Ok heres the deal my moms friend works at a school and gave a a1002 emac which was used on a networked system to her and then gave it to me i was trying to boot it up but stuck on the grey screen i dont have the money to buy a copy of the os x 10.3 cd so i used my windows desktop to download 3 disks for the panther os. i put the disk in the drive after burning it with this program i found called Macdrive for windows. there was no luck the only thing the emac responds to is if i hold the option key then it goes to this screen with a lock a txt field and an arrow and i do not have the password to put in there. so im pretty much stuck and in a bind as to what to do. If i could get some insight that would be great thanks.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
need help with Emac problem
- Thread starter Skater0Guy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Intell
macrumors P6
First, pirating Panther is not a good thing. Second, you can remove the firmware password by opening up the flap on the bottom and removing one of the ram sticks, turning it on then off again, and putting the ram back in. This will allow you to boot from a cd or other media. Thirdly, you should buy a copy off of eBay for it because it's much better then Panther.
Hey you should definetly shell out a few bucks for a 
REAL version of panther or tiger. I have an emac as well, and it worked beautifully with panther (although now I've upgraded to Leopard). My recommendation: try to contact someone who is selling an eMac on craigslist in your area, and see if they have the original restore discs. They might let you use 'em for free to get yours going again. Just a thought. Using pirated software from the internet is a very bad idea, and probably the reason why your eMac is acting goofy now. The original restore discs should set your computer to good as new. 🙂
REAL version of panther or tiger. I have an emac as well, and it worked beautifully with panther (although now I've upgraded to Leopard). My recommendation: try to contact someone who is selling an eMac on craigslist in your area, and see if they have the original restore discs. They might let you use 'em for free to get yours going again. Just a thought. Using pirated software from the internet is a very bad idea, and probably the reason why your eMac is acting goofy now. The original restore discs should set your computer to good as new. 🙂
Hey you should definetly shell out a few bucks for a
firstly How much would a os run me for, secondly there is only one stick of ram in the emac 1 256 stick. thirdly, i never even got a chance to install the pirated os as the emac does not respond to anything except when i hold the options key fourth and foremost im not trying to dump money into this thing so if i can cut corners i will.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
1.) the eMac i not a thing 😱 , its a Mac 🙂
2.) you wont get help here with installing pirated software as that would be against the forum rules !!!!
2.) you wont get help here with installing pirated software as that would be against the forum rules !!!!
I see you are trying to go about this as economically as possible, and I understand your pain. but in order to get the eMac moving, you might have to shell out some cash. OSX Panther could be anywhere between $10-30 on amazon, ebay, or craigslist. But like I say (read my previous post), someone out there might let you use their OS restore discs for free, if you are nice to them. peace
Giuly
macrumors 68040
A Tiger or Leopard DVD is $150 on eBay. That's serious rip off, because every seller made it's copy before selling it, I'm sure of that. At least this doesn't work with Snow Leopard anymore, because you won't ever sell it for more then $29.
I'd rather suggest to overclock it to 867MHz (or 1.33GHz depending on the CPU installed), apply better thermal compound to the CPU, put in at least 512MB of RAM (better max it out to 1GB) and run it on Leopard. Most Bang for the Buck.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
i do not think its a rip off $150 is quiet a fair price
but if thats still to expensive there is always linux debian , linux ubuntu ,and some other distros that can be made to run on ppc Mac's ,
all open source ,so free to download and you can burn as many copys of it as you wish , in theory you can even sell the burned disc's legally on ebay ( but be aware you are as far as i know under open source not allowed to sell linux , but you are allowed to burn it to disc and charge for the disc itself and for postage and your afford ,running costs of your burner and computer ) and from the profit you made you can buy a proper retail version of OSX and some more ram , thats cutting corners
and staying legal 😉
but if thats still to expensive there is always linux debian , linux ubuntu ,and some other distros that can be made to run on ppc Mac's ,
all open source ,so free to download and you can burn as many copys of it as you wish , in theory you can even sell the burned disc's legally on ebay ( but be aware you are as far as i know under open source not allowed to sell linux , but you are allowed to burn it to disc and charge for the disc itself and for postage and your afford ,running costs of your burner and computer ) and from the profit you made you can buy a proper retail version of OSX and some more ram , thats cutting corners
and staying legal 😉
Giuly
macrumors 68040
You can sell GNU/Linux-CDs, it just wouldn't make sense, because everybody can download them on their own. Plus, lots of people were faster then you.
Ubuntu CDs of any flavor.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
i dont sell linux cd's , i just did want say its possible in making a bit money from it fairly easy and you would be surprised how many people dont download linux..then burn it ,a lot go buying them at ebay or even in shops for up to £10 a disc , because a lot of people do not know how to or are not sure how to burn a dvd/cd,usb stick, so rather then trying to figure it out they just buy them 😱
Hey guys, I just checked eBay and found the Apple gray Leopard OSX discs "buy it now" for $20. Just FYI. These restore discs can be found for cheap.
Intell
macrumors P6
Those are not the retail DvD's. Those are machine restore discs. The OP needs the black retail discs with the big silver X on them, not grey ones. FYI, digging up old-ish threads jsut to boost your post count isn't a good thing.
If you'll look back a few posts you'll see I've been trying to help this man for the passed week. As far as I can tell, all the guy needs is the OSX restore discs to get his mac going. Thanks
raysfan81
macrumors 6502a
Thats why you look on craigslist for good deals on Leopard. I got my retail 10.5 install disks, iLIfe '08, and a apple pro mouse for $65. If you look around and are patient you can find some outstanding deals.