02-06-2007, 10:01 PM

I bought a used Mac G3 very cheap. When I turn it on lights come on, fans come one and it plays a few notes of music, but I never get any video. I tried 2 monitors and both act like they are not plugged in to anything.

I see it has a PCI video card. If I put one of the many PCI video cards I have pulled out of PCs in it will it give me video or do I need a Mac specific video card?

I know the G3 is old and slow. I just bought the Mac for hands-on training. Looking around the web trying to find and answer to the above question has already taught me a bunch of things about Macs. See, it's already a great teacher and I have not even got it to boot yet!

02-06-2007, 11:05 PM

You can use a PCI video card from a PC, but not without modifications. You'll have to flash the BIOS before the Mac will recognize it. Most of the time, ATI cards are used. I'm not sure if any other brand will work.

02-06-2007, 11:44 PM

Thanks, I contacted the seller and asked if they could just send a video card to swap for this one.