Old iMac, OS X

Hi all,

I'm new here and also new to the Mac world. I've been into computers all my life and have been using Linux for a good portion of it. I'm now trying to get some experience on OS X since I came across an old (Rev A) iMac. Now, the problem is, I'm trying to get OS X on there. I do understand that it will run very slowly, but I'd like to give it a try.

I have a retail copy of 10.3, but all efforts to get it to boot have been failures. I've tried pressing C during startup, I've reset the PRAM, pressed C some more, and tried more things. The closest I've gotten is a blinking mac face/question mark on a folder icon. The firmware on this mac seems to be 3.0.f3, which I've read should be enough to run OS X.

I've been searching the web and trying things for two days and have yet to find anything, so I thought I'd come directly ask the experts and I hope that someone here can point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance,
David

Any details on the Mac Specs?

I think it's one of the so-called 'Bondi Blue' macs. I know it's a G3 with a 233 MHz CPU and 32MB of RAM. If I can at least get the OS X installer running, I'll feel confident in buying some more RAM for it (maybe a 256 SO-DIMM, if it'll work).

The Mac had a blank drive, but I've managed to get Linux running on it, so I know the CD drive can read CDs and most of the hardware seems to be functional. I also cannot see any scratches, dust, or fingerprints on my install CDs.

Matir said:

I think it's one of the so-called 'Bondi Blue' macs. I know it's a G3 with a 233 MHz CPU and 32MB of RAM. If I can at least get the OS X installer running, I'll feel confident in buying some more RAM for it (maybe a 256 SO-DIMM, if it'll work).

The Mac had a blank drive, but I've managed to get Linux running on it, so I know the CD drive can read CDs and most of the hardware seems to be functional. I also cannot see any scratches, dust, or fingerprints on my install CDs.

Click to expand...

Is your copy of panther on CD or DVD? and can your iMac do DVDs?

IronMac said:

Is your copy of panther on CD or DVD? and can your iMac do DVDs?

Click to expand...

It's a set of 3 CDs, and the iMac is only CD as far as I know.

Check this URL on Low End Mac. Read everything there and some of the articles toward the bottom of the page. I think this will guide you on your way. If you have any more questions, be sure to ask.

http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/imac.shtml

I have seen those articles and have reviewed them. Unless the OS X install CD simply will not boot with only the 32M of RAM, none of them have revealed any secrets that will get the CD to boot. I'm considering buying 128M of RAM to add to it, but I'd hate to do it if the OS X CD simply won't boot.

Ok, did not know you read all of that.

I am pretty sure Panther will not install with 32 Megs RAM but it should at least try to boot. since you say that the CDROM boots with linux CD's, then OSX should boot. Is your Firmware the latest? Since you have the Factory 3 CD Set of Panther, it should boot fine. Panther will need at least 128 Megs to even run and it will be slow, especially on that 233 iMac. 256 would be a better amount if you can get it running. I would blame the CDROM drive as I have an old iMac where the CDROM is a bit on the touchy side, but it does boot with your Linux CD's. I had better luck with Jaguar 10.2 on that 233 with 128 Megs RAM. Make sure that the first CD of Panther is CLEAN, no smuges or fingerprints. All the older iMacs with the Tray Load CD Drive I have tried seem very unforgiving of any dirt of smuges on the CD.

The CD was cleaned using a microfiber cloth and isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I do plan to upgrade the RAM, but only once I am sure I will be able to get OS X installed. I have checked the firmware and it's 3.0.f3, which I've read should be current enough for 10.3.

Matir said:

The CD was cleaned using a microfiber cloth and isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I do plan to upgrade the RAM, but only once I am sure I will be able to get OS X installed. I have checked the firmware and it's 3.0.f3, which I've read should be current enough for 10.3.

Click to expand...

I drug out my old iMac and tried the Panther CD. It did the same thing yours is doing. I cleaned the lens on the drive and then it read and booted the panther CD. You might give that a try. I had mentioned that most of the older iMacs with the tray loading drive have had issues. Try cleaning the lasers lens.

Matir said:

I have seen those articles and have reviewed them. Unless the OS X install CD simply will not boot with only the 32M of RAM, none of them have revealed any secrets that will get the CD to boot. I'm considering buying 128M of RAM to add to it, but I'd hate to do it if the OS X CD simply won't boot.

Click to expand...

I seem to recall trying to install Jaguar on a Power Macintosh G3 AIO (similar specs to your iMac), and having an issue getting it to install with only 32 MB of RAM. Either way, you are going to need quite a bit more than that for OS X to work well on your machine, so I'd go ahead and purchase the additional RAM anyway. You mentioned 128 MB, but I'd go with at least 256 MB as the minimum.