Well now I know not to put new RAM in without my contact lenses in!

Put new RAM into my Apple G4 but didn't realize it was backwards. Fired the computer up and the power light went on for a second then it just went out.

Realized the RAM was backwards when I checked to see whether the chips were seated properly, so I reinstalled it. Hit the power button, but it just lit for a second, then out.

Put the old RAM back in without the new RAM, same result.

Found a thread on the Apple bulletin board that suggested resetting the PMU button, but that didn't fix anything.

Any suggestions, guys? I'd be extremely grateful.

Peter

I did that 4 years ago when i got my first mac. The board is fried...you have to send it back to them.

I had the same problem with my Dual G4. Although it happened whenever i worked on the machine.

After a while it just started. Totally intermittent. It was almost like there was a time device that felt movement and stopped the machine from being booted until the clock ran its course.

I'm probably talking ****, but i have yet to find out what the **** actually happened.

Sorry, i am no help.

Argghh...

Tried a few things like taking out the battery overnight then resetting the PMU. No luck so far.

XHipHop, if you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost to replace the board -- or did you just get a new computer?

Have a call in to a local tech support shop -- I'll see what they say on Monday. Will post back when I know what's going on.

For the record, I did have glasses on -- just don't see as well as I do with contacts!

Just about anyone who'se been messing with technology for a long time has hoist himself on a similar petard at some point. Don't beat yourself up on this too much.

Good luck to you!

retro.. i fried 2 logic boards(well i think bad ram ram and an echo mia card did it) while under warrantee and apple replaced free of charge.... but they told me if it ever happened again i would have to pay the price of the board which was 800 bucks!! i hope it works out for you..

Well I've spoken to a couple tech guys who have confirmed what you guys have said. And they feel it's not even worth fixing -- just time for a new computer. which is a bitch when you've got everything running right! But ClubMac has a deal where you can get it for a year with no payments, no interest. That takes the sting out of shelliing out 2 grand right off the bat. I'll probably look for a logic board on ebay and see if I can pick one up cheap enough to justify getting the old one running. In which case I'll either keep it as a spare and move it up to the drummer's house to record drums or sell it cheap to defray the cost of the new one.

I really appreciate the support you guys have shown -- gearslutz is a beautiful thing!

P

$800? US dollars? Jesus Harold Christ! I've always been a PC guy since the 8088's.. never had anything against Mac's, except that they've traditionally been a bit too proprietary for my liking. But $800 for a motherboard?! And the slots/ram aren't keyed to prevent one from accidentally putting in ram backwards? Amazing..

Ferrari parts are expensive too ;-)

Believe it or not, I plugged a power cable into a hard drive BACKWARDS! (Don't ask me how...okay, the side of the drive casing was cracked...I was able to insert it upside down!)

Needless to say, the drive was toast...

So a Mac's like a Ferrari? Hey, it might be.. it's been years since I've used one. At any rate, sorry to hear about your expensive stroke of bad luck.

Logic boards are like $20 on ebay...


http://search.ebay.com/g4-logic_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

Already bought a new G5 -- but I'm going to look into this to see if I can salvage the old one.

a ferarri will get you laid. pcs get audio work done.