Sickly green display

[jwboyd]

PowerMac 6400, 64 Mb RAM, 1 Gb hard disk, OS 8.0

Display will occasionally go to a sickly green color.
(1) What makes it do that?
(2) What can I do for it?

Also: I had to replace the HD. Pulled a used Connor drive out of a PC. It formatted okay, and I installed Mac OS 8.0. Is there any way to reformat this drive and install an Apple driver? Losing data is not an issue.

Thanks for any and all replies.

[Paddy]

JW, it wouldn't happen to be an Apple 15" Multiscan monitor would it? Because if it is, it's a known problem. They even "secretly" extended the warranty on them for quite a while, but that ended September 13, 1999. The problem was bad solder - causing intermittent problems. The cure, which is successful 9 out of 10 times according to a site I found a couple of years ago (but can't find now) is to simply re-solder ever joint on the circuit board. We "rescued" a monitor with that problem two years ago, and my husband successfully repaired it - he's pretty good with a soldering iron (that PhD in EE has to be good for something! ) and I refuse to deal with high voltage!

If it isn't an Apple 15", then it may also have bad solder - or it could be something more serious.

Have a look here:

http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_monfaqd.html

Um...unless I've missed something, you couldn't have installed an Apple operating system (and formatted a drive with Apple Drive Setup) without having also installed an Apple driver.

Here's an interesting FAQ that gives you info about which driver goes with which version of Drive Setup and where to look for info:

http://www.mac-im-netz.de/macfaq/macfaqdat...ifaqs/dspg.html

[jwboyd]

Then why does Apple System Profiler list the Startup Device as "Unknown?"

[kelly]

jwboyd. Will you be using this machine much?

If so I recomend a new Hard Drive.

There's cheaper but this isn't too bad.

30GB Maxtor $60

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm...Item=MAX2F030L0

If you don't plan on using that machine much, maybe not.

[kelly]

Or maybe.

Refurbished Quantum 20GB EIDE for $30

http://dealnews.com/articles/52065.html

Putting a newer Drive in that machine will speed it up. A lot.

17" Monitors can be had very cheaply.

http://www.epinions.com/cmhd-Monitors-All-...t_dir_~asc#list

[jwboyd]

I'm admitting defeat on this beast. It still has three problems:

1. The sickly green color appears after the computer has been started up for a while. It still works if you don't mind green. Or you can let it cool down and start it up again with its true colors.

2. The Restart function does not work. You can restart by shutting down first.

3. A CD will not mount unless the CD is in the drive at startup. After a CD is mounted, it can be ejected and a different one inserted.

If I really needed another computer, I would shop for a different one. But I will not put any more money into this one.

THANKS TO ALL for your responses.

[Paddy]

JW, I think the fact that the green tint occurs when the monitor has been on for a while confirms the flakey solder situation. That is EXACTLY what happened with ours prior to the re-solder-every-joint solution. Things warm up - things expand - connections are lost.

If you have nothing to lose by trying, I'd suggest that you reformat the drive, reinstall the OS and upgrade to 8.1. You can download it for free here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30345

I'm not sure what is causing the other problems you cite - but on the off-chance that is software (OS) rather than hardware, you might as well try a wipe and reinstall. If you have any utilities like DiskWarrior and TechTools (or even Norton) it might be worth running some diagnostics. Even Disk First Aid might help.

[jwboyd]

Paddy, I'm not that handy with a soldering iron.

And I've done the software diagnostics you suggest (Disk First Aid, TechTool Pro, and Norton SystemWorks).

My cost/benefit analysis tells me it's just not worth it to do any more on this old of a computer, which I don't really need anyway. I've given it away to a kid that might get some good out of it, even with its limitations.

Thanks again to you and all the other responders.

[kelly]

jwboyd. I understand about not putting money into it.

Be sure to give the kid, or his folks, the link to Tom's site.

http://www.zone6400.com/