upgrading old iMac g3

hey ppl.. i'm new to the forums...

ok so i just acquired an old iMac G3 (350mhz/slot loader). It had a 6gb hdd and could barely hold OSX tiger. and was kinda slow. I had extra ram sitting around and an extra 80gb hdd as well so I decided to replace the old hardware. After a bit of trouble getting the iMac open and closed, everything was in. The installation for tiger began and it seems to freeze at the "Finishing Installation" part of the installation. It freezes at the same part every time. I've tried 3 times already. The computer isn't frozen, the progress just stops.

I checked the Installer Log and the last entry is "Optimizing system performance"

I tried ejecting the cd and rebooting, but it keeps going back and asking for Disc 2. If I insert disc 2, it just starts the whole installation process over again, then gets stuck at the Optimizing system performance again.

The only thing I can think of is the hdd is corrupted somewhere, but I was using it in another computer without ANY trouble before putting it into the mac.

AHHH this is frustrating. What do I do?

Additionally, I had already successfully installed tiger with the extra ram and the original 6gb hdd. This leads me to believe that it might be a problem with the 80gb harddrive, but i had been using it in another computer before putting it into the mac and it worked fine.

Luap said:

Are you able to boot from the CD (Hold 'C' while booting) and launch Disk Utility? Check the drive out with that, and consider re-formating the drive from there too.

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Already tried that (a few times)... it still gets stuck at Optimizing System Performance. I even tried leaving it for 8 hrs overnight... It was still stuck at the same place when I woke up

anyone know whats wrong?

ADent said:

Do you have any other macs available? Do you have an external firewire case?

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yes, kinda. Not readily available, but available. My fiancee has a new mac at her house. I have a firewire enclosure as well i believe.

ADent said:

Have you cleaned the DVD? Can you install a minimum system with the least of everything?

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i am using the 4 CD version because my iMac g3 does not have a dvd drive. Why would I install a minimum system? What would that do? And how do I do it anyhow?

ADent said:

If you had Tiger on it, I assume you have installed the latest ROM already. The older ROMS had problems with OS X.

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yeah. Originally I had Panther installed and then was able to do a clean install of tiger on the original 6gb harddrive, but I can't do it on the 80gb. it's odd. well... technically it finished the installation, but got stuck at the Optimizing System Performance part, which from what I've been told is the part where it defrags the harddrive, correct? Why would it get stuck there? The harddrive is in perfect working condition and I get no errors from the installation... it just gets stuck

ok I was able to hook up the 80gb hdd via firewire to my fiancee's g5 and install directly to the firewire drive. The hdd is now back in the imac g3 now. I've upgraded to the latest tiger and everything works fine now.

thanks to everyone who helped

new problem

Ok so I recently purchased a used G3 600mHz motherboard from ebay. I installed the new board, and when I started the computer, I got an error on the screen:

default catch! code=700 %srr0 ff80d18c %srr0 0000b030

which was repeated over and over throughout the screen. The second time I rebooted, I got a different error (usb related, don't remember the exact error) and the third it somewhat booted, but I saw a lock of the left, a button with a right arrow on the right and a line in the middle. If I click the button, nothing happened. The fourth, fifth, sixth, etc, boot were the same as above (code=700), but different codes.

Not sure what the problem is, but to add to the issue, I swapped out the new 600mhz board for the original 350mhz board, and when I powered on the computer, i heard 3 beeps, which from what I read means "no good banks" (no good ram, right?). So what the hell happened to my RAM?? It was working FINE until now. How could the new motherboard fry my RAM????????

Someone please help!

anyone?

shu82 said:

Reinsert the ram and push real hard to make sure their tight. I have gotten that error code many times and just have to reinstall the ram.

As for the mobo, it sounds like you just got a bad one. If you have the time to try again, put minimal ram in it and hook up at least the hard drive. Also, try replacing the battery. But sometimes, broke is broke.

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Believe me, I've reinserted the ram several times and made sure it was securely in! It constantly gives me the 3 beeps at startup and that is all... no display, no error, just the 3-beeps and a black screen. Is it possible the ram was corrupted by the 600mhz board somehow?? Is there anything else I can do? I've tried pressing the Power Manager button on the 350 board and attempting to reset the pram by pressing option + apple + p + r, but it still gives me the 3 beeps. Could there be anything else causing the 3 beeps or anything else I can do to troublshoot it? I;ve tried inserting only one stick of ram, with each stick -- no go....

Regarding the installation of the 600mhz board, the seller I bought the board from is willing to send me a new board IF it really is bad, but I did notice something: The processor on the 600 board is not in the same place as the 350 board. As a result, the processor heatsink is not positioned properly with the 600mhz board. I will have to reposition it and try booting again. This could be the problem why I'm getting the error.

ok here's an update:

I have the 600mhz board in. I turn it on andhold down option+command+p+r to clear the PRAM, when I see the folder icon in the middle of the screen i lift command+p+r and only hold option. This brings up a screen with a long, a text field and a button with a right arrow. The text field is for a passowrd, although I do not know what the password is. I've tried several different passwords that I could have set. The wierd thing is I got in with a password (that's not the wierd part, I'll explain the rest after), and it brought me to a white dos screen (i know it's not does, but it's an input screen, like dos) that said type 'mac-boot' to continue booting. So I typed it and got a wierd DEFAULT CATCH! error. I rebooted, while holding down the option key and it brought me to the lock and password screen again (this is the wierd part). I enter the password I used before and it didn't work. I keep trying different passwords and they don't work. Finally it works, but it's a different password than what I used the first time ??? Anyhow it brought me back to the white input screen again but this time, it was constantly printing out indentical DEFAULT CATCH! errors over and voer. I had to turn off the mac for it to stop. When I rebooted again, and came to the lock/password screen, I can no longer enter a working password that will bring me to the input screen ??? ? WTF?!!

shu82 said:

All is good! Now you only have a software problem. The white screen is "open firmware". There is nothing you really need to do there. Usually you have to hold cmd opt o f, for it to come up.

To clear the password you are going to need to boot up from an install disk. Pop it in, hold down c. Under the utilities section there will be a tab to change the passwords. I would set it to blank until you get everything going. Hope that helps.

also just for the heck of it. When you are at the "white screen" Type: "set-defaults" and "reset-all". It brings all the hardware back to defaults.

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I cannot always get to the white screen. I have only gotten to it twice and have not gotten further than that even though i typed "mac-boot". It seems to freeze afterwards, sometimes even before typing anything.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, but the iMac 350mhz processor is located in a different place than on the 600mhz board. This means that the heatsink for the processor is in a different place. I cannot screw it in below the 600 processor because there are no holes to screw it in below. I did try just placing it below, but it does not touch the processor, there is an approximately 5mm space between the heatsink and processor. What can I put between the heatsink and metal plate so that the heatsink can touch the processor. I would assume if it's not touching the processor, it's not doing much to keep it cool.

btw, this is the password screen i get. Is there a default password?

shu82 said:

All is good! Now you only have a software problem. The white screen is "open firmware". There is nothing you really need to do there. Usually you have to hold cmd opt o f, for it to come up.

To clear the password you are going to need to boot up from an install disk. Pop it in, hold down c. Under the utilities section there will be a tab to change the passwords. I would set it to blank until you get everything going. Hope that helps.

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ok I got the cd out by holding the mouse button. Does the boot cd have to be an install disc? I have a bootable disc with iPartition on it. I know it works because I've booted from it before. But when I hold c while botting with it in the drive, it doesn't load. thats why I ask if I need to boot from an install disc for it to do anything.

yes I tried leaving the password blank.. didn't work. I'm going to try to get a hold of the tiger install cds