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I found and eMac and am having a few issues

1st gen eMac service manual here:

I forgot that you had that older eMac. (I try to forget the "fun" of getting the power button connector in place, too :p )
I used to keep a couple of power buttons for those old eMacs, because they are so easy to damage, but long gone, and I only keep (bad) memories, so I can avoid working on them, ever. :D

The PMU battery on the logic board is probably dead (Die very quickly if the PMU crashes), and might prevent boot. Follow the manual to reset the PMU after you replace the battery.

Inspect the capacitors on the down converter board. That distributes power to the logic board and devices, and is that strange board that attaches perpendicular to the logic board. The capacitors (silver cans) often will be visibly swelling/leaking, and would be a quick first step to look at.
 
Last edited:
DeltaMac said:
1st gen eMac service manual here:

I forgot that you had that older eMac. (I try to forget the "fun" of getting the power button connector in place, too :p )
I used to keep a couple of power buttons for those old eMacs, because they are so easy to damage, but long gone, and I only keep (bad) memories, so I can avoid working on them, ever. :D

The PMU battery on the logic board is probably dead (Die very quickly if the PMU crashes), and might prevent boot. Follow the manual to reset the PMU after you replace the battery.

Inspect the capacitors on the down converter board. That distributes power to the logic board and devices, and is that strange board that attaches perpendicular to the logic board The capacitors (silver cans) often will be visibly swelling/leaking, and would be a quick first step to look at.
Click to expand...
Looks like I had the right manual.

Now that you mention the PMU it would make sense that I hear the hard drive start then stop if it's not working. I bet the battery thats in there is the original battery that came with it so I guess I'll just get a new one and reset the PMU.

I don't think it's a capacitor because I looked at most the capacitors and they looked fine and it has been booting previously so I doubt that that is the issue.
 
Well seems like the PMU wasn't the issue. I'm still having the same problem. :(
 
Did you ever replace the old hard drive?

You have listed several problems that you have had since you started this thread...
Which problem are you still having? Just the hard drive?
If you still hear the drive start, then wind back down - could be the hard drive, or the down converter.

Does the CRT turn on?
Have you tried an Open Firmware reset?
 
I put the hard drive back in instead of the SSD.

I'm still having the issue of the hard drive start then wind back down.

It sounds like it's turning on but's there's no image.
I think I tried that? Is that when (on windows keyboard) you press windows key+alt+O+F

I don't know if this is important but when I remove the ram I get a beep that sounds like it's running through it's self-test.
 
It's very normal to get a beep when you remove the RAM.
That single beep is reporting that no memory is installed or detected - which is exactly correct!

Reinsert the memory.
Try the Open Firmware - That's the correct key combo for that.
Keep in mind that a generic or Windows keyboard might not respond correctly to boot keys on a Mac.
If you are trying a wireless keyboard, that's even less likely to work. It's too early in the boot sequence, and a bluetooth dongle won't be recognized, so no wireless keyboard,will work for booting to Open Firmware. You must use a wired keyboard.
Buy or borrow a wired USB keyboard.
There are some generic or Windows keyboards that won't send the correct key codes, even if wired USB. You should try, but if the key codes are not accepted, then you have to try a different keyboard until you find one that works.

Even if you see nothing on the screen --- you can type in the commands for an open firmware reset
Boot holding Windows key+alt+o+f
You should hear the boot chime, keep holding the same keys
You should get a white screen within about 10 or 15 seconds, with a few lines of black text. If you hear the boot chime, but don't see the white screen, that's OK for now, just continue to hold the same keys for about 30 seconds, then release the keys. You get to assume that the text is on the screen, but you can't see it!
(No spaces in any command, and each word is separated by a dash/hyphen
Now, type: reset-nvram
Press Enter, then type: set-defaults (If you DO see the text, you should get an "OK" after you enter each command
Press Enter again, then type: reset-all
Press Enter again. THIS TIME, you should hear the boot chime sound, because your eMac will reboot.

If you don't get the boot chime (ever), and nothing else happens, and you try the commands anyway, and still nothing happens, then you have a power problem, likely the down converter board - or the logic board - or might be the analog assembly, which is part of the CRT.
 
DeltaMac said:
It's very normal to get a beep when you remove the RAM.
That single beep is reporting that no memory is installed or detected - which is exactly correct!

Reinsert the memory.
Try the Open Firmware - That's the correct key combo for that.
Keep in mind that a generic or Windows keyboard might not respond correctly to boot keys on a Mac.
If you are trying a wireless keyboard, that's even less likely to work. It's too early in the boot sequence, and a bluetooth dongle won't be recognized, so no wireless keyboard,will work for booting to Open Firmware. You must use a wired keyboard.
Buy or borrow a wired USB keyboard.
There are some generic or Windows keyboards that won't send the correct key codes, even if wired USB. You should try, but if the key codes are not accepted, then you have to try a different keyboard until you find one that works.

Even if you see nothing on the screen --- you can type in the commands for an open firmware reset
Boot holding Windows key+alt+o+f
You should hear the boot chime, keep holding the same keys
You should get a white screen within about 10 or 15 seconds, with a few lines of black text. If you hear the boot chime, but don't see the white screen, that's OK for now, just continue to hold the same keys for about 30 seconds, then release the keys. You get to assume that the text is on the screen, but you can't see it!
(No spaces in any command, and each word is separated by a dash/hyphen
Now, type: reset-nvram
Press Enter, then type: set-defaults (If you DO see the text, you should get an "OK" after you enter each command
Press Enter again, then type: reset-all
Press Enter again. THIS TIME, you should hear the boot chime sound, because your eMac will reboot.

If you don't get the boot chime (ever), and nothing else happens, and you try the commands anyway, and still nothing happens, then you have a power problem, likely the down converter board - or the logic board - or might be the analog assembly, which is part of the CRT.
Click to expand...
Sorry I took so long but I tried that with 2 keyboard one which has LEDs and it didn't light up. So I would assume at this point it's something wrong with the logic board. I don't even know if I can even fix this so I was wondering would there be a way I could gut any unnecessary parts and wire a vga(or something else such as BNC connectors) connector to the display cable. I would still prefer to fix it but if I can't I would rather do that since high end CRT monitors are getting rarer and rarer by the day.
 
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