BeBox won't boot up or show anything on screen

Be, Inc.
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Hi BeBoxers,

My beloved old BeBox has been retrieved from storage this week, where it’s been in hibernation since ~2019. It’s a Dual 66MHz model and has always worked quite well since I lucked out and bought it on eBay back in ~2008.

However, today when I’ve hooked it up, I see the Blinkenlights bounce (every RAM slot is full so they bounce back and forth several times), and then… nothing. No image on screen, no hard disk noises, etc.

The LED’s on my keyboard do blink briefly when I first flip the power switch, but after that the keyboard is non-responsive too. I can’t get anything onscreen (tried two known-good monitors just in case), it’s just… comatose.

I’ve tried powering it on with the keyboard, hard drive and CD-ROM drive all unplugged from data and power, but that doesn’t change the behavior.

Would a dead BIOS battery cause this behavior? I’d be grateful for any suggestions or tips on how I can bring my blue beauty back to life!

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UPDATE: I was sadly reconnecting everything inside to pack it away until I can figure out how to proceed with troubleshooting, and just on a morbid whim I flipped the power switch again… AND IT BOOTED!

Weirdly, all the colors were wrong / distorted and neither my mouse nor keyboard would respond. I powered it down, unplugged/replugged the mouse and keyboard, powered it on again, and it booted normally and everything is working as expected. Crazy!!

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You should recap the logic board. The caps should be replaced, as old electrolytic caps have a tendency to shift around, blow up, or change values temporarily.

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This is probably correct. I have had this with a similar vintage Mac. But also, this in non trivial so you need to be sure you know what you are doing.

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This might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjgWo7mj8-w

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