Help with iMac G3

Hello
i have an imac that i have identified as being this model
iMac G3/400 (Early 2001 - Indigo) Specs (iMac - Early 2001, M7683LL/A, PowerMac4,1, M5521, N/A) @ EveryMac.com
and i bought it with out a drive or memory, so there is no os at all on it.
i have currently fixed the video and audio issue and it is booting properly into OpenFirmware and is booting to the flashing question mark screen. i was wondering how i would go about putting OS 9, then OSX on this iMac, as i have been unable to locate copies of OS 9 that are suitable for the specs of this model. I havent contacted Apple yet, as they feel the need to charge you for calling them (********, imo), and i would love to get this imac up and running for a change. thanks in advance, and sorry if this is in the wrong spot

My first thought is...without a hard drive, without ram, and without an OS...this iMac G3 may cost more money to "bring back to life" than you might think.

I'm not sure how much you paid for it (a "decent" price for a 100% working iMac G3 would be $10-$20 bucks ...and sometimes you can pick them up for free)...but in any case, how much would you say your budget is to get this thing working?

Thanks,

- Nick

well, since i already replaced the ram and the hard drive, all i need is an installation for the os, upwards of $70-$100

You may not need os 9 on that mac - but this syle disk will work on that mac (OS 9.2)

Amazon.com: Mac OS 9.2.1: Software

As for OSX, tiger would be the best bet for that iMac - but you will need more than 512 meg of memory. Unfortunately, OSX Tiger second hand disks are going for silly money on the Internet - probably more than the iMac is worth

thank you!
out of curiosity, what do they really put on these disks anyway? are they mountable dmg files or something?

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

well, since i already replaced the ram and the hard drive, all i need is an installation for the os, upwards of $70-$100

Click to expand...

Just trying to help. It may have helped if you mentioned in your original post that you installed ram & a hard drive.

As far as the OS...just go to e-Bay, and see what you can find. FYI...I happen to have OS 10.4 installed on one of my 400mhz iMac G3's. Some folks feel OS 10.4 will run really slow on 400mhz iMac G3...I find it runs ok.

But OS 10.4 will cost you $100+...so maybe more than you want to spend. But this doesn't mean you couldn't install an older & more affordable version of OS X..such as 10.2 or 10.3. To install OS X you may also need to do a firmware update.

Of course you can stick with OS 9 as well if you prefer.

Good luck,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Just trying to help. It may have helped if you mentioned in your original post that you installed ram & a hard drive.

As far as the OS...just go to e-Bay, and see what you can find. FYI...I happen to have OS 10.4 installed on one of my 400mhz iMac G3's. Some folks feel OS 10.4 will run really slow on 400mhz iMac G3...I find it runs ok.

But OS 10.4 will cost you $100+...so maybe more than you want to spend. But this doesn't mean you couldn't install an older & more affordable version of OS X..such as 10.2 or 10.3. To install OS X you may also need to do a firmware update.

Of course you can stick with OS 9 as well if you prefer.

Good luck,

- Nick

Click to expand...

yeah the reason i was going to install os 9 before any version of os x is because the firmware update required for os x is located in os 9. the slot load drives arent compatible with dvds because they are straight cd drives, so i can imagine that the installation disk is just a cd with a 500+ mb dmg file right?

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

yeah the reason i was going to install os 9 before any version of os x is because the firmware update required for os x is located in os 9. the slot load drives arent compatible with dvds because they are straight cd drives, so i can imagine that the installation disk is just a cd with a 500+ mb dmg file right?

Click to expand...

Yeah...some of the G3 iMac's had CD only optical drives so not able to use a DVD install disk directly. But OS 10.4 came in both a DVD and a 4-CD install set of disks. But the 10.4 CD version is sort of hard to find....and expensive!

You can use the 10.4 install DVD...but then you need a 2nd Macintosh with a DVD drive in "Target Disk" mode to do the install in the iMac G3.

I'm not exactly sure about the file type on the CD.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Yeah...some of the G3 iMac's had CD only optical drives so not able to use a DVD install disk directly. But OS 10.4 came in both a DVD and a 4-CD install set of disks. But the 10.4 CD version is sort of hard to find....and expensive!

You can use the 10.4 install DVD...but then you need a 2nd Macintosh with a DVD drive in "Target Disk" mode to do the install in the iMac G3.

I'm not exactly sure about the file type on the CD.

- Nick

Click to expand...

i could just use a firewire dvd drive

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

i could just use a firewire dvd drive

Click to expand...

Yes you could...of course I didn't know you had one!

- Nick

Warning: With a clean HD youll have to update the firmware to Boot Rom 4.1.9.before you install OSX. The machine has to be current OS 9.2.2. The rom update is a separate download you install and requires pushing the programers key under the modem port. There is no warning in the OSX installer to stop you if the Firmware is wrong. The last time I repaired one of these machines without a HD I had to use the original Imac install disc with Os 8.6 because even the first Firmware to run the Mac was gone. I put OS 9 on it first and it locked up...had to use the Imac restore disc to fix it....then update to OS9..do the next firmware update..then to OSX 10.2

Thank you both for your help! i recently got my installation cd for OS 9.2, but when i run the installation, it doesnt find a mountable volume, but i know there is a drive in it, formatted for FAT for some odd reason...
what do i do?

You need to run drive setup on the OS9 install disc and reformat the drive. Drive Setup is in one of the folders in the installer window.

Mac SK said:

You need to run drive setup on the OS9 install disc and reformat the drive. Drive Setup is in one of the folders in the installer window.

Click to expand...

thank you
problem solved, thank you all very much for your help!

as an off topic question, why do i get a memory error when i start up my installation disk?

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

thank you
problem solved, thank you all very much for your help!

as an off topic question, why do i get a memory error when i start up my installation disk?

Click to expand...

Never had that happen to me before....is there a stick in the upgrade slot. Open the door on the bottom to see the slot. If theres one in there it may be for a PC and not a Mac.

how much memory is needed exactly to run osx, and what version should i use?

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

how much memory is needed exactly to run osx, and what version should i use?

Click to expand...

As much as you can get or the machine supports...max is like 1 gig. Either PC100 or 133....needs to be memory sticks for Macs. My slot load iMac has 10.2 on it. Did you look to see if theres a second stick?

Mac SK said:

As much as you can get or the machine supports...max is like 1 gig. Either PC100 or 133....needs to be memory sticks for Macs. My slot load iMac has 10.2 on it. Did you look to see if theres a second stick?

Click to expand...

yeah it had a second stick that wasnt pc100, its fixed now.
the max for these is a gig?
odd... is there a place around here i can get mac memory for cheap?

Rofl Teh 1337 said:

yeah it had a second stick that wasnt pc100, its fixed now.
the max for these is a gig?
odd... is there a place around here i can get mac memory for cheap?

Click to expand...

Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC

May not be super cheap..but is the right stick for Macs..or check out the soecs there and hunt some up on eBay.:Blushing:

*Apple reports that this model can support a maximum of 512 MB of RAM. "Unofficially" this model can support 1.0 GB of RAM (two 512 MB modules).

Mac SK said:

Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC

May not be super cheap..but is the right stick for Macs..or check out the soecs there and hunt some up on eBay.:Blushing:

*Apple reports that this model can support a maximum of 512 MB of RAM. "Unofficially" this model can support 1.0 GB of RAM (two 512 MB modules).

Click to expand...

thank you sir! im rocking an ancient slot load imac g3 with a busted up shell, minus the bottom part of the shell, with osx tiger
thank you all for you help