iMac G3/600 doesn't like CDs?

Hey all,

I always wanted an iMac G3, ever since I saw the commercials around Y2K. I thought they were just epic, so when I finally got the chance to buy one, I took it. In fact, I got two. One was a G3/600 Graphite, the other is a Light Blue of unknown specs. I tried booting the Light Blue, and it gave me a corrupt boot chime. I tried booting the Graphite, and got a good chime, but the flashing question mark.

Upon investigation, the Graphite had no hard drive or connector cable, but it had 256MB ram, and the Light Blue had two different sticks of 128MB, and all the drives and connectors. Knowing that the Graphite would be the faster of the two, I put the HDD in the Graphite. It booted into someone's OS X 10.2, and after hitting the eject, I found a disc of 10.1 install.

As you might have guessed, these are both slot loaders with Firewire. I was pretty amazed that they worked, but then set about trying to restore it to a better OS. I'd like to use it with an older camera I have for photo and video editing, and a little internet and music storage, so I through I might aim for Tiger 10.4. But someone said that I should try and update my firmware before trying to install Tiger, but that requires OS 9, right?

I went searching and couldn't find for the life of me any discs. I finally got a burned copy from a friend of the 9.2.1 retail. When I tried booting it using the 'c' key, it turned into a black and white question mark, which then turned into a Happy Mac...then froze. Never got past that. I decided finally to just get anything I could, and tried both the original 9 install and the 9.2.1. Eventually, I ran out of CD-Rs, and was left with a single 2000 era CD-RW. I've tried writing every OS 9 install I could find, but it keeps freezing at the Happy Mac.

When I boot into OS X and insert the CD, I see the install apps and all the data files, but when I try to boot it it won't load!

Can anyone detail anything on how to get this iMac to boot these and not freeze? I'd be content with installing 10.1 fresh, but it won't let me erase my hard drive. Any ideas?

If the HD already has X on it you just upgrade from there. Someone has already done the firmware back before ten was installed. If its already got 10.2 on it just clean up that install dont replace it. The machine may work better is you stop at 10.3,you can run 10.4 but you need every thing maxed.

Agreed, OS 10.3 would be better than Tiger for the 600 iMac. You can however enhance its performance by taking the RAM to 1 Gb (maximum).

To learn all there is to know about your iMac, load Mactracker http://mactracker.ca/. Other resources include everymac.com and lowendmac.com.

Just got a G3 600 ($17) and added 130 GB HD and 1 GB ram from a $30 G4 and an Airport card and installed Panther and umpteen updates - keep running updater until it stops. Quite a nice silent snappy unit now.

This for Tiger but Panther was similar;

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I just found another stick of 256, bringing me up to 512...

But you guys think I already got the firmware? If so, then I'm gonna stop hesitating and start being serious about upgrading.

I'm gonna head back to the place I got it from and try to trade some of my ram in for a gig...I got some old cameras and stuff I can use the video editing for. I'll also ask about a bigger HDD (probably something like 80).

I'd like to go with Tiger if at all possible, mostly due to the more modern apps it supports. I was finding it easy to find things supporting Tiger, but almost nothing for any previous OS.

Yes it is running OS X.2 so the firmware is fine. Go into Apple System Profiler and check it out. Make sure you get low density Mac compatible memory as most PC ram is cheaper high density and you can fit a larger, 7200RPM drive.

Stay with Panther as a G3 is not fast enough to handle Tiger.

Atariangamer said:

I'd like to go with Tiger if at all possible

Click to expand...

Yes, it is possible, and you're right, it does have several additions and improvements from Panther.

That said, I hope you're a patient user, not easily frustrated, because the 600 MHz processor will struggle, especially with graphics work, and Flash. It'll get there in the end but there'll be times when you'll need to go away and make yourself a cuppa while you wait.

I'm probably not gonna do much flash, or internet in general. When I finally found firefox that worked on 10.2 and got flash loaded, Youtube was a slow poke. Hey, I got a Hack Pro behind me and a P4 Vaio right next to me, the net isn't so necessary on this thing (until I find an Airport card, then I'm gonna be wanting the speed...)

But if the graphics suffer...What iLife and Final Cut would work for me (if any)? The camera isn't HD, its a 2003 Sony MiniDV, and possibly a little 3MP digital camera to use with iPhoto. And the iTunes, oh the iTunes...just to do a little messing about, I installed the 10.1 CD that I had found in the drive. the Visualizer runs great, and the sound system is just amazing...I'd rather not lose those abilities.

Basically, what software should I be hunting down if I hafta run Panther? I found it hard as all heck to find what I could for 10.2...

These CDs will do the trick;


Click for full size

Atariangamer said:

When I finally found firefox that worked on 10.2 and got flash loaded, Youtube was a slow poke.

Click to expand...

That's the processor and graphics limitations. Q'time works okay though.

until I find an Airport card, then I'm gonna be wanting the speed.

Click to expand...

Don't get your hopes too high there, the iMac uses 804.11b protocol for wireless. Cable ethernet would be faster.

But if the graphics suffer...What iLife and Final Cut would work for me (if any)?

Click to expand...

OS 10.3.4
iPhoto 5
iTunes 4.7.1
iMovie HD 5
iDVD 5
G'Band 2
[source: Wikipedia]

Those are to be viewed as a starting guide, since later versions of iTunes for example will work with Panther. Unfortunately, my iMac is away at another place at present, but from memory I'm using iTunes 7.2.

iDVD may be irrelevant because the G3 has CD-RW capability only.
iLife 08 requires OS X version 10.4.9 or later. It also requires QuickTime 7.2 or later.
Final Cut - I can't comment knowledgeably, but I doubt it'll run successfully on your G3. Wiki is being stubborn at present, so I can't get access to FC's history to see what system requirements for earlier versions are.
See also: What are the system requirements for the Apple iLife 08?

The camera isn't HD, its a 2003 Sony MiniDV, and possibly a little 3MP digital camera to use with iPhoto.

Click to expand...

iPhoto works fine, but slowly compared with later Macs. Just don't try anything with massive m'pixels.

And the iTunes, oh the iTunes.

Click to expand...

See earlier.

Basically, what software should I be hunting down if I hafta run Panther?

Click to expand...

When I'm back with my beloved iMac in about 10 day's time I'll try and remember to look up this thread again so I can give you a better idea of what applications, and which versions of, work well with the G3 600/Panther.

Thanks. It'll be good knowing what I can run...now the problem is finding some Panther discs...

I'll also keep a look out for a G4, and see if I can't trade it in for a little extra. I'd TOTALLY give up the classic look for the G4 iMac.

It also appears that while I could run up to the last release of FCP3, I can't get realtime effects, even on FCP2. Ah well...

Atariangamer said:

now the problem is finding some Panther discs...

Click to expand...

See Amazon Amazon.com: MacOS Panther but be prepared for a $hock!

See also Best Mac OS X Prices (about half way down the page).

I'll also keep a look out for a G4, and see if I can't trade it in for a little extra. I'd TOTALLY give up the classic look for the G4 iMac.

Click to expand...

A G4 processor would be better for what you want to do, quite frankly. If you particularly like the all-in-one concept of the iMac, an eMac, especially the 1.42 GHz model (rare), would be IDEAL! Look for ...."VERY HOT 1.42 GHz Combo, Chrosmack Ventures" @ http://www.chrosmack.com/Items/Item...le eMac G4 1.42GHz 80GB 512MB Combo OS X 10.4 (if only I lived in Montana - sigh!).

Ok, the guy has a PowerMac G4 with big HDD, good RAM, ATI card, but the proc is only 450MHz compared to faster one's I've seen.

I'm offering to trade back that iMac graphite, fully upgraded and pre-loaded with whatever software I can find for a big discount off the G4.

However, I'm still not sure how well it'll hold up to FCP3 or any other type of stuff. I KNOW it'll do internet and almost everything else well, as well as probably being able to hold Tiger (good news for me)...but is it enough?

I'm prolly even gonna tell him to remove an HDD and some RAM if he wants to lower the price: I have one or two still good sized HDDs compatible with IDE, and at least 512MB of RAM confirmed to work in a Mac.

Currently comes with OS9 and OS X 10.2.8, but I'd upgrade it asap.

So...good trade, bad trade, do it, it won't work...what?

Its a PCI Graphics one...I have another PCI card or two here (no idea of Mac compatibility) but hey, who knows...

Bad trade.

Too old and slow and PCI models, if it is in fact a PCI as they came only with 400MHz processors, were the first G4 released and your PC cards will not work in it. That model G4 is worth maybe $40 all up. Suggest you need something much faster than this 1999 model.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_400.html

Back to the original question...

Ok, I read somewhere that a guy who had the same model as me (iMac slot loading G3/600 Graphite, which he calls the SE) mentioned on LowEndMac that after maxing RAM and putting in a better HDD, he was running Tiger 10.4.11 flawlessly. I've mostly given up the video editing on this machine, but if Tiger can make availible more games, better apps, and the like, I'm for it.

HOWEVER: Thinking back, I transplanted the 10.2 HDD into the Graphite. It didn't come with it. The LAST thing I want is a dead iMac. So I'd rather try loading the Firmware Update again, just in case. PROBLEM: It still won't boot my 9.2.1 CD!

So, is there any way to custom install it from something else? I have a 500GB Firewire HDD if that helps, and one CD RW, as well as a DMG of almost every OS save for 10.0, 10.1, and 10.2. I was planning on installing tiger slowly, rewriting the CD as needed, but I totally totally TOTALLY don't wanna end up having to wrestle my CRT monitor from the desk its on and set it on the table my iMac is sitting on just so I can try to reload OS X 10.1.

I just need to get OS 9 on my iMac in such a way as to allow me to use that updater.

@harryb: Thanks for that. Might ask if he's still got one of the MDD or Sawtooth models. (though then, he might jack the price because he sold one of those for about 200 (though that was a complete kit...))

If the iMac is actually running OS X.2, the firmware is right mate. Go to About this Mac > More Info and Boot Rom Version will no doubt be 4.1.9 the latest as shown:-


http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130

Just find it odd that 4.1.9 is the magic number, and I have 4.1.7f4.

Just got 4 CD-Rs, so I'm gonna try burning Tiger and installing.

Atariangamer said:

Just find it odd that 4.1.9 is the magic number, and I have 4.1.7f4.

Click to expand...

I wonder if you noticed that the Mactracker link, assuming you downloaded MT, has a link to the firmware update (see att pic).

I went browsing a few things while waiting for the discs to burn...and noticed 2 people noting their G3s doing fine on that version, and several iBooks with similar reports.

So I went with it.

And boy am I glad I did. Tiger is MAJOR improvements over 10.1 and 10.2. I'm enjoying this so far. The animation is amazingly smooth, the 10.4.11 is downloading in the BG, and my internet is FINALLY a bit more modern...no broken Apple homepage. Not to mention more compatibility with several of my favorite source ports. This is great.

Although the original point of this thread is...long gone, thanks for helping with your advice and such. If he doesn't have a Sawtooth G4, then I am by all means sticking with my nice G3.

Again, thanks! Its amazing having this work so well...

EDIT: one last thing before I can almost call this thread finished...
I know that QuickTime runs loads smoother than Flash player...I also know that FireFox (and other browsers) have had Userscripts and such to load the HQ videos, encoded in MP4, and play faster, even on older hardware. Know any good ones? youtube perfect doesn't work on youtube.com itself, and the embedded version doesn't show video, only audio. what do you guys use (if anything at all)?

Pleased to see your enthusiasm now you have Tiger up and running.

Add-on helpers for video downloads are a mixed bag, so try a different application altogether. Examples include TubeTV (which hacks into your browser), or Videobox, or MacTubes, or iTubeGrabber.

You can convert videos to Quicktime format for smoother viewing on the G3.