Reviving ole Ruby: Ruby Slot G3 needs tcp/ip

hello folks
I'm a decent tech on other things but a complete dolt re: this beautiful Ruby Slot iMAC I am now working on. The good news is that it basically does work - it will bootup 9.2.2 and I can find my way around - not totally convinced it does not have a problem with one of its memory slots so I'm running with just one 128mb mem module. As long as I don't try to do anything on my home network I'm fine. When I plug in the ethernet cable and try to get on the net to apple.com it is not happy ;P

I've done a bit of reading and it sounds like there are known issues: one cannot just plug in to a modern router and expect to get coherence? do I need to turn appletalk off? some extensions that need to be tweaked? My home net is pretty ordinary: I have a modern time-warner-provided RR modem and have a linksys combo wifi/cable router connected, with one cable coming to the iMAC.

also, I suppose the problem could be with the ancient IE5 browser... is there someway to get to a $prompt and run a ping test to verify at least that the protocol stack is ok?

thank you in advance

The problem may well be the G3 cannot handle later encryption such as WAP2. Perhpas setting up Linskys as WEP, with weakened security, may work.

thanks.
I got it going for internet use ok - just awfully tedious with such little ram. modern content on web pages at apple.com take about 5-10min to fully assemble ;D
but I could not get communicating with my windows pc's, even by opening the network control and punching in the address of the "server". neither can see the other.

but I'm moving on. I just pulled the drive and set it aside to give to the people that want their data - the old drive isn't suitable for a rebuild. will get a much bigger IDE 7200rpm drive and 2x512mb memory and see if i can get tiger or one of the 10's loaded.
I'm assuming I can do that from a usb-attached dvd drive? sure hope so.

harryb2448 said:

The problem may well be the G3 cannot handle later encryption such as WAP2. Perhpas setting up Linskys as WEP, with weakened security, may work.

Click to expand...

If you go with Tiger, make sure you update the firmware whilst running OS 9 prior to doing any OS X install.


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1395

Hold On A Second....When you change the HD you loss the firmware. Check to make sure the boot rom is 4.1.9 before you install OS X. Put a hub between the modem and the Mac. I would of left the old HD just for the OS and used a firewire drive for extra storage.

Mac SK said:

Hold On A Second....When you change the HD you loss the firmware. Check to make sure the boot rom is 4.1.9 before you install OS X. Put a hub between the modem and the Mac. I would of left the old HD just for the OS and used a firewire drive for extra storage.

Click to expand...

shouldn't. ROM is stored in the non-volatile ram on the systemboard in other computers.. hence the name firmware?? right?
Question: is the firmware update simply fetched over the wire using the Update applet? if so, I think I'm already there but I'll double check. I had hit the update function and it showed this one to be up to date. My understanding of loading Panther was, generally, to get the retail version of the disc [dvd] and push it over from a macbook or a firewire dvd device. is that correct? I'm assuming by the omission in the threads I read that the iMAC cannot boot from USB device. if I'm wrong someone lemme know. it would be much simpler to burn that iso onto an SD card, put it in the usb reader and boot it up that way but sounds like that is not in the cards.

I read the debates about whether Tiger or Panther is better suited to this machine and it seemed the better argument was on the side of Panther.

I'm cleaning off a 60gb drive I have for the purpose. ordering 1gb [2x512mb] memory but I'm stuck on the density/compatibility issue. I thought all low-density parts of the same spec were the same but I see dire warnings here and there that make me wonder if there is some hidden attribute of RAM DIMM's that I don't know about.

Spot on replacing drive has zilch to do with the firmware as you correctly point out cognus. iMacs prior to Intel will as a rule not boot from a USB drive. A very very few G5's do. Make sure the memory is from a Mac specialist such as Crucial or OWC.

Panther or Tiger you takes your pick. Panther was available originally on CDs for machines with no DVD drive.

Unlike PCS Macs store most of there firmware on the HD. If the firmware is not right you can burn up the video with the Unix code in OSX. Youll need the OSX to be on CD's as that machine has no DVD.

one more question

guys thank you for sharing your knowledge on this. OK I finally have cobbled together the essentials: I have a clean 60gb drive, and I'll be sure to set the jumper to master ... will make sure. got 2x512mb low density mac'able ram and have a 3CD set for panther.
what I don't know is if it will boot correctly from the CD !! if not, I'll be in a whole other zone.

my question: I read a couple of threads on problems folks run into doing what I'm doing and it seems that getting the HDD partitioned/formatted right is essential. Check this and correct me please:
- Boot from CD 1
- Go into Disk Utilities
- Check the tree to make sure a HDD is being identified
- Click the Partition tab and set partition to 1? I read that the preceding "tray" models [up to g3 333] would require a two-partition format with the boot partition being limited to 8GB? but that should not be the case with Ruby slot model G3 400...
- Then format the HDD
- Is it necessary after this step to reboot, and or power off?

Is that the do-list? after that it should be a "simple" matter of rebooting to the CD 1 and running install assuming no firmware issues, which shouldn't bug me since it was updated to the latest possible for the original config.

thx
c

Mac SK said:

Unlike PCS Macs store most of there firmware on the HD. If the firmware is not right you can burn up the video with the Unix code in OSX. Youll need the OSX to be on CD's as that machine has no DVD.

Click to expand...

Power PC Macs do not boot from a USB device. Firewire is the only way externally on those old iMacs. I hope you do not own the educational model that had no Firewire port. I have a blue one like that.

I haven't addressed external links - this is a new install/upgrade from CD set.

issues

Friends
OK finally getting back on this project - had several other more familiar jobs that interrupted.

unsurprisingly my multi-upgrade approach has given me some issues.
I installed the new RAM - at first it went to POST ok with no errors, but on a power-off/on restart I got the three beeps so I removed one RAM module and apparently got lucky so it will boot to bios/firmware now.

Rechecked the firmware rev and it is 4.1.9f1

several issues:
- the old drive is unaltered - that is, I removed it and set it safely aside so I would have a fallback. put the new drive in with a presumed 10.3 Disc 1 in the CD and got nowhere... just the folder, ?, Face ad infinitum

- the CD will not eject via the keyboard. Question: does the OS have to boot to enable the full kbd function? this is the original 'Pro" kbd that came with system.
Had to manually eject the CD.

-- Put the old drive back in, connected everything properly, booted, same result. ??? how did that happen? the old drive is unchanged/unmolested. Nothing in the CD drive.

- Should I RESET anything? NVRAM? "reset-all" ???? or is this a nuke option?

- Not having a working mac nearby - is there a way I can check the CD to see if it was burned right? I had a friend burn these on a fairly modern Macbook - might there be an issue with how the modern macbook establishes the formatting of the CD? Of course, one issue is that I don't even know if the CD is functioning right. my mistake - i should have tried writing something to a blank cd while I had the unit up and running with the old HDD

Recommended steps?

thanks as always
c

cognus said:

- Not having a working mac nearby - is there a way I can check the CD to see if it was burned right? I had a friend burn these on a fairly modern Macbook - might there be an issue with how the modern macbook establishes the formatting of the CD?

Click to expand...

You're NOT supposed to be using "burned" Mac OS install disks! We DO NOT condone any discussion of pirated software here at Mac-Forums!

- Nick