iMac Bondi - Dead?

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I decided to try to get my old iMac (original 266 MHZ Bondi) going and I am getting a flashing question mark. I have tried about everything that I can think of. Tried booting from CD (both OS9 & OS10) which it will not, pulled the hard drive to make sure it is set to slave, zapped the PRAM and NVRAM, tried booting without extensions. It will boot to the open firmware without any issues. Any other ideas what my problem might be or IS MY BONDI DEAD.
 
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did you press the C key when booting from an optical disk

Which version of OSX did you try and boot from
 
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the flashing question mark means the HD is dead, but you should be able to boot from your OS disks by holding the C key after you press the power button. Maybe the hard drive and the optical drive are out?
 
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Why set the hard drive jumpers to slave? They should be master.
 
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I believe I had OSX on it last. I have not booted it for a couple of years. I tried with both OS9 and OSX disks. I did try the boot by holding the C key - so maybe the cd drive is bad. I fear more that it is the motherboard though because the odds of them both going bad at the same time are rare. I mispoke, it is set to master.
 
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Motherboard Battery

Checked the motherboard battery?

I have not, and did not realize that could have such an effect. How do I go about checking it (I know how to get to it) and replacing it. It would not surprise me one bit if that is it since it has not been used for so long.
 

dtravis7


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I have seen a lot of the older 233 and 266 and even 333 iMacs where the CDRom went bad and would not read most CD's leave alone boot from one. One thing that worked for me on my 333 was clean the laser (CAREFULLY) with a Qtip in some alcohol and then dry it with the other end. Got the drive to read so I could install 10.3 on it. The CD Drive in my 233 Bondi Blue is stone dead. Even cleaning won't make it read anymore.
 
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I have seen a lot of the older 233 and 266 and even 333 iMacs where the CDRom went bad and would not read most CD's leave alone boot from one. One thing that worked for me on my 333 was clean the laser (CAREFULLY) with a Qtip in some alcohol and then dry it with the other end. Got the drive to read so I could install 10.3 on it. The CD Drive in my 233 Bondi Blue is stone dead. Even cleaning won't make it read anymore.

It very well could be that too since it sat for so long and has never been cleaned. I will try cleaning tonight and let you know if I have any luck.
 
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I have seen a lot of the older 233 and 266 and even 333 iMacs where the CDRom went bad and would not read most CD's leave alone boot from one. One thing that worked for me on my 333 was clean the laser (CAREFULLY) with a Qtip in some alcohol and then dry it with the other end. Got the drive to read so I could install 10.3 on it. The CD Drive in my 233 Bondi Blue is stone dead. Even cleaning won't make it read anymore.

Would it be possible to boot from either a USB key or an external CD drive. Just weighing my options if cleaning the laser does not work.
 
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Do NOT boot from the OS10 disc with out a HD or on a new HD as the firmware is not there to support the UNIX code. On a new HD install you will have to bring it up to current firmware to reinstall 10.
 
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Didnt work

Tried a new battery, cleaning the laser, booting from OS9 only - no luck. I think my last resort is to boot from USB or an external CD drive, is that even possible on a power pc?
 
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Tried a new battery, cleaning the laser, booting from OS9 only - no luck. I think my last resort is to boot from USB or an external CD drive, is that even possible on a power pc?

Your going to have to replace the internal CD, now when you have it opened up you can use a full size CD drive to test with. This is a tray load Imac right? You have changed the battery so you know the insides all slide out. You can run the machine with its inards all out on the floor.
 

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