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iMac G3 questions

Capt. 2110

Experienced Member
Joined
May 23, 2015
Messages
362
Location
Texas
1. Can a dead PRAM battery cause a shutdown at a specific time? Specifically at 10 PM?

2. How long can you leave a dead PRAM battery in a Mac without it committing suicide?

3. WHERE CAN I FIND A CHEAP INNER BEZEL? I've seen them for over $60. It's just plastic people!
 
1) I've had all sorts of Macs with dead PRAM batteries and never had them shut down randomly or at a specific time. Sounds like either a hardware problem or software configuration problem.

2) Depends on the battery manufacturer. But to avoid risk, just pull it if it's dead. I have some Israeli made PRAM batteries in my 68k macs that are over 20 years old and still hold enough of a charge to maintain the time/date settings.

3) Good luck on that. I have an iMac G3 Snow that had the case and the inner bezel destroyed by UPS and haven't been able to find either the case or inner bezel for anything less than the price of another used iMac. You'd probably have better luck 3D printing a new one than finding one.
 
1. Can a dead PRAM battery cause a shutdown at a specific time? Specifically at 10 PM?

Like G said, no. But a wacky energy saver setting could. This is internal to the PMU. If mucking around with the settings in Energy Saver (either in OS 9 or OS X) doesn't make a difference, try resetting that after replacing the PRAM battery.

On slot loaders (you didn't specify), the PMU reset button is located inside the RAM door. Make sure you have a good PRAM battery installed first, then open the RAM door, unplug the machine, wait ten seconds, press the grey push button to the side of the RAM slot, and restart.

On tray loaders, you'll have to pull the jawbone logic board out entirely to find the PMU reset. Since you're in there anyway, you might as well check everyone else is good on the board. The PMU switch is located at position S1, near the PRAM battery. Like the slot loaders, make sure you have a good battery installed before you reset it.
 
It's a Saft battery, made in France. My iMac is a slot loading Snow model, likely very similar to yours, GiGaByTe. I'll remove the battery. I like this Mac too much to risk it much longer(can you tell I'm a little panicky about batteries?). Also, I considered 3D printing one, but I don't own a 3D printer, and the one person that I know that does have one doesn't have one big enough. I've also checked in all of the settings. I couldn't find anything weird. I've had this Mac since about 2004, and I rarely touched the settings(except for when I wanted to run OS 9.2.2). Also, just out of curiosity, GiGaByTe, do you happen to know when your snow G3 was made? I'm wondering if our Macs were off of the same production run.
 
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