04-24-2010, 10:51 PM

Hey everyone! I am new here and still reading through most stuff, so If I'm in the wrong area please bump me around

I recently got a mac g3 B&W from someone and yeah thats one **** of an old mac and I heard that series wasn't all that great.

He assured me it works fine and I've noticed a main issue up front;

I've got an os 8.6 disc for it and it'll boot onto that no problems.
When I go to open the drive setup on the disc the system locks/freezes up.

He gave me a 40gb IDE drive with it and I have a tested working 80 as well. Both do the same thing. I ave also dropped out the cd rom for dvd/cd rom.

Swapping everything works fine seeing I can still boot onto the disc.

Is there some way I can get this working? ):
If not is there another OS or possibility of going OSX with this machine.

I think its only the 300/350 MHz one though, 512 MB RAM (128x4, I read it tops at 1GB which was cool)

-GEN

04-25-2010, 04:02 AM

Try these guys if you need help.
The also work on vintage machines.

Mac Repair UK - Apple Mac Computer Repairs & Support

04-25-2010, 04:14 AM

I wonder which revision your G3 B&W is? The first revision had issues with many larger IDE hard drives and data corruption.

xlr8yourmac.com - Photos of new B&W G3 Rage128 and dual Drive IDE bracket and Cable

Check this URL and all the pics and see which revision yours is. Do let us know.

04-25-2010, 04:20 AM

Try and get this CD set, it should run fine on that G3;


Click for full size

and much better than OS 8.6 or 9.2

04-25-2010, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

I wonder which revision your G3 B&W is? The first revision had issues with many larger IDE hard drives and data corruption.

xlr8yourmac.com - Photos of new B&W G3 Rage128 and dual Drive IDE bracket and Cable

Check this URL and all the pics and see which revision yours is. Do let us know.

Its Rev 1 ):

I have a 30GB drive too that does the same thing. Does this mean I have to find an 8-10GB and pray that works?


@ Collin; Yeah I'm going to search for it but I'm still wondering why the drive setup freezes. Would it do it with panther too?

04-25-2010, 10:34 AM

Still doing some researching into this G3 and would anyone know if adding a PCI IDE card could fix this things issue with larger drives. AKA allowing me to properly use IDE 30-80GB drives etc.

I also found someone here who may have 10GB drives (IDE) I'll toss one of those in.

*UPDATED*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_M...erating_System

REV 1 workaround may just need a pci sata/ide/scsi card. I'll head out and try to see if that may just be it.

Okay The card does the same thing lol, I assume its the system disc that is causing the strange lock up when trying to run the drive utility thing to setup a drive to install the os on. @_@ still looking for some help/input.



This is where I lock up after trying everything.
I don't have access to os discs beyond 8.6 right now. I tried even torrenting some stuff on my pc here and they dont seem to work.

Picture is from the cd boot with the 30GB IDE drive I was given

I have tried 30/80 IDE and 40 SATA.

04-25-2010, 11:42 PM

On B&W's ...The OS prefers to be in the first 10 gigs or less partition. The work around is really to install with a card a slave drive or a larger boot drive. The IDE controller chip is very picky on these machines. Find a smaller drive to put the OS on.

Installing OSX on your Blue and White G3

04-26-2010, 12:55 AM

On Revision One yes, on revision 2 no. I have a Revision 2, two of them. 40GB drive and no small partition and never any issues. I also have a 60GB drive as a slave.

A proper Mac compatible PCI IDE controller will get around the issue of the Rev 1 controller Chip. If you installed a PCI IDE controller and you still have issues, it's something else.

04-26-2010, 01:31 AM

I would assume the rev 1 hdd size cap is becoming or should be close to a myth. Mines REV1 and I just got it booting finally!

It detected and accepted my 80GB IDE No issues. (it is confirmed rev1.)

It was the dvd rom drive that was having issues all along; stupid me. ):

thank you guys for all the help and pointers! Ill surely be around on the site to ask more stuff and read more into how to manage my mac.

04-26-2010, 01:36 AM

Did you read those articles closely? I never said it would never boot. Different drives do different things but what the article says and I have seen over and over again, Data Corruption. Takes time but happens.

If you want to call us wrong and call it a myth, go for it. It's a proven fact. I have helped 100's of people with their REV1 B&W's.

And 2 IDE drives on a REV1 is even more interesting in that way. That is why there was no mounting bracket for 2 drives on the REV1. I sold a G3 B&W to a friend. He was my friend till it corrupted all his data 2 times in a row. Rev 1 with 20GB drive.

04-26-2010, 02:14 AM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Did you read those articles closely? I never said it would never boot. Different drives do different things but what the article says and I have seen over and over again, Data Corruption. Takes time but happens.

If you want to call us wrong and call it a myth, go for it. It's a proven fact. I have helped 100's of people with their REV1 B&W's.

And 2 IDE drives on a REV1 is even more interesting in that way. That is why there was no mounting bracket for 2 drives on the REV1. I sold a G3 B&W to a friend. He was my friend till it corrupted all his data 2 times in a row. Rev 1 with 20GB drive.

I have been reading articles for the past 2 days and I wasnt calling anyone wrong I mainly pointed out my faulty drive and that seeing everything that should be happening with rev1 not happen thus far on my mac is an added bonus I guess, but I haven't hooked up 2 IDE's becuase I doubt Ill even use the second; but the firmware needs to be upgraded if I plan on jumping to 10.3

Now to figure out how to connect to the internet.

04-26-2010, 03:29 AM

Just be warned that a lot of larger IDE drives on REV 1's do corrupt the data. Sometimes it takes a bit. My friends took about a month.

The reason I said wrong was the Myth word. It's very much an issue. I can duplicate it here over and over.

04-26-2010, 11:36 PM

My Rev 1 has a slave drive in it and it works.. Dont know how.. Im not asking it so it want stop. This machines are strange.

04-26-2010, 11:54 PM

Mac SK, agreed. They are STRANGE machines for sure. Seems to depend on the drives you use. Had some that worked and never corrupted and others the same size that did (Different brands and models though). The Rev 2 and the Yikes G4 (Same board) got rid of all that.