10 replies to this topic

[rtano]

Hi,

I've received from a friend an old Imac G3 ( 192 Mb Ram - 8GB HD - PPC 266 mhz ).

Since i'm kinda n00b on the mac\apple world, i have some questions.


1.
I have 3 installation cds of the Apple Mac OS X, now i just want to reinstall from scratch the OS to give a new spin.
Afte inserting the first cd on the caddy, reboot pressing C, it boot regularly in the installed Mac Os enviroment and not the cd.
Even with different combinations, the imac doesnt boot any cd i've inserted (ex. xubuntu ppc ).

2.
If i cannot reinstall MAC OS X, any idea on how to reuse this mac ? thanks, but no macquarium or mac-cat toilet

3.
It is possbile to boot from a usb key ?Or this machine is too old to allow usb booting ?


Thanks in advance.

Tano

[Stetson]

Did a bit of googling and found this thread with some useful information:

http://macosx.com/te...o-osx/4380.html

[+imachip]

USB boot isn't supported on the iMac G3 series, so I think your out of luck with that.

Try this from inside the OS:

1) Insert the CD.

2) Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.

3) Click Startup Disk.

4) Click the CD and click Restart.

Another way:

Restart your computer, with the CD that you want to start from already inserted into the Mac. As soon as your Mac switches off to restart, press and keep pressed the ALT button on your keyboard. After a few moments, you will get a screen where you can choose your startup disk. Try the option key instead if this doesn't work.

Good Luck!

[rtano]

Hi,

Down here the result of those operation.

USB boot isn't supported on the iMac G3 series, so I think your out of luck with that.
Try this from inside the OS:
1) Insert the CD.
2) Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
3) Click Startup Disk.
4) Click the CD and click Restart.

Did this, but pressing the restart button did nothing, if i choose another startup devicxe, and press restart, the os correctly restart itself.

Another way:
Restart your computer, with the CD that you want to start from already inserted into the Mac. As soon as your Mac switches off to restart, press and keep pressed the ALT button on your keyboard. After a few moments, you will get a screen where you can choose your startup disk. Try the option key instead if this doesn't work.

Did also this, nothing appears.

[+giantsnyy]

What version of Mac OS X are you trying to install?

[.Neo]

What kind of installation media are you using the official ones that came with the iMac or something different?

Officially it won't run anything above OS X Panther v10.3.9 and/or Mac OS 9.2.2. So you could try a OS X Panther retail disc.

[deactivated_]

I have Ubuntu 6.06 server (last one for PPC architecture) running on my old G3, if you want an alternative to trying your OS X install media. http://old-releases..../releases/6.06/ Works like a charm for my purposes. (running Zenoss)

[Simon-]

I have tried to bring imac G3 back to life to the minimum ability to install a modern web browser and watch Youtube but even with the latest Ubuntu with Firefox it was terrible, no flash player support (no Youtube), and had better luck using it as a Remote Desktop client to a Windows PC.

[BigCheese]

What kind of installation media are you using the official ones that came with the iMac or something different?

Officially it won't run anything above OS X Panther v10.3.9 and/or Mac OS 9.2.2. So you could try a OS X Panther retail disc.

I've installed OSX 10.4 Tiger on an iMac G3 before. I had to upgrade the RAM to 512mb though.

[.Neo]

I've installed OSX 10.4 Tiger on an iMac G3 before. I had to upgrade the RAM to 512mb though.

There are many different revisions of iMac G3s. This particular one won't officially support anything beyond v10.3.9.

[protocol7]

Even though my G3 iMac supported Tiger I kept it on Panther. The ATI gfx were just too weak.

There was a time when any old computer could be used for basic web browsing. Then Flash came along and ruined that.