dr-sbaitso
New Member
Hiya folks!
Running into a weird issue with my Power Mac 6500. While tinkering earlier today, trying to add a PCI Rage 128, it was rendered un-bootable. Following adding the PCI card, the system would power on, but never reach the happy mac symbol. In stead the mouse cursor would freeze and it would never progress further. The system was definitely working prior, and PRAM battery is still alive, but even after removing the Rage 128 card (and, in fact, all add-in cards other than the RAM and cache card), it no longer boots.
Here's where it gets interesting: if I disconnect the hard drive, I'm able to boot to an installer CD with a valid system folder.
So far I have tried:
• Removing all PCI and Comm Slot cards
• Zapping the PRAM (the system freezes early enough during boot that Cmd-Opt-P-R never fires)
• Removing the logic board, pulling the PRAM battery for 5 minutes, pressing the board reset button, and booting
• Using a different hard drive
All of the above reach the same result. As long as any IDE drive is connected, boot fails almost immediately after video is initialized. At this point I have no idea if this is somehow a result of testing the PCI card, or if I just coincidentally triggered it during installation. I did have to remove and re-seat the RAM and cache cards during installation, but given I can boot an install CD, they seem to be functional.
Are there any troubleshooting steps I've missed? Have I somehow zapped the drive controller? All of the contacts on the board look fine, and I don't see any obvious debris in the slot inside the computer. If that were the problem, I would assume my repeated re-seating of the board would at least cause intermittent changes in behavior.
Thanks!
Running into a weird issue with my Power Mac 6500. While tinkering earlier today, trying to add a PCI Rage 128, it was rendered un-bootable. Following adding the PCI card, the system would power on, but never reach the happy mac symbol. In stead the mouse cursor would freeze and it would never progress further. The system was definitely working prior, and PRAM battery is still alive, but even after removing the Rage 128 card (and, in fact, all add-in cards other than the RAM and cache card), it no longer boots.
Here's where it gets interesting: if I disconnect the hard drive, I'm able to boot to an installer CD with a valid system folder.
So far I have tried:
• Removing all PCI and Comm Slot cards
• Zapping the PRAM (the system freezes early enough during boot that Cmd-Opt-P-R never fires)
• Removing the logic board, pulling the PRAM battery for 5 minutes, pressing the board reset button, and booting
• Using a different hard drive
All of the above reach the same result. As long as any IDE drive is connected, boot fails almost immediately after video is initialized. At this point I have no idea if this is somehow a result of testing the PCI card, or if I just coincidentally triggered it during installation. I did have to remove and re-seat the RAM and cache cards during installation, but given I can boot an install CD, they seem to be functional.
Are there any troubleshooting steps I've missed? Have I somehow zapped the drive controller? All of the contacts on the board look fine, and I don't see any obvious debris in the slot inside the computer. If that were the problem, I would assume my repeated re-seating of the board would at least cause intermittent changes in behavior.
Thanks!