iBook G3 Clamshell - Can't Install Any Mac OS Version

[Riviera122]

Hello everyone,

I have recently purchased an iBook G3 clamshell, SE Graphite rev. 1 (376mhz, non-Firewire). It is in full working order aside from some yellowing and cigarette smell (previous owner was a smoker). I ran Disk Utility to check the status of the 6GB HDD - all OK and verified permissions. The previous owner was running Mac OS X Panther but it was the weirdest install I've ever seen – lots of core apps were totally missing, e.g. clicking on System Preferences would reveal a question mark.

My issue is that I cannot appear to be able to install any form of Mac OS on the system.

1. Tried installing Mac OS 9.2.2 via bootable installer CD (a TDK CDR, 700mb), burnt at 10x speed using Disk Utility on a modern Mac – I don't have any devices which can burn at a slower speed. It gets to halfway before erroring during installation of 'Internet Access'. At this time the CD drive continually tries to read the data on the disc (makes a 'revving' style sound, before beeping and looping the 'revving' again. This loop runs indefinitely before I get a notification saying that the installer failed).

• After restarting, I can boot into the OS and everything looks operational on the surface, but I cannot open any disk images of any format, meaning I can't install any apps. Core apps such as IE and Netscape are also missing. When I insert the 9.2.2 install CD and try and click and drag the installers from the CD to the desktop, the process freezes and the CD drive enters the 'revving' loop until the operation eventually gives up or I manage to force quit it.

2. Tried installing Mac OS X Panther 10.3 Install Disc 1 via bootable installer CD (TDK CDR, 700mb), again burnt at 10x speed using Disk Utility. It recognises it and I can open the Install Mac OS X app, click restart, but then after restarting it gets stuck on the Apple logo/spinning circle, again making the 'revving' style sound indefinitely.

3. Tried creating a bootable USB Drive and launching installer for OS 9.2.2/Panther via Open Firmware, using an old SanDisk USB 2.0 2GB drive. Every attempt I've tried at this has failed.

Regular CDs work in the drive – music CDs play when entered, and again the install discs are recognised. Not sure where to go from here. Pretty comfortable using Macs but definitely a PowerPC and general enthusiast novice, so simple explanations would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Smithwick’s]

At this point it sounds like the CD drive is at least questionable, even regular CDs work alright it would probably be better to proceed via USB booting. That being said, the most likely culprit of all of this is that the HDD has given up the ghost. In that case you'll need to snag a replacement (or upgrade to an mSATA/CF to IDE SSD).

How did you create the bootable USB drive? Balena Etcher is the gold standard for this purpose (and MacOS 9 is the gold standard OS, use the 9.2.2 image from "MacOS9Lives!") Should boot right away going to OpenFirmware and typing boot usb0/disk@1:3,\\:tbxi but you may need to give it 10-15 minutes if it's feeling ornery.

If that doesn't work you may actually be looking at a deeper issue, but shoot a reply back with the results of the above.

 

[TheShortTimer]

3. Tried creating a bootable USB Drive and launching installer for OS 9.2.2/Panther via Open Firmware, using an old SanDisk USB 2.0 2GB drive. Every attempt I've tried at this has failed.

Try this guide by Low End Mac: you should be able to boot from USB with properly prepared device by just holding down C after the chime. According to the author, a USB DVD drive will also boot OS 9 using this method apparently.

Regular CDs work in the drive – music CDs play when entered, and again the install discs are recognised.

As @Smithwick’s has already warned, judging by your problems, it's a certainty that the internal optical drive is dying. I've had similar situations with faulty drives where retail discs will work but not burned ones or DVDs won't work but CDs do etc.

You'll very likely become rapidly frustrated with the 6GB HDD and I'd urge you to consider an SSD replacement but the disassembly process is quite involved…

 

[Slix]

Sounds like the disc drive is the issue like others have said. If you have another older Mac, you could install Mac OS X Server and set up and do a NetRestore/NetInstall to the iBook, but that process is honestly just as tedious to set up as taking the thing apart to replace the drive. If you took it apart you could install an OS onto the new drive by first installing it on another PowerPC Mac if you have one if you don't also replace the disc drive. I've done a few of these teardowns; they're annoying but definitely doable if you have a bit of patience!

 

[Riviera122]

Thanks for your comments and advice. An update:

- I tried again to create a bootable USB installer using the links provided here. It almost worked, but when trying to install MacOS 9.2.2, the main installer application was missing after booting from the USB drive - unsure why this happened, unless it detected my existing 9.2.2 install and made the icon disappear? Not sure.

- The Panther install would show an apple logo and spinning circle before showing a grey "prohibited" stop sign. So yeah, trying to get Panther on this device has been a hopeless endeavour.​

- I opted instead to re-use my old CD installer of 9.2.2 and manually install the few apps that were missing (AirPort, Internet Explorer etc.) via Macintosh Garden. So I now have a fully installed OS on the laptop.

When in operation the iBook is really noisy - I thought this may be the fans, before realising it's fanless and is therefore coming from the HDD. Combined with the missing core apps from the original Panther install, I'm guessing that the HDD is on its way out. I'll need to open it up to do some cleaning anyway, so will replace it at the same time.

Some further questions:

1. Is there an app or script I can use that automatically adjusts the date and time to something generic like 1/1/2000 when booting? Obviously the battery is dead so the machine resets it to the 1900s every time I boot, meaning I have to manually adjust it via the app every time I boot after unplugging the charger. Pretty annoying.
2. What is the cheapest way to replace the drive, and where can I buy one that's compatible? Don't mind if it's an HDD or second-hand, especially considering SSD prices these days. I'm in Europe.
3. What is the cheapest way of adding wi-fi? Doesn't have an AirPort card and prices for them are crazy.

Thanks again.