On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Charles Fultz wrote:

> So, I have this Power Computing Power Center clone. Several months
> ago I used BootVars to set the input-device and output-device to
> ttya. However, since then I have not gotten it to display anything
> to either the on-board video or the modem (ttya) port. I have
> tried pulling and reseating the RAM, cache, VRAM, and ROM, tried
> doing the CUDA reset, tried pulling the battery, tried
> Command-Option-P-R on boot up and none of those have resluted in
> any output from anything.
> When I turn it on, I get the startup sound, but no output.

Does the machine boot?

I've encountered problems like this before, and ususally something in the
bootparams is corrupted, and OFW can't boot far enough to have the
Command-Option-P-R trick work.

> I was thinking, maybe it would be possible to make a CD/floppy
> that is bootable that has Applescript and BootVars on it and an
> Applescript that has the commands to run BootVars and set the
> input-device and output-device back their original values.
> Does this sound doable?
>
> Does anyone have any ideas how I can get this machine working again?

Try either removing the battery and power for a day, or removing the
battery & power and shorting the battery pins with a resistor (I used a
screwdriver, but do that at your own risk) for a while.

The rtc in my beige G3 held enough charge to stay alive for quite a while.

Do you still have MacOS boot media?

Take care,

Bill