iMac Problem

I have a 500mhz iMac G3. It meets the system requirements of Jaguar. When I try to install Jaguar. It begins the process, but after 4 min or so, it freezes. I tried every combination of my 64mb, 128mb, and 256mb sticks of ram. Jaguar installed fine when I used it on my iBook.
My iMac can still boot into Mac OS 9.2.2, and the firmware is up-to-date.

I'm using a set of two retail Jaguar CDs with big, furry X's on them.
The iMac does read other CDs.

I have tried different RAM combos, I bought the 128mb module from RAMdirect. After that didn't work, I bought a 256mb module which was perviously used in somebody's iMac. When I use just the 128mb module, instead of freezing, the screen goes black into an MS-DOS-like command line. It gives me the following message:

The installer has quit due to an unexpected error. (exit code 0)


My problem didn't get a solution at Apple's Discussion Forums, so I decided to see if anyone here knew anything.

Welcome here, MacTCP.

I googled and found this entry at WeLoveMacs, Unexpected Error. (Exit Code 0) Please restart your computer.

Looks like it would be your firmware needing to be updated. And I wouldn't rule out bad RAM either. Jaguar was notoriously finicky about the RAM that was installed.

Did you run the Hardware Test in extended mode?

My firmware is up-to-date. Are all 3 of my RAM modules incompatible? And what's an extended hardware test?

Apple's Hardware Test should be included in the set of CDs that came with your Mac.

Ever thought of buying off of eBay Mac OS X 10.3.x Panther instead? It was way more stable than Jaguar.

Edited to add:

While you're at it, why not run Apple's Disk Utility off of the CD as well just to test the hard drive's health at the same time. Just to rule out hd failure, you know. And by golly, repair disk permissions just to make sure you have that done too.

I just bought this iMac used, so I didn't get Apple Hardware Test. My hard drive is healthy.