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Installing Tiger on a G3 iMac

C

classof2011

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 2, 2006
209
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Flying with American Airlines
I've decided to install 10.4 on my G3 since the 10.3 disc was unreadable :eek:

So...it meets the system requirements of Tiger and it can read the disc. The pop-up appears that says "Click 'Restart' to begin the installation process." . I click Restart and it, of course, restarts. But it just sits on the Apple screen [no spinning wheel] forever. It never starts booting to the CD. Even if I hold down C.

I'd really like to try it again, but if it doesn't work [as usual], it won't boot to the hard drive and let me eject the disc, so I have to take it the iMac apart to get the disc out myself.

Any and all help is appreciated.


Thanks
 
classof2011 said:
I've decided to install 10.4 on my G3 since the 10.3 disc was unreadable :eek:

So...it meets the system requirements of Tiger and it can read the disc. The pop-up appears that says "Clcik 'Restart' to begin the installation process." . I click Restart and it, of course, restarts. But it just sits on the Apple screen [no spinning wheel] forever. It never starts booting to the CD. Even if I hold down C.

I'd really like to try it again, but if it doesn't work [as usual], it won't boot to the hard drive and let me eject the disc, so I have to take it the iMac apart to get the disc out myself.

Any and all help is appreciated.


Thanks
Click to expand...
There's a little trick you can use to eject a stuck disc. Hold down the mouse button while the computer is starting up (Note: Must be a wired mouse, and if you have a third-party mouse the left button is the one to hold down).
 
Could it be your disk? Is it scratched. If its too old you may have to "aquire" an old backup image. Also, when the dvd player is as old as these, they sometimes dont like to boot off of dvd's.

Do you have another mac you can use for target disk mode? Maybe borrow a friends for a few hours?
 
shu82 said:
Could it be your disk? Is it scratched. If its too old you may have to "aquire" an old backup image. Also, when the dvd player is as old as these, they sometimes dont like to boot off of dvd's.

Do you have another mac you can use for target disk mode? Maybe borrow a friends for a few hours?
Click to expand...


Actually, these are CD's. How do I acquire an old backup image?

No, I don't have another Mac at the moment. And the only friend I know that has a Mac lives an hour away, and she has an iMac G5 so it'll be trouble carrying it here. Plus, I don't know her too well, so she'll most likely not let me.
 
You might want to check out Lowendmac.com, they have lots of good info on the older Macs.

Which model do you have? The older iMacs have some restrictions on maximum HD size, and need to be partitioned before you can install OS X. IIRC you also need to make sure the firmware is totally up to date.

If you have a DVD player though, I suspect you have one of the newer ones.
 
The CD's are the problem.

If I remember correctly Tiger is to big for a CD hence it came on a Install DVD, that's probably why. It can't find all the information it needs to start the process going.
 
I think you can get it on CD's too (though I'm not sure whether the OP has CD or DVD). If so, during the regular install process it will tell you when it needs the next CD.
 
I have an iMac G3 500Mhz DV and it runs 10.4 like a charm. Sure, it took quite a while for it to finish the installation, but it worked ok. You do have a true version of OS X right? (As in, not a cd that came with a dif. computer.)
Also, I did an upgrade from Mac OS 10.2.

If it helps any, you can compare it to my specs taken straight from system profiler:

Machine Name: iMac
Machine Model: PowerMac2,2(still duno why the crap it says PowerMac)
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (83.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 500 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 384 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.1.9f1

ATA Bus:

QUANTUM FIREBALLlct15 30:

Capacity: 27.98 GB
Model: QUANTUM FIREBALLlct15 30
Revision: A01.0F00
Serial Number: 614025952523
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 27.98 GB
Available: 2.74 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s5
Mount Point: /

MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8186:

Model: MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8186
Revision: FB12
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 1
Socket Type: Internal

ATY,Rage128Pro:

Chipset Model: ATY,Rage128Pro
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 8 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x5052
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-XXXXX-109
Displays:
iMac:
Display Type: CRT
Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 75 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Not Supported

Half that stuff was probably useless, but then again, maybe(hopefully) not.
 
OK, to answer the questions without the multi-quoting [Internet's acting a bit funny today]...

My iMac is a graphite model, so it has the slot load DVD drive.

I have the Mac OS X 10.4 Install Discs, 1-4 of 4.


I think they are too scratched up to install OS X Tiger. Base System Part 1 installs successfully, but when it gets around 70% for installing Essentials, it says that the installation could not be completed and to retry.


Any help?
 
I think that you may be right about them being too scratched to install, but did you also get all firmware updates before trying to upgrade from OS 9, and also are you installing it onto a partition of 8GBs or less?
 
The firmware needs to be up to date, but even if it wasn't that shouldn't have caused the install to stop.

On a slot-loading iMac, you don't need to limit the OS X install partition size.
 
I had the same kind of issues when i installed 10.3 on My B/W G3. Sometimes it would get 70, 80, or 90% then quit working, but then i realized that it was my faulty HD. After i swapped the HDs, it installed just fine.

I haven't installed 10.4 yet because i only have 10.4 on a DVD, but hopefully when i get the chance i will install one of my DVD drives from my main MDD G4 into it to get it installed.
 
Sweetfeld28 said:
I had the same kind of issues when i installed 10.3 on My B/W G3. Sometimes it would get 70, 80, or 90% then quit working, but then i realized that it was my faulty HD. After i swapped the HDs, it installed just fine.

I haven't installed 10.4 yet because i only have 10.4 on a DVD, but hopefully when i get the chance i will install one of my DVD drives from my main MDD G4 into it to get it installed.
Click to expand...

I don't have a hard drive with OS X on it, nor an enclosure for 3.5" hard drives...or any enclosures at that :(
 
If you think your discs might be trashed and are ready to toss them anyway, there is no harm in trying to fix them. Use a Disc Dr. or car polish, or even toothpaste (not gel, paste) to try to get rid of the scratches. May sound weird, but it has worked for many people. This could also mess up the discs worse if you don't know what you are doing, so I only recommend this as a last resort, or to those who have done it before.
 
Either that, or see if a friend works for a video store/bribe the kid behind the counter at the Blockbuster to run your discs through their resurfacing machines.

Man, that machine makes crap discs look and play like new again! :D
 
JAT said:
If you think your discs might be trashed and are ready to toss them anyway, there is no harm in trying to fix them. Use a Disc Dr. or car polish, or even toothpaste (not gel, paste) to try to get rid of the scratches. May sound weird, but it has worked for many people. This could also mess up the discs worse if you don't know what you are doing, so I only recommend this as a last resort, or to those who have done it before.
Click to expand...

I've got a Tiger DVD coming in Monday but since I have nothing to really do with these discs, I guess I'll give it a shot :D
 
I like you're new sig. I seem to have that same voice screaming in my head. I am rebuilding a flower power right now. Also I am going to nashville tomorrow to trade a 1.5 G4 powerbook for a G5 imac! I Guess i will get a G4 next. But those G3s are just to good looking! I hope that DVD fixes your problem.
 
It worked!!! I got a Tiger DVD in and I installed it successfully!!! It is up-to-date and all.

But how do I disable Spotlight and Dashboard? Spotlight is pretty useful to me, though I don't really need Dashboard on.

Also got it to work with the 40GB hard drive, so it's going well! It's current specs are :

400MHz / 40GB HDD / 512MB RAM / OS X 10.4.10 :)
 
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