Newsgroup: it.comp.macintosh
Titolo: True Mac Experts: Help! Strange boot-up/power problem.

Well, I thought I was a mac expert until I experienced the following
problem.  Apple customer support diagnoses it as a hardware problem.
Our local mac repair guy says the same, but doesn't know what hardware.
Me, I am not so sure.  Here are the symptoms.  If there are any true mac
experts out there please, please help.  I am stuck on my 486 until my mac is
fixed
and I live in the mountains and help is far away.
Here it is:
Configuration:
Performa 6400/200 (no AV).  56K Global Village X2 in modem port, keyboard,
etc.
32 MB ram (one 16mb and one 8 in dimm slots).
Symptoms:
When booting computer normally one of two things happens:
a) a chime and hard disk whirling, but no green light on CPU or monitor.
The machine is on, but not all there.
b) When it feels like it, (1 out of 10 times, usually after a long rest
(power supply?)),
the green light comes on both the CPU and monitor, but the monitor only
shows:
the mouse arrow stuck in the upper left corner with a light blue screen
bordered on
the left by dark blue.
So, sometimes I can successfully boot off of my Norton Utilities CD-Rom.
Once, three days ago the computer booted up successfully from the hard drive
and all systems were a go until Netscape crashed and I had to re-start.
On restart I had the same problems (see letter a above).
Leading up to this fatal problem I had experienced changing color tones
on my monitor from normal to blue.
So, to try to fix this I have:
Rebuilt the desktop.
Thrown away the finder preferences.
Reset the memory button on the motherboard.
Run Apple's disk first aid (no errors).
Run norton disk doctor (some occaisional bad blocks).
Run norton's disk optimizer (ran successfully).
Updated the hard disk driver.
Switched power cords.
Cleaned out my hard drive of junk.
Removed unneccessary extensions.
Re-installed Mac0S 8.0
A new motherboard for this cruddy performa is 550 bucks, if that is in
fact the problem.  Is my computer trashed or is this a Mac0S8.0, extension,
finder, power supply, motherboard or netscape bug that someone has seen
before.
Please help!
Please email me directly at 
free...@ix.netcom.com
 with any
ideas, clues or help you may be able to give to me.
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Jeff Allen

Seems unlikely given how old Performa 6400 would be, but I strongly
suggest replacing the motherboard battery. Dead batteries cause weird
problems on different machines, and the problems you describe are very
similar to what would occur on earlier performas. However, I suspect that
your "mac repair guy" checked the battery. Still worth the $10.00
investment, before the $550.00, and you can get a replacement at your
local Radio Shack - just bring the old battery with you.
Also, PLEASE let me know your progress, as a mac consultant I charge
customers for advice/repair, and when I offer it free over e-mail,
feedback on progress is helpful to my business, as well as my ability to
further, and freely, help others.
Respond to 
zel...@psych.rochester.edu
Good Luck
Allan Zeldman


I have a few thoughts on this system.  First strip everything possible out
of the system. and then try one thing at a time to boot from, or at least
see if you get the disk "?". If that doesn't work have someone with a good
Digital Mulitmeter check all of the voltage levels on the powersupply
(both under load, and with no load, and se if it is "noisy").  Third try a
different monitor, you said you had a hard time getting to a shop, so you
should be able to order an adapter to use your vga monitor from your pc. 
Fourth try a different keyboard and mouse (the system should boot with
only one of these at a time but first brush up on your keyboard shortcuts,
I don't know about the 6400 specifically, but most of the newer performas
had a reset button on the back that should turn the system on without the
keyboard).  Finally there is a wierd problem with os8 and the 6400, and
you said that you updated the harddrive driver, but maybe you could try
temporarily go back to 7.5.5 or whatever originally came with your system
and see if that might make some difference.  I too would be interested in
keeping up with what happens with this machine. One last question for you
to consider, I am wondering if you live in one of the many areas of the
country where lightning proliferates.  It is not uncommon for a system to
partially operate after a lightning strike.  If this could be possible,
you might get your homeowners insurance to cover the repairs (but most
likely replacement) of the system.  Good Luck, and feel free to email me
at 
ehu...@iclub.org
Yabba


I remember an Apple tech note regarding the 6400 in particular (I just sold
my backup, a 6400/180 because I really didn't need it).  I would back off
the entire drive (assuming you need whatever data on it) and perform a
low-level format with the latest version of Apple's Drive Setup (1.4) and
then do a clean reinstall of the OS.  I did this with several 6400's that
acted up and it seemed to cure it.  You may want to look up the issue in
Apple's Technical Support Library which is also available via Apple's main
web site (
www.apple.com
)
Hope it helps ya!
-rh


 Have you changed the battery on the Motherboard?

--
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #44    =   Never confuse wisdom with luck
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #218  =  Sometimes what you get free  costs entirely
too much.

...



 


There are some well-known issues with the 6400 under System 7.6.x and
8.0:
- Start up delay: The startup is delayed by approx. 30 secs from you hit
the "power up" key till the leds on the cpu and screen turn on. This is
harmless, but annoying. It is fixed in Mac OS 8.1
- Flashing question mark at start-up
This is a much more serious condition: The selected system disk does not
register at start-up, thus causing the mac to display a flashing
question mark at start-up, because no valid system disk can be found.
This was fixed with Drive Setup 1.3.1 which was released some months
after 8.0. Apple now recommends, that you should *always* update your
hard disk with Drive Setup 1.3.1 before every install or re-install of
System 7.6.x or 8.0.
There is a near perfect match between these two issues and the problems
you describe. They are well-documented on Apple's web-site and you can
download the necessary fixes form there.
As for the additional problem with your monitor displaying everything in
shades of blues, my guess that it is not related to your start-up
problems. This is most likely a wiring or a monitor hardware problem. I
would check that all cables are properly plugged into the right plugs
and so on, and (if it still doesn't work) perhaps try with another
mac->monitor cable or try switching monitors with another mac; this
would help you locate the problem to either mac, cable or monitor.
Regards!
Hans Christian

 
And golf clubs enter into this fellows Macintosh problem how...?
-- 
Rev. Jihad Frenzy
"Gadzooks!", quoth I, "But here's a saucy bawd!"
                I, Libertine
                by Fredrick R. Ewing