G3 Freezes

Hey all this is my first new pst to the board, just wanted to say hi to everyone.

Ok now down to the problem, i have a G3 B&W 450mhz, 1gig mem, 4hd's and upgraded video rage card, and when i go to start it up it freezes. It doesn't matter if i start it from the hard drive or boot from a cd. Same thing everytime.

i have replaced the memory with 4 brand new 133 sticks, reimaged the boot drive and flashed the pram. but still nothing helps.

doe anyone have any idea what it could be? neye:

It could possibly be bad memory, or bad memory on the actual video card (even though you have just replaced it)., or it could be the hard drive perhaps.

If you can get an external hard drive and load the OS (or someone has one with loaded OS) see if it boots up from that (but I think you will have to set it up to do so).

If it does boot up from that then it is the harddrive or the data on it.

EDIT: Scrap the above as you said it does the same with CD. Try booting up with one stick of ram at a time.

i have a memory tester at work and tested the memory sticks , and the full test came out good, video card is good because i ran it in another g3 and it works fine.

but i dont have the g3 now to test every litlte piece in
another thing i noticed is that it freezes faster when i plug it into a power strip then when it is just into the wall outlet? but it still freezes

Did you take anti-static precautions when transporting the video card over? It is so easy to damage a component with the static electricity in our bodies.

As you say it freezes faster when plugged into a power strip than the wall, that *may* suggest the PSU (power supply unit) is faulty.

When you say you don't have the G3 now to test every stick in what do you mean? Do you mean you do not have the problem machine anymore?

FWIW I mean take out the memory in your troubled machine leaving one stick in and start booting with that. IF it freezes, take out that one stick, and put the second stick in, and boot with that...IF that freezes, then take out the second stick you tried and put the third stick in.....and cary on doing that to see if you can get a successful boot.

Although your memory may test fine with a software memory tester, the only way to truly rule out a memory issue with the machine would be to do the above

Good luck!

that is what i have, a memory testing machine that i can test any memory in . and they all full tested fine. the video car is fine too, i made sure to use the band and a static free pad. the cpu i have no way of testing and im not sure how to get a replacement cheap...i found 2 on ebay but im not sure if i want to pay 30+ for one.....just to test and then it not be the fix, and it still freeze up you know

Just a thought, How many Hard Drives have you got fitted?? And what Revision is the B&W?? Rev.1 machines could NOT cope with more than ONE hard drive!!!

Also make sure all the FIRMWARE updates have been done......only possible with OS 9.

Squonk said:

Just a thought, How many Hard Drives have you got fitted?? And what Revision is the B&W?? Rev.1 machines could NOT cope with more than ONE hard drive!!!

Click to expand...

the 450Mhz version only came with the 2nd Rev motherboard I believe, so this wouldn't be the issue.

i have three in there at he moment the original scuzi and the two ide drives

So....u thnk a power supply that little could handle 4 HDDs, 4 Ram sticks, plus the CDROM, upgraded vid card (pulls alot of power) PLUS the CPU, logic board, etc..

unhook the drives and see what happens. If this was a win machine ud be getting BSOD IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Or heck, take a multimeter to the molex connectors and see if the voltage changes any or drops below 12V/5V

i say your asking your power supply to handle too much, start one peice at a time

Also, RESEAT THE RAM. i had a problem like that as well.

yes, probally an over-loaded power supply. i had an old PC that had the same symtoms. After remvoving a couple of hard drives, it worked fine.

you could hookup a second junker PSU No problem, i had to do that to support a RAID array