B&W G3 Help - Installing OS X 10.3

[semicharmed]

I work for my college paper, and before the year starts I'm trying to get a bunch of donated B&W G3s up to spec. They're 266 & 366 MHz machines, all with at least 256 MBs of RAM. [I'm not in the office right now, so I can't match up exact specs.]
The comps. were donated to the paper post-Katrina, all with 10.1 installed & password locked, with another newspaper's information, etc. I was able to reset the passwords for 10.1, but I'd like to upgrade the B&Ws to 10.3.
I have 10.3 discs w/ the licenses, but I'm having problems making the upgrade. The 10.3 discs are good, I already upgraded a Digital Audio G4 with no problems and all of the B&Ws will recognize the discs.
The problem is that to install, I need to restart, and the machines all hang on the restart. A blue screen comes up and will hang until the computer is restarted and the 10.3 disc removed.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[flyinmac]

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Sadly, we'll need a bit more information to offer any useful help

I'm guessing your post didn't work right. Man, I hate it when I spend 20 minutes typing something, and then have to retype it.

Anyway, go ahead and repost, and hopefully someone will have an answer for you.

Hopefully you are set for instant notification so that this will let you know that the posting failed.

 

[semicharmed]

Sadly, we'll need a bit more information to offer any useful help

I'm guessing your post didn't work right. Man, I hate it when I spend 20 minutes typing something, and then have to retype it.

Anyway, go ahead and repost, and hopefully someone will have an answer for you.

Hopefully you are set for instant notification so that this will let you know that the posting failed.

I didn't even get to spend 20 minutes typing... I must have pressed tab-enter, because Wham! Almost-empty post.

 

[Eidorian]

Are the 10.3 discs DVD's?

I'd look into making a hard drive image as well. You'll save a lot of time having to configure so many machines.

 

[DoFoT9]

i have 10.3.9 on my g3 imac 400mhz. it runs pretty well for such an old machine. the harddrive is clogged so i spose i could get it to run faster if i reinstall.

osx would run on that machine, im not sure how good tho. basic things would be all good though.

 

[flyinmac]

I didn't even get to spend 20 minutes typing... I must have pressed tab-enter, because Wham! Almost-empty post.

Yep, I've done that one before as well

As for your question, the first thing I would suspect is possibly bad RAM.

I've found that in many cases, memory that worked fine before, will cause an issue when installing / re-installing OS X.

You see, there was a brief time when memory manufacturers were selling memory modules which were technically the called-upon specification for the Apple computers. But, they were marginally / slightly out of spec.

This permitted them to work just fine when installed in a pre-OS X computer, or installed in a computer that was already running OS X.

But, when you re-installed OS X on the computer, the memory would bite you. Being slightly out of spec is all it takes.

The issue was further worsened when Apple issued a firmware update that basically made the computers even more particular in insisting that the memory modules were exactly in spec.

So, to start, I'd try swapping modules from the machines that took the installation successfully (assuming they are the same kind of memory) and see if that works.

If not, you may have to try reducing the computers to only use the original factory memory while you install. But, that could be an issue if that is not enough memory to meet the minimum memory requirements for your version of OS X.

Of course, it could be something else. But, that would be the first thing I would rule-out.

I hope this helps.

 

[semicharmed]

Are the 10.3 discs DVD's?

I'd look into making a hard drive image as well. You'll save a lot of time having to configure so many machines.

The 10.3 discs are CDs.
If I were to go the hard drive image route [assuming I'd use the working, clean D.A. G4 install], would it matter that the hard drives are all different sizes? And besides the software to make the drive image [Carbon Copy Cloner?], what else would I need to copy it over? Firewire cables? Cat-5s?

 

[Eidorian]

The 10.3 discs are CDs.
If I were to go the hard drive image route [assuming I'd use the working, clean D.A. G4 install], would it matter that the hard drives are all different sizes? And besides the software to make the drive image [Carbon Copy Cloner?], what else would I need to copy it over? Firewire cables? Cat-5s?

Build any one machine to your specifications and then image it using NetRestore. You're have to take the drives out of their towers since they don't support Target Disk Mode.

At worst you'll need to get an external enclosure to temporarily place the B&W's drive in while imaging.

 

[Sawtoothdude]

I have also had this problem before with Blue and Whites, I beleive it was the memory last time, however every time i get a computer I always install the latest firmware, maybe you can try that.

-good luck

 

[ReanimationLP]

Following Eidorians advice, I'd say pull all the machines hard disks, set everything up how you want it on the G4, and use that application to restore the disk image to every single G3 HDD, then place them all back in.

 

[semicharmed]

Thankss Eidorian & ReanimationLP.
I tried pairing up RAM & installing 10.3, got one B&W up and running and made a disc image of the D.A. G4. Going to pull the rest of the HDDs & image them tomorrow.
I should be able to connect put the HDDs into the G4 instead of using an external enclosure and then image them, right?

 

[Eidorian]

Thankss Eidorian & ReanimationLP.
I tried pairing up RAM & installing 10.3, got one B&W up and running and made a disc image of the D.A. G4. Going to pull the rest of the HDDs & image them tomorrow.
I should be able to connect put the HDDs into the G4 instead of using an external enclosure and then image them, right?

Internally in the G4 will work.

 

[semicharmed]

Again, thanks to everyone for the help. I have the machines up & running nicely.

 

[flyinmac]

Again, thanks to everyone for the help. I have the machines up & running nicely.

Glad to hear that you have everything working now