Botched OSX upgrade

[dmroper]

I know there are probably threads right in front of me about this, but- Haven't found one just yet..

Just curious (WELL, not just curious- I've got an imac 350 that may have been messed up)- What if someone tried to upgrade to OSX without first updating the firmware?

What happened was.. Someone at work wanted to upgrade our imac 350 to OSX. Memory was only 64MB, so I cautioned against it.. Of course, my not being the mac expert disqualifies my opinion entirely (though I am CCNP, MSCE, MSCA, A+, Network+, blah blah blah).. Turns out, halfway through the install, screen went to a dark dark blue, hardly visible, but visible still nonetheless. Now, it chimes on boot, then appears to just doing anything alltogether (light eventually turns green, etc). No grey screen when powered on, etc.- Screen=blank. Nothing happens when I try to force a boot from cd, holding that command key and c or whatever down- nothing. Of course, can't boot from osx cd, and I'm still waiting for those os9 discs that I ordered.

I do have three other imacs, three 333 imacs, running 9.2. I've heard bits and pieces about fixes having to do with removing the hard drives, yada yada yada, but I know so little about macs that I am hesitant to try anything.

Any ideas regarding what I could try?

Also, any friendly help trying to find some threads dealing with this issue would be greatly appreciated..

I'm lost here in mac-world, though I am learning a lot as I go. I keep buying these old 333 imacs from a local school district liquidating their old machines because they're way cooler than the first (and last) mac I ever used- a mac 128 way back in the day.. My 5 year old loves them and I'm consideringmoving over to one of them permanently for my midi projects.

THanks again,


Dave

 

[Chamorro]

Boot it off an OS 9 CD, and update the firmware and make sure the drive is in good condition (using Disk Utility, at the least). That iMac definitely needs more RAM....I'd say at least 256, preferably 512.

 

[jerodhusvar]

Bring On Those Old iMacs.

I'm lost here in mac-world, though I am learning a lot as I go. I keep buying these old 333 imacs from a local school district liquidating their old machines because they're way cooler than the first (and last) mac I ever used- a mac 128 way back in the day.. My 5 year old loves them and I'm consideringmoving over to one of them permanently for my midi projects.

If you can get a good supply of these old iMacs, you might see about selling some of them here on the for sale forum. I might be interested in picking one up just to have for parts for mine. Or to get a computer running in the bedroom... or the kitchen... or ... or ... Yeah, I'm slightly nuts.

jjh

 

[dmroper]

Ok, now for my next part of this question, (please, I beg forgiveness for the length and thanks so much for your kind help and patience).

Here's the short version of my question- A messed up slot-loading 350MHz iMac screwed up because the firmware was never updated before an OSX upgrade was attempted- Would the installation of an upgraded TechnoWarehouse board fix my problem? One of those souped-up upgraded boards? THEN would I be able to boot from CD and install OS9 or 10 or whtatever?

Just as a refresher, we have this slot-loading iMac that was working perfectly fine with OS 8.6 (at least I believe it was 8.6- the restore discs are gone, so who's to tell- though I do now have restore discs galore of several varieties thanks now to eBay). This broken machine is a slot-loading 350mhZ with 64 MB RAM. One of our developers decided to try to upgrade it to OSX, the process during which the display turned to a very dark (but still readable) blue and then eventually completely dark (not like a dead CRT dark, but dark nonetheless).

After my ranting and raving about how I, as the admin, should have been consulted (even though I am certinly NOT a Mac expert), I did read up and learn quite a bit about this sort of problem- the display/OSX upgrade/firmware snafu. Now, of course, can't boot from CD, yada yada yada, and We're unable to get it (this broken slot loader) to work using any of the aforementioned solutions. We've tred an OS9 install on a different (tray-loading) iMac and then transferred that drive to the broken (slot-loading) imac, with no change (we get the initial chime, hear hard drive drive spinning, and then nothing- no display on the screen at all). It doesn't seem that the CRT is gone, however, which leaves me with a (probably false) glimmer of hope that there is some way to try to get it operable again. I've tried unplugging the CRT and cycling the power switch off and on again, but again, with no change. Flipped the battery, replaced the battery, all that jazz. Looking around at the other various solutions, I think that I've tried them all (short of hiring my own personal gremlin to dive in to the entrails and see what it can do).

One thing, however, I am considering, and was curious if it is even worth a try (or if anyone has tried it before with or without success). I've been looking and reading about these upgrades for these tray and slot-loading imacs from places like technowarehouse and such, and wonder if that could fix our problem? I mean, whatever needed to be flashed before the attempted OSX upgrade will probably already have been done with one of these new, refurbed, and/or upgraded technowarehousellc.com board, right? If I replace the mobo and send it back, is there a possibility that it could then be repaired and we'd be able to use again?

Just curious if anyone has tried it this way and/or had it work- Tweaking an older imac with an OSX install without updating the firmware and then just went the way of technowarehousellc and did a whole mobo or processor upgrade..

In the meantime, as we did require the use of an iMac or two at work for testing of our websites, I was able to buy four or five more 333 MHz tray-loading iMacs from a local school districts' surplus to serve our purpose (though I did just get approval to buy a new imac.. go figure - looks like I got me some new -old- ones to keep at home to play with). I do expect to try out one of those mobo upgrades with one of these as well, as I've jumped in and taken a look at the entrails, disassembled, and reassembled the thing with no trobule at all, and am pretty sure I can handle it (I'm A+ certified and all that, but I know that doesn't.. well.. mean jack in the mac world..).

So, my question in a nutshell- A messed up slot-loading 350MHz iMac screwed up because the firmware was never updated before that OSX upgrade Here's the short version of my question- A messed up slot-loading 350MHz iMac screwed up because the firmware was never updated before an OSX upgrade was attempted- Would the installation of an upgraded TechnoWarehouse board fix my problem? One of those souped-up upgraded boards? THEN would I be able to boot from CD and install OS9 or 10 or whtatever?

THanks again for all your kind help!!

Dave Roper

 

[AngelsFallFirst]

I don't think the upgrade will fix your problem unless firmware is modified as part of the process.

Can that model iMac video mirror to an external monitor? if so that should work, so you can see what you're doing in OS9.1/9.2 and do the firmware update.

The monitor funkyness seems to be something to do with the iMac's booting with the screen in suspend mode, I remember reading somewhere that if you boot OS9.1/9.2 and leave it for 30mins to an hour (or however long until it's set to kick into suspend) the screen will flick to life after being bought out of suspend, which will allow you to see to do the firmware install.

I remember reading some other tricks, so I'd hit google and see what you can turn up, this scenario is insanely common.

Best of luck.
Kari.

 

[Absolute Zero]

I have an iMac, 400 MHz DV SE. I have a smililar problem. I didn't update the firmware, and OS X killed my graphics card. Only OS 9 will work on it now.
To fix that, I need a whole new motherboard. I hear buying from Apple and repairing, it would cost more than an eMac. And I can't afford and eMac either.

 

[Badger]

Try this link: http://www.capecodgraphics.com/imac_firmware.htm. It explains what happened and has some steps to try.
Badger

PS: There is a new discussion (and some solutions) about this on Macintouch at: http://www.macintouch.com/panfirmware.html