[wrinklysteve]

Greetings. I have been given an Apple G4 with OS X 10.4 to prepare for a friend. All went well for hours, installed printer, upgraded Java etc, shut down for lunch. On restart, no signal to monitor. I have reseated everything, cleaned graphics card contacts, changed RAM, changed HD ribbon cable, tried recommended resets, to no avail, no signal to (the perfectly good) monitor that was working before. Logic board battery shows 3.2V. Sounds from the HD indicate booting is happening, power management shutdown happens, mouse movement elicits mechanical voice, just nothing on screen.
The very last thing I did before shutting down was to finish updating Java.
Is there anything else I can do, please apart from try a boot from system disk when I get it?
I was so impressed with the computer when it was running!

[Yankee Rose]

Hi wrinklysteve:

I assume you disconnected the monitor before you opened the system up?

If you can, I suggest first trying a different monitor to rule that out.

Otherwise, the graphics card most likely needs to be reseated (again) or was damaged. Make sure the video lead and gold contacts are clean, and make sure the plug off the monitor lead is clean.

If still no signal, sounds like it was damaged and will need to be replaced.

Hope that helps!

[wrinklysteve]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I cleaned contacts, reseated the card (several times), exchanged RAM chips, tried 2 different monitors. The curiosity, to my mind, is that it worked a treat up to the point when it was shut down, then...... well.......didn't. The noise from the HD suggests it is booting, when I move the mouse I get a muffled voice which might be saying something about Airport menu. I did, when it was shut down, insert and then remove an Airport card, intending to do other things before experimenting with that.
Shouldn't I get something to the monitor at startup before the boot sequence cuts in, even if the graphics card has failed?

[Yankee Rose]

wrinklysteve - try a Safe Boot. Hold your Shift key down on startup and see if you get anything.

[wrinklysteve]

Tried that too, Rose - zilch. I'm visiting the donor on Thursday who has the install disks, we'll try a boot from disk and see what it tells us, I'm told that there's a diagnostic process included in the boot.
Many thanks

[wrinklysteve]

In case you're still on this one, Rose - tried the install disk but no diagnostic help because nothing to monitor. Question: when switching on, isn't there normally a signal to the monitor with, say, a grey screen, before the OS puts the graphics card in control? As there isn't, what dies this suggest that has failed? It is clear from noises that the HD is loading the OS!

[Yankee Rose]

wrinklysteve:

Did you insert the first install CD then press and hold the D key when booting to try to get to the hardware test?

Any chance you can try using Apple Remote Desktop to access the system? I still tend to think the graphics card is toast.

[wrinklysteve]

Thanks, Rose, pressed D on boot, audible messages but not a flicker so graphics has to be the answer, I'm sure you're right. I'm a complete novice with Apples in general and G4s in particular; to avoid expense if possible, can you suggest a minimum AGP graphics card to 'prove' the problem? Or where best to look? I have an AGP card for PC - should/wouild I get a sig through it before drivers failure?

[Yankee Rose]

Hi again wrinklysteve:

2x AGP compatible PC cards that have had the ROM flashed to Mac ROM, can successfully be run in the G4. I'm not knowledgeable on how to do this, but evidently Nvidia and ATI have cards that Mac users do this with.

As far as finding a replacement/test graphics card, you will need a 2x AGP card which is Mac specific, usually named "Pro Mac".

Take a look at this link which discusses 4 cards to consider. You'd need a used one, obviously. Besides eBay check out We Love Macs or Low End Mac.

Hope that helps!

[wrinklysteve]

That's very kind of you, Rose, I'll follow this up. Many thanks.