Need help disc burning with g3 clamshell ibook

[Diogones]

Hey all,

I have recently acquired a 2000 iBook Clamshell 466 SE Graphite color in great condition, running OSX 10.4 Tiger. I have a couple of questions about its ability (or inability) to burn to optical discs.

It can play CDs and DVD movies just fine, and whenever I put a music disc into the iBook, it does offer to rip the disc into iTunes. But if I put a blank DVD or CD into the drive, Finder doesn't even recognize the disc, and it doesn't appear anywhere. I used the System Profiler and checked the Disc Burning tab, but it simply stated that there is no information available.

Does this mean that this Mac cannot burn discs, and is read-only? It has the original optical drive in it, I have confirmed that from its previous owner. I just wanted to double-check and ensure I wasn't trying to troubleshoot something that is really just the normal capabilities of the iBook.

Also, I tried booting up from a Leopard Install DVD that I have, because I want to reset the password, as the former owner hasn't used it in years and doesn't remember what it is. Unfortunately, the iBook will not boot up from either a Leopard, SL, or Lion disc. I understand that this Mac doesn't meet the system requirements for any of these OSes, but still, shouldn't it at least give me the option from booting up from them, and then give me a kernel panic, error message, etc.? Or does this iBook only support booting from a Tiger CD?

 

[Lil Chillbil]

lion disks what?

SOUNDS LIKE YOUR NOT TELLING THE TRUTH!

 

[92WardSenatorFE]

If it is a clamshell iBook, it most likely does not have CD burning capabilities unless it was upgraded by the owner.

I don't believe CD-RW's were offered on iBooks until the Dual USB models that came out after the clamshells.

lion disks what?

SOUNDS LIKE YOUR NOT TELLING THE TRUTH!

I would not necessarily jump to conclusions, he could have the disks confused with something else.

 

[jbarley]

lion disks what?

SOUNDS LIKE YOUR NOT TELLING THE TRUTH!

And why not, I have Lion burnt to a disc.

 

[Diogones]

Thanks for the helpful reply 92WardSenatorFE; I tip my hat to you!

Ok, so it does not have burning capabilities; I guess my own experiments and your info has proved that. It would also make sense why the System Info Disc Burning tab was revealing no information.

At first I thought the optical drive could be broken, but it reads and plays discs just fine, so that couldn't be it. I also tried different types of discs, such as CD-RWs, CD+R, CD-R, and everything in between, as I have heard that some older Mac models only supported certain types of CDs for burning. Still it was worth the shot. Maybe if I upgrade the optical drive it in, it will work for burning? If I do, could I use any tray-loading laptop drive, or do they make certain drives that would fit in the clamshell housing?

Not sure what you mean by not telling the truth, Lil Chillbil; everything I've written about the clamshell and my burning attempts are true. To clarify, I said Lion DISCS, as in optical discs, not disks as in hard disks. As jbarley aptly pointed out, I have created a Lion DVD, because even though OSX 10.7 is not optimized for optical media, and is therefore slow to install, it is nice to have a hard backup when my USB thumb drives are in use and can't be spared to make a Lion Install/Recovery USB drive.