imac G3 will not boot from cd!!! help!!

hi

i have an imac G3 that i need to run linux. i was the one who wanted to get os 9 to run. i ended up buying from a local staples store (it was only $26), and i don't really like it as much as i thought i would. so, that aside, i need to run linux.

however, this **** imac will not boot off of a cd!!! when i try to boot off of my ubuntu powerpc edition disc from the internal drive, it just sits, hums, buzzes, makes cd drive noises, then continues to boot from the hard drive. so, i try to boot from an external cd drive on usb (i don't have firewire). so, when i press and hold option to get to the boot menu, i select the external cd drive (it mounts fine). then, something weird happens. the colors invert, and goes back to the menu, and thats it. it'll mount again, i'll try again, and it doesn't work.

help!!!!!!!!!!!!

The background/more info to your problem is here, right? http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62703

This is just to help members here know what has been suggested so far.

doh!!!!

now i remember :^|

but heres my problem: whenever i try to boot off of that external usb cd drive (which is known to work just fine) from this linux disc, the colors invert on the screen, and i goes back to the system picker. could resetting the PRAM fix this, or open firmware? how do i do that?

ugghhh...

i hope someone can help me rays:

i'll check back in a few

I just experienced something similar with an old g3 imac. In my case, I had to change the firmware alias for 'cd' to point to the USB device before it would boot successfully.

Hold down CTRL+OPTION+O+F, hit power button, get a firmware prompt. Note: your device path may be different from mine. at the firmware prompt type dev / ls to get a list of the attached devices:
0> dev / ls
<you'll get a list of devices - figure out the path to your USB cd drive, then ->
0> devalias cd /pci@f2000000/usb@19/disk@1
0> boot cd,\\:tbxi

When my system restarts, the alias for 'cd' points to the built in CD-ROM device. YMMV, I took a few lucky guesses.