G4 Flat Screen Trouble

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I have just been given a iMac G4 Flat Screen. I am trying to set it up for my son. I have no history on the machine, or why it was given away.

When I go to power up the fan turns on for about 3 seconds and that is all I get. No humming like it is trying to accomplish any thing else.

Does anyone have an idea whether it is completely fried?

I would guess that it is a power supply problem but the start up of the fan throws me.

Also is the slot for memory next to the airport card, is that for optional memory or did someone strip the memory out? If it is necessary then I may have a really easy answer.

Thanks for any answers!


As an update the fan comes on and stays on. The light for the base does not come on at all. I get no light on the monitor. I hooked up this iMac up to my Powerbook G4 and found nothing. Not sure if I was doing it right, but hooked it up via firewire.

Thanks for any insight.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
20" Intel iMac 2.4 Ghz/3G Ram/320HD, Snow Leopard. PBook G4, 1.5Ghz/1.5 Ram/250 HD, Leopard 10.5.6.
I assume that we are talking the iMac with the dome base and lamp design and that you have no discs, so first to answer the memory question, the slot is for expanding the ram, it should have at least 256 in built, so unless someone went to a lot of effort, you should have that.
When you connected the iMac to the powerbook did you use Target disc mode? You need to for it to show up.
If you are getting sounds it's unlikely to be power, so try a few things first.
Reset the PRAM but starting up holding command, option, P and R, wait for 3 "bongs" then release. Then try this.
Restart holding Command, option O and F. If it gets to a whitish screen with text type the following (the hyphens are important):
Reset-nvram and then hit return
set-defaults and hit return
reset-all and hit return.
After that.
Boot into single user mode by starting up and holding the Apple and "S" keys.
Wait for the text screen to load (if it does!) and then, depending on the OS it has you need to type (again exactly as here)
fsck -y (for anything pre Tiger)
fsck -fy (for Tiger)
If you have got that far, and it has run the text, see what the answer it gives is, You would like to be seeing "the macintosh hard drive appears to be ok" if it doesn't show taht after trying it a few times, try and report the message you get back here, and maybe we can aid more then.
See if any of that helps first.
It could be an internal battery issue, but I haven't come across that fault to know for sure.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
If none of the above work (you cannot boot at all, then it is probably one of 3 things:

Check all slots - it may have no RAM at all (you already suspect that)

If there is RAM then try replacing the motherboards Battery (about half an inch long and very cheap to replace)

If that fails, try starting up from an install CD - if you don't have one maybe a mac friend may help you out) press C on startup to boot from a CD

If all that fails then I think you're stuck :-(

PS - last time this happened to me it was the battery - cost my about 5 pounds for a new one
 
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Well I have swapped out the PRAM Battery and I still get nothing. I have tried the suggestions as far as resetting the PRAM but get nothing Does the fan run on a separate power from the main computer and monitor? If so it might still be the power supply, if not then I think it is a bigger problem.
 
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After all the sage advice I was still getting nowhere. Took it to the Apple store this morning, they are pretty sure that it is the logic board. Does not appear that this is a worthwhile option to replace. Any suggestions?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
20" Intel iMac 2.4 Ghz/3G Ram/320HD, Snow Leopard. PBook G4, 1.5Ghz/1.5 Ram/250 HD, Leopard 10.5.6.
Bummer! The most expensive component is always the one to go!
Depending on your technical prowess, you could try and source one and replace it yourself, I have found ebay to be helpful here.
If not, you could sell it as faulty I guess. They still make good money, even broken!
 

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