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Power Mac G4 "Yikes!" - Trying to install OS X Snow Leopard onto a new hard drive

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takethislife

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 30, 2011
10
0
Hello, as the title says, I am trying to install OS X Snow Leopard onto my Power G4 with a new (but partitioned) hard drive, and I am having problems. Whenever I hold "c" after hearing the power chime, it does nothing and show the flashing finder and question mark. When I hold down alt/option it just shows two buttons - one with a "refresh" arrow, and one which looks like a "next" arrow, which does nothing when I click it. Could anyone please assist me with this? Thanks in advance.

Also, this is my first post on this forum, and I'd like to give a warm and humble hello to you all!

- Alex
 
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takethislife

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 30, 2011
10
0
What is the highest OS that can be installed onto it?
(Good thing I borrowed the CD from a friend!)
 
Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,636
4,036
New Zealand
As far as I can remember, 10.4 is the newest supported version for that machine, however 10.3 may be a better choice if you have limited RAM.
 
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takethislife

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 30, 2011
10
0
Nermal said:
As far as I can remember, 10.4 is the newest supported version for that machine, however 10.3 may be a better choice if you have limited RAM.
Click to expand...

So, would that be "Tiger"?
Sorry, this is my real first time actually using a Macintosh machine.
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
Nermal said:
As far as I can remember, 10.4 is the newest supported version for that machine, however 10.3 may be a better choice if you have limited RAM.
Click to expand...

Yep, 10.4 is the latest supported version. You will need at least 1GB RAM to run 10.4 well, and 1.5GB would be better (if that much is supported by that computer)
 
T

takethislife

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 30, 2011
10
0
Nameci said:
Dude, that is OK. You have the yikes? The highest would be 10.4 "Tiger". Max out the RAM to 1GB and you should be good. But don't expect it to run as fluid as higher spec'd machines.

Powermac G4 PCI graphics or "Yikes" maxed out at 1GB AFAIK.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_400.html
Click to expand...

I'm not planning on spending TOO much on this thing, but if I come into some extra money (or feel like taking an old machine apart) I'll put some new chips into it. Thanks!
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
BrianBaughn said:
OS 10.5 can be installed on some G4 machines, depending on the processor speed. However, "LeopardAssist" can get you around those limitations.
Click to expand...

Having got it on my G4/450 Sawtooth I would highly recommend against installing 10.5 on anything under a 667 G4 without upgrading the Graphics. I tried it on the original Rage 128 and it is, to say the least, absolutely diabolical. (Think waiting a noticeable number of seconds to open a window with the dull dock and spotlight and a host of other things off).
 
BrianBaughn

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,637
2,407
Baltimore, Maryland
chrismacguy said:
Having got it on my G4/450 Sawtooth I would highly recommend against installing 10.5 on anything under a 667 G4 without upgrading the Graphics. I tried it on the original Rage 128 and it is, to say the least, absolutely diabolical. (Think waiting a noticeable number of seconds to open a window with the dull dock and spotlight and a host of other things off).
Click to expand...

You're right about that. My sawtooth was upgraded to 1.3GHz and is just "OK" with Leopard.
 
sysiphus

sysiphus

macrumors 6502a
May 7, 2006
816
1
chrismacguy said:
Having got it on my G4/450 Sawtooth I would highly recommend against installing 10.5 on anything under a 667 G4 without upgrading the Graphics. I tried it on the original Rage 128 and it is, to say the least, absolutely diabolical. (Think waiting a noticeable number of seconds to open a window with the dull dock and spotlight and a host of other things off).
Click to expand...

Yes. Running anything from Tiger beyond without a Quartz Extreme graphics card (Radeon/Geforce2 or better on an AGP or better bus) is really painful, as much of the graphics processing is offloaded (slowly) to the CPU, which slows down the whole system. A Yikes G4 can only do Quartz Extreme with hacked video drivers to allow QE over PCI; this still requires a Radeon/Geforce2 or better. I wouldn't go above 10.3 with the stock video card in that machine.
 
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