USB Port expansion

[UNIFizadums]

The short backstory is I acquired a G4 computer, with no system installed. So far what I can tell is everything is functioning, so far as the HD, RAM, CD drive, Zip drive. However, I can not boot from a CD to install a system as any keyboard I try to plug in (USB). This leads me to believe that the USB port is damaged, I was wondering since I have expansion slots open would I be able to get a PCI-USB slot card without needing to install any drivers? Just wondering if this would work at all. Otherwise any suggestions as to what I might try to get around the USB port problem I have would be appreciated. (The USB ports do show some power getting through... a mouse plugged in will light up, and I've gotten the keyboard to semi-function once.

 

[dametalmilitia]

just about any usb pci card will work in the mac... ummm the cd ur trying to boot up is it a dvd or a cd. cause that makes a big differance.. i tryed installing osx10.3.9 and found out it was a dvd not a cd so it wouldnt boot. i ended up usin a universal cd osx 10.4 cd and it booted w out any problems... keyboard hmmmm good luck. but yea when u put in the pci ur goin to have to run the cd that comes with it to install it.... hope any of this helps.

 

[UNIFizadums]

Its a CD, its os 8.5. There is no system on the computer though and most USB PCI cards say they need a certain system to operate.

 

[mac57]

For what it is worth, I find that my USB keyboard is frequently quite dead after a boot. All I have to do to restore it to life is to unplug it, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in. Perhaps you might try the same thing after you have powered up, to see if you can get it back to a functioning state. By the way, is it an Apple keyboard? Non Apple keyboards may be a problem with your particular computer?

 

[youthpastor]

On some Macs I had to use the following key combination to get the Mac to boot from the CD: CMD(apple key)-OPT-SHIFT-DELETE

 

[UNIFizadums]

It is an apple keyboard, and I have tried the unplug thing... I got something to work once, then i got stupid and lost the progress. Another question would be, could I perhaps load a system from the zip drive (internal)? I know on my old mac Performa we could load from a disk utility floppy disk... didn't know if this zip drive might possibly work the same way.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

It could possible that the G4 you have is not compatible with OS 8.5

Check out this link to see if the system you have will work with that version of the OS:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

 

[UNIFizadums]

According to that, I believe it is not. Perhaps I can try our OS 9 or something from home now I guess. Thanks for that listing!