04-06-2012, 10:29 AM

Hi

So I've just gotten this old iMac G3. A nearby school wa changing their computers, and thus I could get my hands on one of these,

So I do not have any root password to the machine. I would like that, therefore I have tried both going into single user mode (cmd+s) and booting from a tiger cd (c) to to change this. But none of these commands worked: I cannot boot into single user mode and the mac wont boot from cd. I have even tried booting from a PPC Debian cd which didnt work either. It seems like it doesnt even try to boot from cd.

I am using a logitech wireless keyboard, but from what i have read, it isnt important that the keyboard is a native Apple prduct, as the winkey just functions as the command key.

I have cleared the PRAM (so the keyboard works during boot).

Im thinkng that the school have implemented some kind of security against changing the system which is why I cant boot from cd and so forth.

Do anyone have an idea to bypass this problem?

Thanks
Jeppe

04-06-2012, 02:31 PM

Several things:

The optical drive on that machine could be defective. (won't read disks) You could try with an external drive but it must be firewire as that machine can not boot from USB.

The boot disk you're using is probably model specific and won't work with that G3. You would need a retail version of OS X. Probably Panther or Tiger.

Never use a wireless keyboard when trouble shooting. Use a USB connected keyboard instead. Windows keyboards will work OK.

04-06-2012, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Several things:

The optical drive on that machine could be defective. (won't read disks) You could try with an external drive but it must be firewire as that machine can not boot from USB.

The boot disk you're using is probably model specific and won't work with that G3. You would need a retail version of OS X. Probably Panther or Tiger.

Never use a wireless keyboard when trouble shooting. Use a USB connected keyboard instead. Windows keyboards will work OK.

Hi chsag and thanks for answering!

The optical drive should be alright as I can read the Tiger disc when the OS is open and push the "install Tiger" icon where I however need a root password to proceed.
As to the wireless keyvoard: it works when resetting the PRAM (cmd+option+r+p), so I figure it should work with other commands as well even though the computer has not booted.
I dont know if Tiger is designed to be model specific, but Debian shouldnt be, should it?

04-06-2012, 10:34 PM

Unless the DVD is a retail version of Tiger (black color) then it's likely model specific (gray - silver color). And no, Debian Linux is not model specific although you do need to make sure you're using the PPC version not the Intel one.