imac G3 problems

[platinum]

HI!

new to the forums, great to be here.

i have a problem with my imac G3. i got it off of a friend, and it boots into os x, but it's messed up, and runs terribly slow (and it even has 512mb of ram). i got an os 9.2.2 disk i burned from a dmg file. it passed verification, and burned okay (just took really long). when i try to boot off of the disk to install os 9.2.2, it comes up with this floppy disk and a question mark thing. what can i do? i want os 9 on there (i like it better than os x.) it's not gonna be online, just a spare computer. my friend lost all of his apple disks, so i need to use this one i burned.

to make things worse, now it won't boot onto the hard drive, and i can't get the disc out!!!

help

 

[the8thark]

Is the OS 9 disc borned as a bootable disc? It has to specifically chosen when burnt I think. If not it won't be able to be booted.

And to egect the disc just hold the mouse button on startup. I think that'll work it. And if you have a tray loading cd drive I think there should be a tiny hole in the front of the cd drive. Put a straightened out paper clip in that hole and push a little but to hard eject the cd. I don't recommend it, but it works.

And why don't you like OS X?

 

[platinum]

well, seeing's how this is an older machine, i fugure os 9 will run much better on it than os x will, plus i ave no os x disc (can't download one, my internet is slow), and i jst lke the look and feel of os 9. it's "snappy"

i'll try what you said.

thx

 

[platinum]

nobody can help? argghhhh!!

i'll never get this cool thing to work. ~sigh~

 

[bryphotoguy]

Did you get the CD out by holding down the mouse button after power up if you have a slot load or insert the paperclip if you own a tray drive Mac?
If this copy of OS 9 works, you can format the HD completely and install os9. You can try holding down the option key during start up and wait for the screen to load. From there, you can choose if you want the OS9 disc to start first or OSX (that's of course saying you have the CD in the drive.) You should be able to install from there.
Bryan

 

[platinum]

yes, i got it out.

i'll try that thing you said, the option key.

i'll let u know what happens

 

[platinum]

d'oh!

it just sits there as if there is no disc in the drive. the stop watch mouse cursor thing waits, the disc spins, but it doesn't pop up as an option to select to boot from!!!

 

[platinum]

dammit!

it won't even boot off of an UBUNTU cd i burned on my pc. it's the mac version, and it won't even boot off that

what do i do? the cd drive operates normally in the os, and i've tried resetting the pram (i heard it helps fix problems like these), and it still doesn't work!!!

and worse yet, classic is not installed on this machine, so i can't even start an install from within the os

 

[bryphotoguy]

dammit!

it won't even boot off of an UBUNTU cd i burned on my pc. it's the mac version, and it won't even boot off that

what do i do? the cd drive operates normally in the os, and i've tried resetting the pram (i heard it helps fix problems like these), and it still doesn't work!!!

and worse yet, classic is not installed on this machine, so i can't even start an install from within the os

What CD is that?
You have to wait awhile.... The CD takes a minute or so to mount to the boot drive menu.
If that doesn't work, try doing it through OSX. You should be able to go to preferences and choose startup disk.
Bryan

 

[platinum]

ubuntu is a version of linux. they have a version that is designed for PPC computers (apple G3, G4, G5)... and it won't boot. i'll try the startup disk thing. i hope it works

 

[Alexis]

OS 10.3 and above will run very well on your G3. The OS has actually become faster on older machines with every release, contrary to what you might expect.

 

[dtravis7]

How exactly did you burn the Ubuntu CD? From an Image? I at one point downloaded an Image of Ubuntu Live CD for Macs and burned it on my PC. iMac G3 333Mhz booted right up while holding down C.

 

[platinum]

thats exactly how i did it, and it just doesn't seem to want to boot from cd. the drive spins, i here it load or something, and then it gets to the question mark folder thing or the question mark floppy thing

 

[platinum]

hey. i even tried comand-option-I at boot (to read the disc as an ISO9000 formatted disc), and it did the same thing: spin up, spin down, sounded like it read it a few times, then went to the folder question mark thing, then booted into mac os x. could it be that the drive is messed up? it is a slot loading imac, so that might be the problem. i have an external (usb) cd rom that i know to work perfectly. could i boot off of an external cd drive? i'll try it

 

[platinum]

i know what the problem is!!!!!!!!

the internal cd drive is messed up. when i went to the system picker (by holding option key), it mounts the ubuntu cd just fine. in fact, it's also my os 9 disk's. i burned them on my pc, and for some reason they won't mount. i'll do the whole thing via this external drive, then guy out the old one and put in this one!

 

[platinum]

just one last question: i have os 9 on my pc. its the retail version, and its in a toast file. how do i burn it to a bootable cd my mac will understand?

 

[platinum]

my imac

well, as you may have seen in my other post, i got an imac G3 400mhz slot loading computer, and its a sweet machine. i had trouble trying to boot off of a cd, but i got an external cdrw i'm gonna make internal.

soe heres my question: i have a mac os 9 retail image on my PC. its a TOAST file, whatever the heck that is. my question is, how do i burn that file on my pc so that i may boot off of the cd on my imac?

it's not like any file i've seen. nero won't mount/burn it. i want to burn a bootable cd that i can use in my imac to reinstall os 9. what do i do?

 

[platinum]

does anybody know what i can do? plz help! i haven't any other access to mac os discs of any kind, and i'm too young to register with ebay

 

[MacHeadCase]

Listen, you're asking us to help you with something illegal, if I'm getting this right, which is stuff against forum rules, mate.

If you do have and own a legal OS 9 CD installer, why don't you use that instead?

 

[platinum]

because this imac will not boot from a cd, no matter what i do. there may be something wrong with my disc, or the image that was on the hard drive. i never said i downloaded it, and that what i'm doing is illegal, cuz it's not. my imac has no burner, and the external burner i do have is usb, and it would take way too long to do on the mac (it's not usb 2).

i can see that i'm not gonna get much help here. i'll figure it out on my own. i say, good day to you all.

platinum