Does a PowerMac 9500 need a PRAM Battery to boot?

#1 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 14:28 68kMLA

as you all have seen the thread about the 9500, it refused to boot to video last night. It's using a Radeon 7000 PCI, but now it won't even boot to video with the original card. Do these machines require a PRAM battery to get video working, or can I rig up something?

#2 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 15:02 68kMLA

Hit command-control-power after it chimes. This makes it skip the RAM test, which can take a few minutes on those machines with a large amount of RAM. You probably thought it was dead because of the RAM test's length.

#3 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 15:28 68kMLA

UUUGGGHHH!!! It's the video card. I am stuck with a 2MB XClaim right now until i can find my wallet to get my debit card (It's been missing for a week) And guess what? I just booted. it only does 16 grays. I am sooo screwed...

#4 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 16:22 68kMLA

The 9500 needs a video card, since there is no onboard or native video. Guess where the video settings are stored. Considering the cost of a PRAM battery vis-à-vis the cost of the other gear that you have in that 9500 ...

Have you been using the CUDA switch after each change of RAM, daughter card, PCI card and so on?

de

#5 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 16:27 68kMLA

Good advice on the CUDA switch equill. My 9500 would have problems booting off its IDE card occasionally until you hit that button, particularly after swapping stuff around. Kind of funny thing: my IBM RS/6000 44P 170 often needs its Open Firmware reset when you change OSes from AIX to Linux, otherwise yaboot spews out all kinds of weird errors.

#6 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 - 17:25 68kMLA

yeah, been using the CUDA as needed. I tried the eraser trick again on the card, and now it works. I don't know if the machine hates me or not...

#7 Sat, 28 Jun 2008 - 00:29 68kMLA

Just to rub it in, my 9500 came with a Radius Thunder PCI video card.

#8 Sat, 28 Jun 2008 - 02:48 68kMLA

Coming, as my 9500/132 did, from a pre-press establishment, the only expansion in it was a Radius ThunderColor 16/3000 card. Bewdy? Unfortunately, no. The rest of that Mac's life was spent as a G3/400MHz machine, in which that once formidable card was no better than a doorstop. Sic transit gloria mundi.

de