desperately need help upgrading a g3 ruby red imac to 10.4

[builtLordtough@]

Hello and I hope you can offer some assistance!

I have a ruby red G3 iMac, and yes- i know it's ancient. So ancient in fact that it lacks the dvd drive neccessary to use the tiger dvds. A worker at an Apple store told me if I had access to a Mac *with* a dvd drive, I could install Tiger onto my Imac using the other Mac's dvd drive if I linked them with a firewire cable.

I got the cable, got the two computers in the same room, plugged them in, restarted the ibook that had the dvd drive and held down the "t" key, and sure enough, my imac understood, and allowed me to begin upgrading.

It had me pick a language, and then told me that Tiger could not be installed. Now the computer blinks the mac face and the questionmark file repeatedly and won't start up anymore. :-(

HELP! please!!

Is there anything I can do to get Tiger installed on this iMac? Is the hard drive dead? Is there anything I can do to make it start up again, since Tiger didn't even start to install? Can you offer me any advice?

Thank you all so very very much!

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Startup the iMac and hold option down. It will allow you to select a startup drive. That'll get the iMac going again.

As for upgrading I agree that the firewire method should work. Where is this copy of Tiger coming from? If you had to you can send the DVD back to Apple and they'll give you the CD's.

 

[builtLordtough@]

Startup the iMac and hold option down. It will allow you to select a startup drive. That'll get the iMac going again.

As for upgrading I agree that the firewire method should work. Where is this copy of Tiger coming from? If you had to you can send the DVD back to Apple and they'll give you the CD's.

thank you for your advice- i have tried it, but it takes me to a lavendar screen with an image of a locked padlock; a field where i might be supposed to enter some sort of code, and an arrow button for once that is done. do you know what i am supposed to type in this? thank you!

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Your password perhaps? Oddly I've never heard of this lavender screen before, but I do believe you.

 

[builtLordtough@]

Your password perhaps? Oddly I've never heard of this lavender screen before, but I do believe you.

ya, i googled it and couldn't find any reference... maybe a sort of bios?

i tried every password i could think of, but no luck. can't find a backdoor password, either. :-(

think i should just get a new hard drive? or would you figure there is still hope?

 

[weckart]

Sounds like the firmware password screen, which is grey on grey these days. If it is your G3, you should know what the password is, otherwise contact the real owner.

 

[builtLordtough@]

Sounds like the firmware password screen, which is grey on grey these days. If it is your G3, you should know what the password is, otherwise contact the real owner.

i bought it on amazon from a school that was upgrading, a while back. is there a default password or anything? or a way to reset? i don't think i can get in contact with them. thanks!