OSX support for Beige G3 266 Rev A NOT

[ramcell]

Shortly after I startup if I hit the Command or Option or Delete key a large speaker icon appears on my screen and the sound is muted. After this, the Option and Control keys no longer function i.e. no contextual menu support etc. This is a real pain. Anyone know of any workarounds. Is this a key mapping problem? Is this particular to my system or has someone else seen this? This has been happening just in OSX from the beta thru 10.1.4.
Also the Dock doesn't work properly. Random black triangles which don't correspond to wether an app. is running or not. I click on an app, it launches, MABIE a black triangle appears , if it does and I quit the app the black triangle stays there and I have to click it again to make it go away and then again to launch the app. Another big pain.
I have no cards installed and no external speakers connected.

[griffman]

Not sure about the icon thing, but you could try trashing the dock prefs (in your user's Library/Preferences folder, named something like com.apple.dock.plist), and then use ProcessViewer (in Applications/Utilities) to quit and restart the dock. Sounds like a corrupted preference file problem...

The icon thing is quite strange; I haven't heard a single report of anything like that before reading this post. No ideas there, sorry.

-rob.

[ramcell]

Thanks griffman. The iMacs have speaker keys on the keyboard keypad. They show the large speaker icon on the screen when used. But I don't have an iMac and there are no speaker keys on the Beige G3 keyboared, yet OSX seems to think there are.

[mgyllin]

Any luck here? I have exactly the same problem with a beige G3 Rev. C and Jaguar v. 10.2.8

Shortly after I startup if I hit the Command or Option or Delete key a large speaker icon appears on my screen and the sound is muted. After this, the Option and Control keys no longer function i.e. no contextual menu support etc. This is a real pain. Anyone know of any workarounds. Is this a key mapping problem? Is this particular to my system or has someone else seen this? This has been happening just in OSX from the beta thru 10.1.4.
Also the Dock doesn't work properly. Random black triangles which don't correspond to wether an app. is running or not. I click on an app, it launches, MABIE a black triangle appears , if it does and I quit the app the black triangle stays there and I have to click it again to make it go away and then again to launch the app. Another big pain.
I have no cards installed and no external speakers connected.

[Norm Nager]

Hello, ramcell,

As you, I have a 266-mhz Beige G3 (rev A). I have not experienced the icon or other problems you described, but I do remember the versions of OS X in which you've had the problems were particularly buggy on the Beige and also on my G4. I'm now running OS 10.3.8, so my memory of the early OS X bugs on the Beige are very hazy.

I recommend that you visit the Apple.com Beige Usage discussion group. You'll find a number of knowledgeable and helpful folks there.
Link to Apple's Beige Usage forum. (http://discussions.info.apple.com/Older%20Apple%20Products/Hardware/PowerMac%20G3/Power%20Macintosh%20G3%20(Platinum-Beige)/Usage/?14@28.Xno6aiQWdBX.3@)

You can also navigate from there to the Beige Hardware forum and other Beige forums, FAQs and User Tips.

Please see the "Generic OS X Troubleshooting List" thread stuck to the top of the MacOSXHints.com System forum. You might wish to go to page 7 of that thread and copy and print posts 125-127. They summarize the previous 124 posts and serve as an excellent, step-by-step checklist.

Should you decide to re-set the Open Firmware on your Beige, please know that the first line you type (which I bold-faced for you) is different than that for later models. Shut down your Mac, then press Command-Option-o-f as you start it back up. You can release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware."

or: Zap the PRAM and let it chime three times. Then quickly change your fingers from the P-R keys to the O-F keys, so you are holding down Cmd-Opt-O-F at startup. Hold them down until you get the open firmware screen. At the prompt type:

init-nvram <press return key>
set-defaults <press return key>
reset-all <press return key>
and then to exit, type bye or mac-boot

Respectfully, Norm