Posts categorized “lowend”.

Rebooting a PowerMac G4 Blue & White

March 17th, 2021

PowerMac G3 booting

After my inventory of all my classic Apple gear, the first big project was figuring out why my PowerMac G3 Blue & White (Yosemite) failed to boot up.

The symptoms:

  • Mac starts up, and chimes the familiar Mac OS boot chime
  • I hear the hard drive cranking away and the fans kick on
  • The new Apple Studio Display registers that a signal is coming in, but nothing shows up on screen

After leaving it sit for a bit to warm up, nothing changed. Time to troubleshoot.

First thing’s first: start with one stick of RAM and see if that works. I started with the lowest memory RAM stick, and after trying to boot, got the familiar “bad RAM” beep. That one’s out! After a few more tries, I found one RAM stick that let the Mac start the bootup process.

Great! We’re in business! I let the PowerMac boot into OS 8.6, and started a Disk First Aid routine to make sure everything in the hard drive was working properly. Everything passed with flying colors.

Since the Mac booted into the OS, I figured a fresh restart would be a smart idea. But that was a mistake. The PowerMac would not boot back into the OS, even after zapping the PRAM, performing a variety of key commands on startup, and multiple restarts. Nothing.

Thanks goodness for the internet. I found a few tips online about disconnecting the motherboard to reset the power supply, performing a hard reset to the motherboard, and letting the PowerMac sit in a time out and think about what its done (okay, that one’s mine).

I tried these techniques over and over again, in a variety of steps, like conducting some ancient spell. A dash of cuda resets, a pinch of removing the PRAM battery, invoking the Command-Option-P-R incantation – I went through a week’s worth of this witchcraft, trying in vain to get that Mac OS 8 boot screen again.

Then, I started at the beginning. What were the exact steps that worked last time? Let’s try that.

Another PRAM zap, and while the Mac hangs on boot, hit the reset button again. It worked. Magic.

Welcome to Mac OS

And here the PowerMac sits, two weeks after I took it out of storage, still humming along and plugged in – mostly because I’m nervous to shut it down again.

Up next for #MARCHintosh: Syncing up my Newton MessagePad and eMate.

Starting Fresh: My Collection in 2021

March 9th, 2021

Making a list...

Jumping back in during #Marchintosh, I needed to do some inventory and check-ins on my Mac and Newton collection. What was working, and what wasn’t? Which PRAM batteries had died, what needed a restore, and what failed to turn on?

Here’s what my collection, and their status, looks like in the first part of 2021.

PowerMac G3

My blue and white G3 Power Mac was still the hub of my collection. It served as the main connection point, a storage system for my old iMac G3 hard drive (and every app and document on that iMac), as well as the backup and sync Mac for my Newton MessagePad and eMate.

In short, it was iffy. After booting up the PowerMac and hearing that familiar Mac chime, the system would not show a screen on my new Apple Studio Display. I went through the usual checklist: swapping out the PRAM battery for a new one, checking RAM sticks to make sure none went bad, a variety of key presses during the startup phase. Nothing. No screen.

Then, after a reset of the motherboard (a tip picked up from an archived G3 manual), and with only one RAM stick (out of the four I had in the slots), magic!

Welcome to Mac OS

I did a quick Disk First Aid routine, checked to make sure apps and documents were still there, and then – for reassurance – rebooted the PowerMac.

Then, naturally, nothing. I was back at square one. The only thing I could be sure of was the Mac did work, had everything on it still, and had now become a mini project all its own.

Newton MessagePad 110

First things first: a new set of AA batteries. I grabbed some rechargeable Amazon batteries, popped them into the Newton, and *bing* up it came. The only problem was the memory button battery had gone dead, so I was back in 1994 and the only contact in my Names was “Bob Anderson.”

Newton MessagePad date

But the MessagePad still worked! I knew I had a backup file somewhere around here…

iBook G3 Blueberry

Ah, my road trip Mac. I love picking up these clamshell iBooks and feeling how sturdy and tough they still are. That’s why I picked this Mac as my cross-country companion: I could drop it off the grand canyon and…well, have a mess. But you get the idea.

I remember thinking about replacing the battery years ago, but never got around to it, so plugging it in with the UFO AC adapter was my one option to boot it up. And good news – it booted into that familiar Jaguar pinstripe desktop.

iBook G3 desktop

Looking around at the files, photos, and music on the iBook, it held some great memories of my Route 66 and Yellowstone trips in iPhoto, blog posts in AppleWorks, and road trip soundtrack songs in iTunes 3.

Newton eMate 300

Sad news: the battery I installed in the eMate is long gone. The machine itself doesn’t even boot up, even when plugged into AC power. I have to add the much-loved eMate to my project list as well.

Macintosh LCII

This little pizza box Mac was a pickup at my old recycling gig. My friend Curtis told me all it needed was a fresh PRAM battery and it should boot right up.

The other element I needed for this Mac was a monitor, something I had now with my Apple Studio Display. A quick adapter later and I had it hooked into the VGA port, installed a new PRAM battery, and voila – it booted right up.

System 7.0.1

This LCII was a minimal Mac: it had one or two applications installed, ran System 7.0.1, and not much else. It was a blank slate, waiting for a purpose. But it worked.

And that’s the collection, minus my OG Mac, the iBook G4, but that’s sitting comfortably in retirement in the basement.

Most of the rest of the collection worked. The others would keep me busy during the rest of #Marchintosh.

Back In Action

March 1st, 2021

Apple Studio Display

After 10 years of on-and-off tinkering, I’m kicking off #Marchintosh with a fun new project: purchasing and connecting an Apple Studio Display to my blue and white PowerMac G3.

The first step? Finding a monitor! After selling off my CRT studio display, I had no way to view my PowerMac G3. I wanted something small and light, and wanted to stick with the G3-era hardware. Luckily I found an affordable display on eBay.

It arrived in great condition, fully working, and ready to connect to the desktop. However, it’s been seven or eight years since I booted up the G3. I took this as an opportunity to turn on and test all my classic Apple devices: iBook G3, MessagePad 110, eMate 300, and a Macintosh LC II.

I quickly learned I needed to install a couple of fresh PRAM batteries in the Mac motherboards, swap out dead batteries in the Newtons, and buy a few adapters to connect the VGA Apple Studio Display to the LC II.

This month, in honor of #Marchintosh, I’ll explore how my old devices are working, what needs help or fixing, and how this Apple Studio Display helps me classic Mac in style.

Apple II Watch

April 9th, 2015

Amazing. Sign me up.

[via Kottke]

Apple’s White Period

July 9th, 2013

Apple eMac

Andrew Kim has a lovely collection of Apple’s “white period” Macs over at his blog, Minimally Minimal:

The designs of this age were so calm, warm and pure, despite the brutally honest and analytical design. I especially love the way the clear layer interacts with the opaque white inner shell.

Agreed. And while Kim includes the G5 iMac in his Mac trio, I’d throw in the lovely harbinger (along with the eMac) iMac G4.

The current aluminum lineup of Macs makes for good design as well, but “white” says “Apple” to my mind. And I’ll always favor white Apple products: the iPhone, iPods, etc.

It’s not always a practical design choice, as Kim points out. A lot of these Macs show their age because of smudges and scratches. I think it’s worth it, to have that gleaming white machine brightening up a room.

Get your (classic) Mac lingo straight

March 27th, 2013

Mac OS extension manager

What’s an extension? An extension conflict? The command key?

A fantastic little site called The Essential Mac has all these keywords listed and defined — great if you’re new to the classic Mac operating system.

It’s also a great primer for everything from Control Panels to those pesky extensions in pre-OS X Macintoshes. And since time on this site seemed to stop in 1997, you have a classic reference piece. The Essential Mac comes courtesy of the South Shore Mac Users Group in Long Island, NY.

(via System Folder)

PowerBook G3 Round-Up

December 26th, 2012

Stephen Hackett at 512pixels:

In retrospect, it’s easy to see just how important the PowerBook G3s were to Apple. The machines bridged the gap between old-school and modern Macs, and each generation included significant progress in Apple’s mobile technology.

The photos are great, as is the analysis. Having never owned a PowerBook G3, I often find it hard to get the naming system just right.

[via Thomas Brand.]

System Folder: Vintage Italian Apple brochures

October 31st, 2012

Page 2 of a 1998 Italian Apple brochure introducing the iMac G3, the PowerBook G3, Mac OS 8 and related software.

Good “vintage” stuff from Riccardo Mori over at System Folder. Love the lady’s shirt.

Medicinal eMac

August 20th, 2012

Funny what you find in a top-rated, university-backed medical research facility.

Man, those eMacs. Still plugging along.

Riccardo Mori on vintage tech

July 9th, 2012

Riccardo Mori posts at the wonderful System Folder:

The main reason I’m surrounded by vintage tech in my studio is that these machines still serve a purpose. The fact that ‘progress’ has obsoleted them does not mean they have stopped being useful.

Amen, of course. Mori’s posts is a good part two to my On My Mac Hobby.

We all do this stuff for varying reasons. Isn’t it funny how sometimes we feel the need to defend our interests?