need some help with my B&W G3 PowerMac

AnatomyOfARyan · Sep 26, 2007

ok, so i got a powermac from my friends dad for free. he said it had a bad hard drive. so i got a new one for it. so i pop in the hard drive, no problem, and put in a tiger disc. im trying to boot from the tiger disc to put OSX on the new hard drive, but theres a problem... i plug in 2 different keyboards (at different times) and they arent working. tried both USB ports. nothing. i tried the caps locks and number lock and no lights come up, so im assuming the USB ports are crap too? not sure as to what im supposed to do? this isnt my primary computer by any means, and was kinda wanting to just make it a server on my network here at home. any direction in what i should do? thanks guys.

bryphotoguy · Sep 26, 2007

Buy a PCI USB card.
Does a mouse work?? Are you able to get by installing OS X without a keyboard if a mouse does work?

Sherman Homan · Sep 26, 2007

Give a few more details, does the Mac attempt to boot from the Tiger disk? Is it a black or gray install disk? Many G3s only had CD drives, does yours even have a DVD player?

AnatomyOfARyan · Sep 26, 2007

good points... i didnt think about the B&W only have a CD player, which is probably the case, and its a tiger DVD.

as for the mouse, im not sure if its working. i boot the computer and its a grey screen with a folder icon with a question mark in the middle. is there a specific PCI USB card i need, or is anything best buy gonna work? ive got a external DVD drive i can use to read the DVD, once i get a USB working.

Sherman Homan · Sep 26, 2007

Unless I miss the bet, I wouldn't worry about the USB deal until you can boot that puppy from the DVD reader.

dtravis7 · Sep 26, 2007

Ryan, what Hard Drive did you purchase? How large?

Does yours have a Rev 1 or Rev 2 Motherboard? Here is a URL that tells you how to find out.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/newfeatures.html

Check the CMD chip in the pic. Yours should have a 402 on it. If not it's the older revision and will have issues with some drives.

I know that machine very well. I have a Rev 1 and Rev 2 here. A lot came without a DVD drive. If I can help more let me know.

amedias · Sep 28, 2007

tried ADB?

I take it if it is a DVD drive in there that you don't have an old ADB KB you could test with?

Matt

AnatomyOfARyan · Sep 30, 2007

ok, so i checked, and the B&W is a rev 1, which i might run into hard drive issues. the one i got is from another forum member and is a maxtor 6 gb with an apple logo on it, probably coming from an older machine like this one, so hopefully that will run smoothly.

the USB isnt working as i stated, and a USB PCI card is a no brainer. can i walk into best buy and buy any USB PCI card? im sure they are made with PCs in mind, and i have no experience with mac desktops (besides imacs), so i dont know if they are universal.

if they are, they are looking pretty cheap ($25) and ill be able to utilize my external DVD drive to TRYYYY and boot my tiger install DVD.

dtravis7 · Sep 30, 2007

AnatomyOfARyan said:
ok, so i checked, and the B&W is a rev 1, which i might run into hard drive issues. the one i got is from another forum member and is a maxtor 6 gb with an apple logo on it, probably coming from an older machine like this one, so hopefully that will run smoothly.

the USB isnt working as i stated, and a USB PCI card is a no brainer. can i walk into best buy and buy any USB PCI card? im sure they are made with PCs in mind, and i have no experience with mac desktops (besides imacs), so i dont know if they are universal.

if they are, they are looking pretty cheap ($25) and ill be able to utilize my external DVD drive to TRYYYY and boot my tiger install DVD.

I left you a PM on a USB 2.0 card. That 6GB will work fine in that machine. If you can though since the B&W has Firewire, get a Firewire DVD drive if you can find one. I have a Lacie that works great.

Got to run but will get back with more later.

amedias · Sep 30, 2007

USB wont be bootable

BTW, even if you do find a Mac compatible USB card (most of the popular chipsets work with Macs, I've tried several USB PCI cards for PCs and they have all worked fine) you will not be able to boot using an external USB DVD drive if thats what you were thinking of trying.

The B+W is not bootable from USB as far as I know and I'm pretty sure the B+W (maybe just rev1) doesn't support Firewire Target Disk Mode either.

You're really gonna need a DVD drive in there....

Matt

dtravis7 · Sep 30, 2007

amedias said:
BTW, even if you do find a Mac compatible USB card (most of the popular chipsets work with Macs, I've tried several USB PCI cards for PCs and they have all worked fine) you will not be able to boot using an external USB DVD drive if thats what you were thinking of trying.

The B+W is not bootable from USB as far as I know and I'm pretty sure the B+W (maybe just rev1) doesn't support Firewire Target Disk Mode either.

You're really gonna need a DVD drive in there....

Matt

I agree with you on the USB not booting. That is very true. He still does need working USB ports though for Mouse, Keyboard, Printer or whatever. I have not heard though that a B&W will not boot from Firewire. In fact I am sure that my Rev 2 does. I will try the REV 1 I have here and get back on that. I am pretty sure booting from an external DVD ROM does not work but will check on Firewire Target mode.

Edit: looks like the B&W has no Target mode. I am sure I once booted it from an external Firewire HDD with Panther though but it's been ages.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-34441.html

More info, First Power Macs to boot in Firewire Target mode are the Sawtooth's. Even the G4 Yikes will not do Target more as really it's a G3 B&W board with a G4 CPU. Tried my Yikes and no target mode.

Another piece of Info I found. I don't have time right now to try this, but give it a look.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=408673