have nothing extra plugged into this mac except the Mac keyboard and hockey puck mouse, and the network cable. There's absolutely no software been installed on it besides the OS, and there's nothing in the startup items folder.

It has been, through this entire procedure, using a single 64MB PC100 stick of RAM by Micron, labeled "Apple"... The stick that came in the machine when I got it. Presumably the original one.

I read that the firmware update sometimes has problem with RAM. So I tried a different stick. I've tried a 512MB PC133 Kingston and a 256MB PC133 off-brand. Neither of them made the firmware update take.

I'm at my wit's end here, about to start looking for a really tall building to throw this machine off of. Please help!
 
I tried a couple more sticks of RAM thinking that might help. It didn't.

that imac firmware page suggests at one point putting the firmware update into the startup items. Do they mean the firmware file or the updater, or both of them? Or should I avoid doing this?
 
OK, when you heard the long tone, did you let go of the programmer's button? If not, then try doing that and see what happens. My experience is that once you hear the tone, you have to let go of the programmer's button and then the firmware update begins.
 
Yes, I released the button when the long beep ended. The machine pauses for a couple seconds, and then I hear the startup chime.


Just a note here, I forgot to mention that while the machine was doing its Really Weird Things, but before I'd found the imac firmware guide I linked to in the original post, I found some symptoms matched Apple's KB entries. And their proposed solution? You guessed it, zap the PRAM. Yep, I wish they'd put a warning label on those articles.
 
No, you're supposed to let go of the button the second you hear the long tone, not after it finishes beeping.
 
I decided to try it once more.

After reading elsewhere about others having problems, I decided to try to get 4.1.7 to apply, even though I'd tried that version before several times with no success.

The machine's been unplugged for a couple days now because I was too frustrated to deal with it. Maybe that's the difference.

Either way, I hit shut down, held the programmer button, turned it back on, let up the button after the beep, got a startup chime, and waited. After a few minutes, I heard three beeps and then the power light started blinking.

It'd be green, then it'd go orange, blink four times, and go to green for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence.

I let it sit there doing that for probably 10 minutes before I decided nothing else was going to happen, and I held the power button down for 5 seconds to force it to shut off. I turned the machine back on, and after the bootup, it came up with a message saying that the firmware update to 4.1.7 was successful.

I immediately ran the update to 4.1.9, and it went exactly as advertised.

It's alive!!!
 
Continue to hold in the programmer's button until you hear a long tone.
Release the programmer's button when you hear the tone.

Now, if you've never done this before, you don't know if it's going to go "beep beep beeeeeeeeeeep" or what, so you pretty much have to hold the button down till the tone finishes.
 
True, the instructions could have been better but it didn't mention anything about holding it until the tone stopped. It just said to let it go once you hear the tone.

Regardless, I'm glad that the update finally worked for you. :cool:
 
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