Running OSX 10.3 on G4

pbphoto · Oct 18, 2006

Can anyone help me?

I've recently aquired a s/h G4 tower (400MHz) from a friend which originally had OS 9.2.2 installed. I purchased a (legit) copy of OSX 10.3 to upgrade it and have had varying degrees of success installing it (from complete failure to useable). I've tried altering the memory configuration (the best result came from leaving out the two 64Mb modules) and also tried removing the SCSI card (this helped). But, regardless of my fiddling efforts I can't seem to get it to upgrade to newer versions of 10.3.x (the most I've acheived is 10.3.3). Also, some standard Mac programs won't always run (e.g. iTunes).

I like using the Mac (when it works) and I don't want to have to bin it, so if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong I'd be forever grateful!!

Pete.

Mr Bobbins · Oct 18, 2006

My mum has an iMac 333mhz which has 10.3.9 running fine on it so it should be possible. You could try running this app:

http://www.macworkshops.com/machelpmate/

Maybe a diagnostic program like techtool pro could find the problem. Haven't had much experience with that program since OSX. Is the harddrive statues in Disk utility good ?

pbphoto · Oct 19, 2006

Mr Bobbins said:
My mum has an iMac 333mhz which has 10.3.9 running fine on it so it should be possible. You could try running this app:

http://www.macworkshops.com/machelpmate/

Maybe a diagnostic program like techtool pro could find the problem. Haven't had much experience with that program since OSX. Is the harddrive statues in Disk utility good ?

Cheers for the reply. I recently decided to stick a new 80Gb HD in the machine (which I know is fine), so I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem. I'll try the Mac Helpmate you suggested and see where that gets me.

Could it be a problem with the BIOS (I don't even know if Macs have BIOS!)?

Mr Bobbins · Oct 19, 2006

Macs have 'open firmware' which could be considered as a bois but it's not usually a problem on Macs.

Another program to try is Diskwarrior, here's a link to their web site.

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html

Alexis · Oct 25, 2006

What exact problems are you having?

pbphoto · Oct 25, 2006

Alexis said:
What exact problems are you having?

I recently decided to start again from scratch. I re-installed OS 9 from the G4 Software Restore disc. I updated it to 9.2.2, installing all updates along the way. Everything seemed to be working fine.

I then attempted to install OS X (Panther). It got as far as Disc 2 before displaying the message "an error has occurred during software installation". The computer was able to restart and boot up from the hard drive. All applications appeared to be working, but I was unable to install the cumulative 10.3.9 update from Apple. I decided to try updating in stages and was able to get as far as 10.3.4. However, any and all efforts to install 10.3.5 are met with failure.

Is it a Firmware problem?
Is there a Freeware diagnostic program that may help?
Am I just making a load of rookie mistakes??

Pleeeeease help. Don't make me go back to Windows!!!

(P.S. - writing this reply took 3 attempts! First, my Camino browser crashed when I'd finished typing. Second, TextEdit crashed when I tried to type it in there (to copy into the web browser). The third attempt seems to have worked!)

Mr Bobbins · Oct 26, 2006

I did a google search for you and came up with this link that has lots of tips that may help.:

http://resale.headgap.com/osxnotesG4.html

pbphoto · Oct 26, 2006

Mr Bobbins said:
I did a google search for you and came up with this link that has lots of tips that may help.:

http://resale.headgap.com/osxnotesG4.html

Mr Bobbins, you're a lifesaver! Although, reading through the link above it looks like I'm in for a weekend of ignoring the girlfriend, which will lose me much brownie points!!

dtravis7 · Oct 26, 2006

I could be wrong but it almost sounds like something with the RAM. Is this the Gray Tower with the drop down side? Is the Video card AGP or PCI? It sounds like you have the machine nicknamed the Sawtooth G4-400Mhz Tower. The memory should be PC100 but most PC133 RAM will work. I know memory issues can cause crashing apps like and things not wanting to install. If nothing else suggested works, see if you can try some other RAM.

Mr Bobbins · Oct 26, 2006

dtravis7 said:
I could be wrong but it almost sounds like something with the RAM. Is this the Gray Tower with the drop down side? Is the Video card AGP or PCI? It sounds like you have the machine nicknamed the Sawtooth G4-400Mhz Tower. The memory should be PC100 but most PC133 RAM will work. I know memory issues can cause crashing apps like and things not wanting to install. If nothing else suggested works, see if you can try some other RAM.

Yes, forgot about ram.

I've had some bad ram in the past and got the terminal error panel alot, didn't have any problems with installing apps but that could also be possible. Good idea to take some ram out and see if that solves the problem.

Mr Bobbins · Oct 26, 2006

pbphoto said:
Mr Bobbins, you're a lifesaver! Although, reading through the link above it looks like I'm in for a weekend of ignoring the girlfriend, which will lose me much brownie points!!

My girlfriend hated me sitting behind the computer in the beginning as well so I got her interested in using it. Worked like a charm, spend most of my time thinking of excuses to sit behind it myself now. Things like 'hmm, need to run some Maintenance scripts before we start having problems. Could take a while'