Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iMac G4 800mhz needs Tinkerers' help!!

T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
Hi all,

I have just purchased what is either a G4 flat panel 700 or 800 (can't tell which yet*) off of eBay, that won't boot up*. It's getting the multi language kernel panic message at the grey screen. So far I have tried:

Trying a different keyboard.
Taking out the Kingston memory that has been added (Doing this causes it not to turn on at all)
Diskwarrior.
Disk First Aid (shows the HD as being fine)
I have installed a fresh install of Leopard onto the HD via Firewire which went on fine, and would even boot up using its HD in target mode on another mac, which says to me the HD and system are fine, but it won't boot on it's own.

Any ideas guys??
 
Nameci

Nameci

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2010
1,944
12
The Philippines...
trickyred said:
Hi all,

I have just purchased what is either a G4 flat panel 700 or 800 (can't tell which yet*) off of eBay, that won't boot up*. It's getting the multi language kernel panic message at the grey screen. So far I have tried:

Trying a different keyboard.
Taking out the Kingston memory that has been added (Doing this causes it not to turn on at all)
Diskwarrior.
Disk First Aid (shows the HD as being fine)
I have installed a fresh install of Leopard onto the HD via Firewire which went on fine, and would even boot up using its HD in target mode on another mac, which says to me the HD and system are fine, but it won't boot on it's own.

Any ideas guys??
Click to expand...


What do you mean of G4 flat panel? and iMac?
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
If I can find it, I'll have the discs that came with my G4 17" iMac - would that work or do they have to be the exact disc for the machine?
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
trickyred said:
If I can find it, I'll have the discs that came with my G4 17" iMac - would that work or do they have to be the exact disc for the machine?
Click to expand...

Well, your in luck it appears apple has the AHT for your model online here : http://www.info.apple.com/support/aht.html - you want the iMac/eMac disk - that should work fine on your iMac G4 :)

Nameci said:
They are machine specific...
Click to expand...

Yes, but some can be used across certain bands of model - such as the one linked too above - that runs on several iMac G3 models, several iMac G4 models and the first eMac.
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
That's fantastic!! I can't wait to get home now and grab it!!

Thanks .... stay tuned for results!!
 
SkippyThorson

SkippyThorson

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2007
1,669
938
Utica, NY
trickyred said:
Hi all,

I have just purchased what is either a G4 flat panel 700 or 800 (can't tell which yet*) off of eBay, that won't boot up*. It's getting the multi language kernel panic message at the grey screen. So far I have tried:

Trying a different keyboard.
Taking out the Kingston memory that has been added (Doing this causes it not to turn on at all)
Diskwarrior.
Disk First Aid (shows the HD as being fine)
I have installed a fresh install of Leopard onto the HD via Firewire which went on fine, and would even boot up using its HD in target mode on another mac, which says to me the HD and system are fine, but it won't boot on it's own.

Any ideas guys??
Click to expand...

The first thing that I see as a problem is what I've put in bold that you said. The reason that it starts up just fine in target disk mode on another Mac is (probably) because that the other Mac has a faster processor than your 800mhz iMac G4. Right?

Your #1 problem, since you haven't done any little tricks to over-clock your processor from the original 700mhz / 800mhz, is that those iMacs are not (officially) supported to run Leopard. (See below.)

Apple said:
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard requires:

A Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or Power PC G4 (867 MHz or faster) processor
512 MB memory or more
A DVD drive for installation
9 GB of available disk space or more
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider, fees may apply.
Some features require Apple's MobileMe service; fees apply.
(Continued...)
Click to expand...

Over-clocking is not worth it, before you consider it, because even though you could get Leopard on the 700mhz / 800mhz iMac G4 with some work, trust me, you wouldn't want to. I would personally get my hands on a retail copy of Tiger (10.4), and go from there, because not only will you have the OS to put on this computer, you'll have it available should you ever need it again for another computer, saving you the disk hunting woes.
 
Last edited:
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
SkippyThorson said:
The first thing that I see as a problem is what I've put in bold that you said. The reason that it starts up just fine in target disk mode on another Mac is (probably) because that the other Mac has a faster processor than your 800mhz iMac G4. Right?

Your #1 problem, since you haven't done any little tricks to over-clock your processor from the original 700mhz / 800mhz, is that those iMacs are not (officially) supported to run Leopard. (See below.)



Over-clocking is not worth it, before you consider it, because even though you could get Leopard on the 700mhz / 800mhz iMac G4 with some work, trust me, you wouldn't want to. I would personally get my hands on a retail copy of Tiger (10.4), and go from there, because not only will you have the OS to put on this computer, you'll have it available should you ever need it again for another computer, saving you the disk hunting woes.
Click to expand...

You dont need any work to get it on the 700Mhz G4 iMac. It will run it fine, without any hacks, without any work. All the drivers are present in 10.5 to run on slower G4 machines. (Seriously - it works fine on my 450Mhz G4, and 700Mhz eMac, neither of which are supported, in any incarnation. I just used FW Disk mode and it worked fine). Sure Tiger runs better, but 10.5 will boot any Mac with a G4 CPU pretty much - without overclocking - heck there are videos of a PM8500/G4 booting 10.5 on youtube.
 
SkippyThorson

SkippyThorson

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2007
1,669
938
Utica, NY
chrismacguy said:
You dont need any work to get it on the 700Mhz G4 iMac. It will run it fine, without any hacks, without any work. All the drivers are present in 10.5 to run on slower G4 machines. (Seriously - it works fine on my 450Mhz G4, and 700Mhz eMac, neither of which are supported, in any incarnation. I just used FW Disk mode and it worked fine). Sure Tiger runs better, but 10.5 will boot any Mac with a G4 CPU pretty much - without overclocking - heck there are videos of a PM8500/G4 booting 10.5 on youtube.
Click to expand...

While I don't dispute you, and even find it interesting that it's as simple as plug and play in Target Disk Mode (which I've never tried) there are users that try and report Leopard will not install directly onto the unsupported Mac through its own drive.

I still stand by my statement and say the problem is Leopard and not the Machine. :eek:

(Then again, when an Apple Store Genius booted my iMac G4 off another Mac behind the counter, my input jack worked. Back home, under its own power, I still can't play guitar through it. Maybe there is some magic in FireWire and Target Disk Mode.)
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
Hi

The problem won't be Leopard, as I put the Leopard on it, and it wasn't working before that :(
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
OP: try making a AHT CD with the stuff above, and rebooting using it, as it tends to be the best way to diagnose problems with various internal pieces of your G4. Leopard isnt the problem or solution currently :)
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
No worries!! Ok, about to make an AHD CD .... hold your breath .... not literally!!





Back later ....
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
Ok .... it's memory. If I'm reading it right, it's the 256mb extra Kingston stick that is faulty, yet when I remove this it wont boot at all ....
 

Attachments

  • photo 2.JPG
    photo 2.JPG
    163.5 KB · Views: 39
  • photo 3.JPG
    photo 3.JPG
    148.5 KB · Views: 40
  • photo 1.JPG
    photo 1.JPG
    119 KB · Views: 40
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
Here's the results ....
 

Attachments

  • photo 3.JPG
    photo 3.JPG
    105.4 KB · Views: 60
  • photo 2.JPG
    photo 2.JPG
    151.3 KB · Views: 46
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
:gulp:

OK, I've bit the bullet and ordered a stick from Crucial.

I tried the 512mb stick from my 1.25mhz 17" G4 but it's completely different.

This 'bargain' is turning out to be a little bit naughty ....

What I don't get is why it wouldn't boot without the dodgy stick in. Just a black screen with the power indicator in the bottom left of the LCD panel on.
 
I

iDutchman

macrumors 6502a
May 9, 2010
676
32
Amsterdam, NL
trickyred said:
:gulp:
What I don't get is why it wouldn't boot without the dodgy stick in. Just a black screen with the power indicator in the bottom left of the LCD panel on.
Click to expand...

That's probably because your 800Mhz model has a min. RAM requirement of 256MB. Logically, 128MB won't work.


As stated in this screenshot. MIN 256MB.
 

Attachments

  • Schermafbeelding 2011-01-14 om 13.03.02.png
    Schermafbeelding 2011-01-14 om 13.03.02.png
    32.4 KB · Views: 44
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
Ah ok, that has given me an optimistic view!!

So, there must have always been extra memory in the expansion slot in order for it to work, even when it left the factory??
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
trickyred said:
Ah ok, that has given me an optimistic view!!

So, there must have always been extra memory in the expansion slot in order for it to work, even when it left the factory??
Click to expand...

Yep, This has been Apple Practise generally when they had logic board RAM - even my 1996/7 PB1400 shipped with 8MB in the expansion and 8MB on the logic. Im pretty sure the iMac G4 shipped with 128MB in the expansion (IIRC that is)
 
T

trickyred

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2010
55
0
OK, that's cool. I was just going on the fact that on my iMac 17" 1.25ghz the memory slot underneath was empty so I assumed they all shipped like that. Good to know!!

Now, that leads me to my next thought .... the memory in there now is Kingston - Apple don't use Kingston do they?? So if not, it's got through at least 2 sticks of memory in it's lifetime (whatever it shipped with plus the Kingston stick).

I just want to say thanks for the help so far guys, I'm always open to learning new things and have picked up a lot so far this week!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom