Installing an OS onto a Powerbook G3 Lombard

A month or so ago, I bought a Powerbook G3 "Lombard" from eBay to fix up. I've fitted a new hard drive and replaced the optical drive, but unfortunately I seem to be totally stuffed when it comes to installing an operating system on it. I initially tried using Mac OS 9 isos that I found at Macintosh Garden (Mac OS 9 disks are basically impossible to get in the UK unless they're tailored to the Powerbook G4), but was unable to get either the OS 9 retail CD image, or the OS 9.2.1 universal image, to work. I've since tried to use Xubuntu 6.1 for the Power PC, but I've also not been able to boot that image either. I've tried various burning software (Nero, ImgBurn) but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Nor does using DVD-RWs or CD-Rs (obviously I'm reluctant to waste too many CD-Rs!)

The optical drive I fitted definitely seems to be good; I can't hear it having any problems reading disks. The keyboard also appears to be good, in so far that I know the caps lock and num lock light up - but it doesn't matter whether I hold down "C" when the system starts up, or if I hold down "cmd-opt-shift-delete" - it doesn't make any difference, and I can't seem to activate any of the other command methods either; whatever I do, I always end up at the same Macintosh face/question mark alternating thing.

I'm a Mac/PowerBook noob, so what should I do? I should note that I don't have easy access to any other Mac, be it a Power PC or Intel unit.

A quick search on Google entering "How to repair classic Macs" brought up various web sites, including www.ifixit.com. Suggest using one of those sites where you're more likely to get an answer and leads to parts, etc. Several of our members are also quite knowledgeable when it comes to classic Macs. Perhaps one of them will be able to assist.

And welcome to our forums!

chscag said:

A quick search on Google entering "How to repair classic Macs" brought up various web sites, including www.ifixit.com. Suggest using one of those sites where you're more likely to get an answer and leads to parts, etc. Several of our members are also quite knowledgeable when it comes to classic Macs. Perhaps one of them will be able to assist.

And welcome to our forums!

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Thanks for the welcome

I'm well aware of ifixit - in fact, that's the guide I used for disassembling the Powerbook! As it is (probably) more of a software/usage issue than a hardware issue (I hope), this forum, which seems fairly active in this section, seemed like a good place to come (there's a few other mostly dead ones that I can see). I've spent most of my time with PCs, hence my lack of Mac experience - but these G3s are getting rare, and are very very rare in the UK nowadays, so I had to try and save it!

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Apple has made operating systems available only up to System 7 at this stage alas. Think you really got to hunt down OS 9 or OS X.3 Panther discs on eBay and such. Other downloaded images are piracy perhaps? Here is what Apple has made available for free download:-


http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html

harryb2448 said:

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Apple has made operating systems available only up to System 7 at this stage alas. Think you really got to hunt down OS 9 or OS X.3 Panther discs on eBay and such. Other downloaded images are piracy perhaps? Here is what Apple has made available for free download:-


AppleCare Support - Older Software Downloads

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If that is the case, then fair enough. However, I'm happy to install a PPC Linux distro as well (even as a short-term test), but I had the exact same issues - so I'm still looking for help on that front, because I had the same exact issues with Xubuntu 6.1 that I did with OS 9.

Whatever you try to install, you will need burnt to a bootable disc. Did you burn Ubuntu or whatever to a CD. Pop it in and reboot holding down 'C' immediately? Alas next consideration is perhaps you bought a lemon. G3's are so very old.

harryb2448 said:

Whatever you try to install, you will need burnt to a bootable disc. Did you burn Ubuntu or whatever to a CD. Pop it in and reboot holding down 'C' immediately? Alas next consideration is perhaps you bought a lemon. G3's are so very old.

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I believe the copy of Xubuntu was bootable - I got it from here (the "desktop CD" download), but I'm not certain. I'll see if I can get hold of a cheap copy of OS X 10.2 or something like that - it'll at least give me an idea of whether the system will go at all or not. Why did Apple have to make this so difficult?

It ain't difficult ~ just costs lol. Still think Panther OS X.3 would be better than Jaguary. Make sure you can get the black retail install CD. Do not buy the silver/grey discs that abound on eBay.


http://systemfolder.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/pbg3-dvd/

harryb2448 said:

It ain't difficult ~ just costs lol. Still think Panther OS X.3 would be better than Jaguary. Make sure you can get the black retail install CD. Do not buy the silver/grey discs that abound on eBay.


DVD Player, Mac OS X, and the PowerBook G3 Lombard | System Folder

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It would, yes - but I'd probably require an already-installed version of Mac OS of some kind to get the hackaround to get 10.3 to work on a G3. I'd already guessed that the grey discs were system specific

Don't know about a hackintosh. On some Lombards it was simply a removal of the top memory module. Have a read of this in particualr finding out if you have the CPU requiring this fix:-


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1911516

Lukeno94 said:

It would, yes - but I'd probably require an already-installed version of Mac OS of some kind to get the hackaround to get 10.3 to work on a G3.

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There's no "hack-around" required. Powerbook G3 "Pismo's" are able to run up to OS 10.4.11. So installing OS 10.3 shouldn't be a problem.

- Nick

Check this site. Some hard drives will not work. There is a note what will.

Also one site says official support for 10.3.9 Panther and 10.4 should work also.

Lombard PowerBook G3 | Low End Mac

ATA issues shouldn't be a factor here in terms of the hard drive, since I deliberately bought a 6GB Fujitsu drive (which turns out to be an ATA-33) unit. I do wonder if it could potentially be a jumper issue (it shouldn't be, because the Fujitsu drive is set to drive 0 by default when there's no jumper fitted)?

However, could the ATA issue come into play with the Panasonic-built HP UJDA765 DVD/CD-RW drive I fitted? It was made in August 2005, so I'd be a little surprised, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to get an older DVD drive - I've got a couple of other laptops that are in need of an optical drive. Nowhere I can find says anything other than IDE/EIDE, which isn't entirely helpful.

How far away from Kent are you - I can probably give you a hard drive which has a generic 10.4.11 Tiger pre-installed and working if that helps.
I know Lombards don't officially support Tiger but if you have more than 256mb RAM (more than 512 would be best) it goes quite well.
I may also have a CD drive to spare, though you would have to shoehorn it into the drive bay yourself.

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

How far away from Kent are you - I can probably give you a hard drive which has a generic 10.4.11 Tiger pre-installed and working if that helps.
I know Lombards don't officially support Tiger but if you have more than 256mb RAM (more than 512 would be best) it goes quite well.
I may also have a CD drive to spare, though you would have to shoehorn it into the drive bay yourself.

Cheers

Hugh

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I live in Reading, so it's a little bit of a trek away from Kent If it's not too far though, I'd definitely be willing to take you up on that offer.

Well, perhaps I'll look out a hard drive (probably 12 or 20 GB) which definately worked in my Pismo (follow up to Lombard), this evening, and let you know by PM when I've fully checked it out if that's OK.
Would cost 4 quid to send to you by recorded if that's any use to you?

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

Well, perhaps I'll look out a hard drive (probably 12 or 20 GB) which definately worked in my Pismo (follow up to Lombard), this evening, and let you know by PM when I've fully checked it out if that's OK.
Would cost 4 quid to send to you by recorded if that's any use to you?

Cheers

Hugh

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£4 definitely sounds reasonable to me!

Seems you can't receive Private Messages, so in short I'm currently cloning a working system to a 12GB hard drive for you, will let you know in the morning if it's successful.

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

Seems you can't receive Private Messages, so in short I'm currently cloning a working system to a 12GB hard drive for you, will let you know in the morning if it's successful.

Cheers

Hugh

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Not sure why I can't get PMs, I haven't disabled them, and the settings were enabled. I've tried toggling it on/off now, hopefully that fixes it (if not, lukeno94(at)hotmail(dot)com is my email address), and I really appreciate this! Guess I'll use this 6GB drive as a nice testbed for other laptops.

Got it ! email on way

Cheers

Hugh