Timely. Yesterday aft our power went out (for no good reason) while my G4 was sleeping. The UPS beeped but did not give off enough juice to to save the Mac. Later, when the electricity returned the G4 was not booting. At first I feared the power supply had been compromised and I spent a while contemplating the chore of looking for a used one (or getting a new Mac). Turned out that little episode was enough to kill the PRAM battery. Fortunately I had a spare and after replacing it (had to open up a second time to press the CUDA) my prayers were answered and it came back to life.
So it looks like I'm going shopping for new backups. But not today... will be shutting down soon due to severe storms heading our way.
