Well, I installed an old cpu in my new mod to load up the os before the rest of its parts get here.  Things are not going well.  I took everything out and am working it out on the bench.  No go.  Here is a shot of the openfirmware....lemme know what you guys think.

mmmmm.

Here is another pic.  If I type mac-boot it goes to a blinking folder and then to this.....?!

Any help is very appreciated.

I got a very similar screen after the cpu in my clamshell iBook died. I had to replace the motherboard, but if you are getting a new cpu that should solve the problem.

I tried a couple of cpus.  I am guessing that the motherboard is bad.  Any other ideas would be helpful.

That's a very weird system time and date...

Boot from an install disc and partition the drive.  The main issue should with the hard drive size if you are updating a Mac that originally had a hard drive smaller than 8 GB to a hard drive that is larger than 8 GB.  I believe that you can partition the new drive to 8GB on one partition and then whatever size you want on the other assuming it is under the ATA controller card limited size (see http://www.macmod.com/content/view/725/192/ for a look at a PCI SATA cards if you have size issues).

If you reset the PMU then your date would be off like that (1904).

What version of Mac are you modding?

chris

Its a gigabit ethernet.

Tried swapping memory?
After that, try a minimal system. Disconnect all the drives and PCI cards (not the graphics card obviously, though its worth swapping this too at some point if you have another one). Basically just boot it with logic, CPU, GPU, PSU, keyboard and mouse and nothing else. See what happens. You should of course get a blinking folder icon and not much else, but if it still goes to OF (after you have done every reset you can think of), then its probably the board. If you do get just a blinking folder, or OF doesn't crash like your pic, then connect a known good optical drive, and boot from a known good OS disc (preferably the appropriate Apple Hardware Test - AASPs can download these if you've lost one. They'll probably charge you of course, but it can't be that much).

Try resetting the PRAM in the OF or you can always reflash the Firmware.

For the record to reset the PRAM and NVRAM in OF here are the commands

0 > reset-nvram
Press Return
0 > reset-all
Press Return

Thanks for the great replies.  I have striped the system down to just the vid card and one stick of ram, plus the one hd and dvdrom.  I cannot boot from any disc-it goes straight to open firmware.  I have switched ram, hds, and optical drives.  Ill try TCPMetas suggestion. 

It started acting up when I first connected a sata card and Samsung sata hd.  Unknowingly, the drive was set for 3G and not sata150.  When I tried that same set in my G3, I also had problems, but I was able to get it back once they were removed.  Putting the jumper at 150 fixed it right up.  Hmmm.