G3 imac can't be turned back on - can firewire help???

a G3 imac in the lab has all my research results stored and crashed today. it happened after i shut it off by clicking on the shut down from apple icon. for unknown reasons (i suspect it may have something to do with the power supply), the imac can not be turned back on. given that the lab is considering purchasing new G5 imac's, all i need is to somehow retrieve all my data from the dead G3 imac and transfer them to the server and later when we have the G5 i can put them onto the new G5. i heard that there is a firewire thing that i can use to transfer data between computers, the only question is if i can transfer my data while the G3 is off. any input (be it about rebooting the old G3, or transferring data without turning on G3) will be greatly appreciated

the computer needs to be on for you to be able to use firewire disk mode. does the imac turn on breifly, and then shut back off? If so, take off the bottom plastic and un- plug the video cable. Then try turning on the computer. If it boots up,the imac has a dead flyback transformer. Connect a standard PC monitor to the video out port, and you'll be able to use the imac with the external monitor.

If the imac fails to come on even after the video cable is removed, it would probally be best to take the hard drive out, and put it in another working computer. You'd then be able to transfure your data out. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but It'll be a lot chaper than having a drive recovery company try to extract the data.

Good luck!

Is it possible to run OSX on an imac G3?

take the hd and put it in a different mac then send it to your server
-chris

gh11 said:

Is it possible to run OSX on an imac G3?

Click to expand...

yes, it is. If your imac has firewire ports, you can run up to OS X tiger. If it only has USB, panther is your limit. Make sure you have enough ram before you do the upgrade.( 256mb +)

also note that the g3's need firmware updates before OSX should be installed.

see this page for more infomation about firmware updates:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117

Put the HD in a working mac as noted above or get an external USB/Firewire case and install it in that. Then you can transfer the data or simply use it as an external disk on a new computer. There are two case designs for the G3 iMac; the steps to open the original series are here: http://www.djonmac.com/index.html, for the later models here: http://www.appletalk.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=436.

Badger said:

Put the HD in a working mac as noted above or get an external USB/Firewire case and install it in that. Then you can transfer the data or simply use it as an external disk on a new computer. There are two case designs for the G3 iMac; the steps to open the original series are here: http://www.djonmac.com/index.html, for the later models here: http://www.appletalk.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=436.

Click to expand...

seeing that his imac has firewire, he'll be needing take apart guide 2.

True, I overlooked that. Also, considering the price of these models in the used market, it may be cheaper to buy a used one and swap in the HD than getting an external drive case.

IF it will not boot up AT ALL and will not even show any signs of power when you try to turn it on, it's one of two problems:

power supply
motherboard

In this case, you can easily retrieve your data by simply removing the hard drive.