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iBook G3 issues

jrsx

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I am working on a 500 MHz iBook G3 with a CD drive, and 3** of RAM. I swapped hard drives with one of my backups, running Tiger with classic, as I wanted OS 9 to run on it. It went smoothly, everything worked, up until I tried to boot into OS 9 by selecting it in startup disk in Tiger. Now, when I turn it on, there is no boot noise, and I just get the blinking "?" logo. Holding down option at startup reveals the Tiger partition, but it will not boot into it, or OS 9. When I clear the PRAM, the boot noise occurs, but it continues not to play it on a regular boot. What's wrong with this comp?
 
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jrsx said:
I am working on a 500 MHz iBook G3 with a CD drive, and 3** of RAM. I swapped hard drives with one of my backups, running Tiger with classic, as I wanted OS 9 to run on it. It went smoothly, everything worked, up until I tried to boot into OS 9 by selecting it in startup disk in Tiger. Now, when I turn it on, there is no boot noise, and I just get the blinking "?" logo. Holding down option at startup reveals the Tiger partition, but it will not boot into it, or OS 9. When I clear the PRAM, the boot noise occurs, but it continues not to play it on a regular boot. What's wrong with this comp?
Click to expand...

Try removing the battery and holding the power button for 30 seconds...
 
jrsx said:
Thanks! That worked for the boot noise! But it still won't boot from the HD. I'll throw Puma on it for now.
Click to expand...

Try repairing the hard drive from some boot disk. A Tiger disk is best, but if you have a Panther or Jaguar disk it should work too. Puma disks may work...

Use Disk Utility to do the repair permissions and repair disks. Or, if you have a FireWire cable, start it in FireWire Target Disk mode and do it through your G4.

The reason I recommended removing the battery is that the iBooks and 12" PowerBooks do not have a PRAM battery but rather a PRAM capacitor (Intell taught me that...)
 
Yes, I knew about the PRAM capacitor. I should have thought to remove the battery.

Unfortunately the lappy only has a CD drive, not a DVD drive, so I can't use my Panther or Tiger disks. I just finished installing Puma, and I might throw OS 9 on it later. Thanks!
 
jrsx said:
Yes, I knew about the PRAM capacitor. I should have thought to remove the battery.

Unfortunately the lappy only has a CD drive, not a DVD drive, so I can't use my Panther or Tiger disks. I just finished installing Puma, and I might throw OS 9 on it later. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I thought Panther came strictly on CDs and Tiger was the first to come on DVDs. Tiger had the DVD exchange program at the time...

How many iBooks do you own?
 
Altemose said:
I thought Panther came strictly on CDs and Tiger was the first to come on DVDs. Tiger had the DVD exchange program at the time...

How many iBooks do you own?
Click to expand...

I have model-specific Panther disks, but they're not in use on any computers. I have a broken one, my G4 which I use on a regular basis, and the G3 I'm working on is actually my brother's. Forgot to mention that. But he's really comp-illiterate so I'm pretty much doing everything for him, lol. :p
 
jrsx said:
I have model-specific Panther disks, but they're not in use on any computers. I have a broken one, my G4 which I use on a regular basis, and the G3 I'm working on is actually my brother's. Forgot to mention that. But he's really comp-illiterate so I'm pretty much doing everything for him, lol. :p
Click to expand...

Around here I have my Intel MacBook Pro, PowerMac G5, PowerMac G4 MDD (PSU Needs Rebuild), PowerMac G4 QuickSilver (Dual 800 MHz), PowerBook G4 15" 1.5, PowerBook G4 15" 1.67, and an iBook G3 RedCroissant gave me. I had two iBook G3s but after repairing the 600 MHz model I gave it to a friend who is 11 and just wanted a basic Mac. I kept the 900 MHz model RedCroissant gave me and still use it even after the iBook G3 challenge.
 
Ok, I have Mac OS 9 on a CD, but it simply will not boot. I just get the blinking "?". The CD seems to be perfectly fine, and Macintosh Garden told me the CDs would work fine. I'm really puzzled. Can anyone help?
 
What is failing to boot? The OS 9 CD or the OS 9 installation on the hard drive?

Edit: When you installed Puma did you format the drive and install the OS 9 drivers? For the CD...are you using a retail CD or a machine specific recovery set? If the latter I believe the recovery CD is not bootable. You have to perform the installation of OS 9 through OS X.
 
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jrsx said:
Ok, I have Mac OS 9 on a CD, but it simply will not boot. I just get the blinking "?". The CD seems to be perfectly fine, and Macintosh Garden told me the CDs would work fine. I'm really puzzled. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...

Is the CD confirmed working? I know those iBook G3 optical drives tend to fail at this age...
 
Altemose said:
Is the CD confirmed working? I know those iBook G3 optical drives tend to fail at this age...
Click to expand...

No I just contacted Macintosh Garden, and they said that I was the third to report this file wasn't bootable. I'll figure something else out. All my other disks work in it, so it can't be the drive.
 
jrsx said:
No I just contacted Macintosh Garden, and they said that I was the third to report this file wasn't bootable. I'll figure something else out. All my other disks work in it, so it can't be the drive.
Click to expand...

Just thought it was a possibility. If you get OS X on there, I think I got the image from the same place but it was OS 9.2.2 and I just copied it to Macintosh HD under OS X and it was perfectly bootable.
 
Altemose said:
Just thought it was a possibility. If you get OS X on there, I think I got the image from the same place but it was OS 9.2.2 and I just copied it to Macintosh HD under OS X and it was perfectly bootable.
Click to expand...

Link? I copied my OS 9.2.1 System Folder and Applications from my Tiger backup, and it wouldn't see them as bootable, and Classic wouldn't see them either.
 
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