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Help me revive my iBook Clamshell with an SSD

F

frostee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Okay so I have an iBook G3 Clamshell 466mhz SE here and had the hard drive upgraded to a Team 16gb IDE Solid State Drive by a Mac repair shop (didn't have the time to do it myself at the moment). The tech there tried to install an OS but (from the phone explanation) the drive is recognized but can't be formatted for Mac or something like that. If you need more information on anything PLEASE ask me as I haven't booted the iBook myself yet. I have already spent $150+ on the SSD and labour costs I would dearly love for it to work.
To my understanding any HDD/SSD with the right interface should work (which I know it does)
 
What OS version (9 or what specific version of X) are you trying to install? Wouldn't at all be surprised if OS9 wouldn't work with an SSD without quite a bit of work-arounds (or simply not work at all).
 
10.4 Tiger
I am not sure which one they were trying to install I shall give it a go with my own DVD

I see what you mean about the age of the thing. But as far as I know a computer can't tell if it is an SSD or HDD. Same thing
 
frostee said:
10.4 Tiger
I am not sure which one they were trying to install I shall give it a go with my own DVD

I see what you mean about the age of the thing. But as far as I know a computer can't tell if it is an SSD or HDD. Same thing
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Give it a try with your own tiger DVD. Also, not the same thing unfortunately; I've seen quite a few systems read SSDs as just a flash drive.
 
DesmoPilot said:
Give it a try with your own tiger DVD. Also, not the same thing unfortunately; I've seen quite a few systems read SSDs as just a flash drive.
Click to expand...
Even with the proper internal PATA interface. This doesn't look good 🙁

Thanks for the help. I MUST get this working, hit me with any workarounds!
 
frostee said:
Even with the proper internal PATA interface. This doesn't look good 🙁

Thanks for the help. I MUST get this working, hit me with any workarounds!
Click to expand...

Interface won't really matter, all depends on how the drive is read. As far as workarounds go, I wouldn't even know where to begin - that thing is ancient.
 
Okay so here's some photo's of the attempt. First off I am really impressed with the complete silence of the thing now, its beautiful (except that its not working). It seems it can be formatted no troubles, recognized and works perfectly, however OS X can't install to the drive

2zxpeg7.jpg

2gtstj5.jpg

2n6w8w9.jpg
 
Delete partition, create it one more time and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I don't know why, but sometimes issue like yours just happens... Remedy is to create partition once more. Should help.
P.S. use for large images ;)
BTW, i got SSD in my Clamshell and it's running beautifully. You've made good choice.
 
When you partition the drive, make sure you're using Apple Partition Table instead of GUID Partition Table. The former can be used exclusively by PowerPC Macs and the latter exclusively by Intel Macs.
 
wjlafrance said:
When you partition the drive, make sure you're using Apple Partition Table instead of GUID Partition Table. The former can be used exclusively by PowerPC Macs and the latter exclusively by Intel Macs.
Click to expand...
Yes I have been trying to get my problem solved on another forum, and I could not find the option for the partition tables (I was aware of this issue). In the end I found an option to install OS 9 boot drivers or something like that and now it is working. Installing Tiger as we speak 😀
 
frostee said:
Yes I have been trying to get my problem solved on another forum, and I could not find the option for the partition tables (I was aware of this issue). In the end I found an option to install OS 9 boot drivers or something like that and now it is working. Installing Tiger as we speak 😀
Click to expand...

Glad to have (told myself that I) helped. 🙂
 
Upon use, my iBook feels significantly zippier and dead silent hoorah! Love it, when I get my new battery I am hoping for uber battery life.

Thanks folks, I'm surprised I solved this myself when a Mac tech at the shop today couldn't
 
frostee said:
Upon use, my iBook feels significantly zippier and dead silent hoorah! Love it, when I get my new battery I am hoping for uber battery life.

Thanks folks, I'm surprised I solved this myself when a Mac tech at the shop today couldn't
Click to expand...

You have to remember that "Mac Tech" doesn't mean all-knowing, all powerful computer god. 🙂 It's quite possible he/she's never even seen a Clamshell before. Glad to see you got it working.

For the record, where did you get/what brand is your SSD? I'm keeping an eye on sources for PATA SSDs, and costs. Being a 16Gb I'll bet it wasn't terribly precious either.
 
Does this Clamshell have Firewire? I thought that Tiger can only be installed(officially) on FW enabled Macs?

**edit**
BTW, I'm glad that MR finally separated the PPC forums from the Intels 🙂
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Does this Clamshell have Firewire? I thought that Tiger can only be installed(officially) on FW enabled Macs?

**edit**
BTW, I'm glad that MR finally separated the PPC forums from the Intels 🙂
Click to expand...

His machine is a 466Mhz SE, which does indeed have the FireWire. Same machine I have, actually, so Tiger installation is a snap. Older versions (all the 300Mhz models and some of the 366Mhz variety) need XPostFacto to get Tiger to install.
 
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