Ken Spencer kspence@redacted.invalid wrote:
I loaned a friend my old Quadra 605. He recently returned it saying it wouldn't boot - I get the startup chime, the HD spins up, but the monitor stays blank
Definitely a case of deadbattery-itis, Doctor.
Many many Macs, from the LCIII onwards, exhibit this behaviour if the PRAM has become irrevocably scrambled from loss of power.
The cure: a new "half-AA" 3.6v battery.
Geoffrey
(remove excess baggage to reply via mail)
"Ken Spencer" kspence@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:3c392fa0.24141926@redacted.invalid
Try reformatting the drive using Drive Setup. A dead battery is known for causing the HD to get corrupted. A reformat and a reinstall of the OS might be the solution. I had to do that on my Performa 575 when the battery died since the disk utilities wouldn't fix the corrupted disk structure. The battery is somehow connected to the initial powerup of the monitor adaptor and some other vital functions such as the HD. It can cause the HD to get corrupted. If you wait to long, it could destroy the volume directory.
Hey Will:
This is interesting news.
I was going to reformat the drive, but neither Norton Utilities, nor Apple's Drive Setup sees the drive... :-(
Am I missing something?
Check to see if it is an Apple branded drive. If it is not, you will need to get a third party formatter utility like FWB Disktools PE to format the drive.
thanks.
-- Will Strutts - wrstrutts1@redacted.invalid - Whatever!
C'est moi! http://www.facelink.com/wrstrutts
Just hacking away...
Ken Spencer kspence@redacted.invalid wrote:
I loaned a friend my old Quadra 605. He recently returned it saying it wouldn't boot - I get the startup chime, the HD spins up, but the monitor stays blank. It doesn't seem to boot all the way, because the Ctrl+Cmd+Pwr keys won't cause it to restart.
I checked the Motherboard battery, and it is almost 0. I have had low Motherboard batteries in the past, and PRAM settings were lost, but the computer would always start.
Do you think this is the problem. Have you hear of computers not booting because of a dead MB batt?
Yep. I just recently been reading the comp.sys.mac.misc newsgroup and there was a question very similar to yours.
Apparently some Macs will not boot when the battery is dead, or very low on juice. To get it to boot again, you should press the power button at the back of your Mac On-off-on again in fairly quick (a second or so) succession. This should breath life into your Mac.
But until you get a new battery fitted into your Mac, you'll have to use this method for the time being.
Unless you know how to fit the battery, you should really get a Apple dealer to fit the CORRECT battery for your Mac, otherwise, a wrong one can cause damage to your Mac (explode or not boot).
There is a Tech note on this subject:
thanks, ken