Resolved OS X 10.4 install help on iMac G3

[Minmus]

Hi! I'm a relatively new owner of a graphite iMac 600 Mhz and I am attempting to dual boot OS9Lives and OS X 10.4 Tiger. The CD drive on my machine has been temperamental at best, and while I was able to burn and install OS9 onto the newly installed SSD (startech adaptor, with jumper set to master) with a CD no problem, I haven't had luck with Tiger.

Disclaimer before I start: I don't own another Mac at the moment, so I can't use disk utility to create installation media

I downloaded the iso for 10.4 from Macintosh Garden, and burned it to a USB stick via Balena Etcher. There was a prompt about it missing a partition table and warning it might not be bootable, but it went through with the job. I then took the stick, put it into the iMac, and as I started up, held the option key, and I was able to see the install disk for OS X listed as an option to boot into. Clicked into it, and went through the entire install process until the step to reboot the system. When the iMac rebooted, it spun for a little while before showing a prohibited symbol, and based on what I could see when I tried again and held command+v, it looks like it's searching for the boot drive. I'm a little confused at this point, because by holding option at startup I can see the two partitions, one for OS9 and one for OS X, so I'm not sure what the system is looking for. Does the issue stem back from how I created the USB, or is there something else I'm missing?

 

[AphoticD]

Hi! I'm a relatively new owner of a graphite iMac 600 Mhz and I am attempting to dual boot OS9Lives and OS X 10.4 Tiger. The CD drive on my machine has been temperamental at best, and while I was able to burn and install OS9 onto the newly installed SSD (startech adaptor, with jumper set to master) with a CD no problem, I haven't had luck with Tiger.

Disclaimer before I start: I don't own another Mac at the moment, so I can't use disk utility to create installation media

I downloaded the iso for 10.4 from Macintosh Garden, and burned it to a USB stick via Balena Etcher. There was a prompt about it missing a partition table and warning it might not be bootable, but it went through with the job. I then took the stick, put it into the iMac, and as I started up, held the option key, and I was able to see the install disk for OS X listed as an option to boot into. Clicked into it, and went through the entire install process until the step to reboot the system. When the iMac rebooted, it spun for a little while before showing a prohibited symbol, and based on what I could see when I tried again and held command+v, it looks like it's searching for the boot drive. I'm a little confused at this point, because by holding option at startup I can see the two partitions, one for OS9 and one for OS X, so I'm not sure what the system is looking for. Does the issue stem back from how I created the USB, or is there something else I'm missing?

I'd say your USB is fine if you were able to boot into the installer OK.

Can you boot the installer again and run Disk Utility from the installer menu to confirm the drive's partition scheme is set to "Apple Partition Map" (and not "GUID")?

For example:

You could try booting back into Mac OS 9 and run XPostFacto 4 (here). Although not required for running Tiger on your iMac, there are some checks XPF will do which might point you in the right direction if there are potential problems with the drive configuration.

See this screenshot example of a Jaguar HD partition on my beige G3 which refuses to boot unless I use the "Helper" drive option due to a missing HFS wrapper (?).

I would give it a try at least to see if you can coax Tiger into booting using the Helper drive (your Mac OS 9 partition) as support. Otherwise, maybe a reinstall would do the trick?

 

[Minmus]

I'd say your USB is fine if you were able to boot into the installer OK.

Can you boot the installer again and run Disk Utility from the installer menu to confirm the drive's partition scheme is set to "Apple Partition Map" (and not "GUID")?

For example:
View attachment 2341042

You could try booting back into Mac OS 9 and run XPostFacto 4 (here). Although not required for running Tiger on your iMac, there are some checks XPF will do which might point you in the right direction if there are potential problems with the drive configuration.

See this screenshot example of a Jaguar HD partition on my beige G3 which refuses to boot unless I use the "Helper" drive option due to a missing HFS wrapper (?).

I would give it a try at least to see if you can coax Tiger into booting using the Helper drive (your Mac OS 9 partition) as support. Otherwise, maybe a reinstall would do the trick?

View attachment 2341046

Thanks for the advice! I ended up starting from scratch and re-imaging the USB stick and this time everything worked correctly. My best guess as to maybe what messed it up was that last time as I was trying to eject it from my PC, I accidentally tired to enter it in file explorer. Maybe that screwed something up, maybe I just got unlucky the first time, but regardless, it works now. Thanks!

 

[AphoticD]

Thanks for the advice! I ended up starting from scratch and re-imaging the USB stick and this time everything worked correctly. My best guess as to maybe what messed it up was that last time as I was trying to eject it from my PC, I accidentally tired to enter it in file explorer. Maybe that screwed something up, maybe I just got unlucky the first time, but regardless, it works now. Thanks!

Great to hear!

You can't forget to cross your fingers and toes, then hold your tongue to the right as you click install (or was it the left?). Otherwise that magic Mac voodoo bit doesn't get properly configured

Share some pics of your Graphite iMac G3 now running Tiger. I've always loved the look of that model but have never owned one.

 

[swamprock]

Great to hear!

You can't forget to cross your fingers and toes, then hold your tongue to the right as you click install (or was it the left?). Otherwise that magic Mac voodoo bit doesn't get properly configured

Share some pics of your Graphite iMac G3 now running Tiger. I've always loved the look of that model but have never owned one.

Funny story- I bought a graphite iMac for my then four-year-old son back in 2009 for $25. If I recall, it was a DV+ model with a 500mhz G3, but I could be mistaken. I bought it off a graphic designer who used and took good care of it for years. My son used it for a couple of years for DVDs and his games. One morning, he came into my bedroom, woke me up in a crying panic, and said the computer was "on fire". I ran into his bedroom to find the iMac slightly smoking, with a scent of ozone in the air. Boom went the flyback. He thought he was in trouble, but I reassured him that these things happen, especially to CRT iMacs 😂

He just bought a top-of-the-line m3 iMac at 19 years old.

 

[Minmus]

Great to hear!

You can't forget to cross your fingers and toes, then hold your tongue to the right as you click install (or was it the left?). Otherwise that magic Mac voodoo bit doesn't get properly configured

Share some pics of your Graphite iMac G3 now running Tiger. I've always loved the look of that model but have never owned one.

Here are a couple pics!

Honestly it’s holding up pretty well with Tiger and a gig of RAM. Runs a bit warmer than OS9 obviously but with it being winter not much of an issue. The one thing I’m not looking forward too is cracking it back open to fix the rotting foam around the speakers, but ehh, it’s gonna be a while before I get around to that.

Oh and the keyboard is a Matias Tactile Pro; it’s mechanical and has a nice retro Mac aesthetic, although for some reason it won’t let me go to my boot drives on start up, I have to use an old Raspberry Pi keyboard I had laying around.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Here are a couple pics!

Embedded for you!

(Use cmd+P and place the image link within the "By URL" box.)

Nice photos and I envy the tidiness of your table.

(Out of curiosity, what's the other flag to the left of the Star Spangled Banner?

Honestly it’s holding up pretty well with Tiger and a gig of RAM.

I run Tiger on my iMac pretty comfortably with 512MB RAM so you should be more than ok with 1GB.

Runs a bit warmer than OS9 obviously but with it being winter not much of an issue. The one thing I’m not looking forward too is cracking it back open to fix the rotting foam around the speakers, but ehh, it’s gonna be a while before I get around to that.

One of the speakers on mine has blown and I've resorted to headphones instead.

Oh and the keyboard is a Matias Tactile Pro; it’s mechanical and has a nice retro Mac aesthetic, although for some reason it won’t let me go to my boot drives on start up, I have to use an old Raspberry Pi keyboard I had laying around.

Looks pretty cool. Enjoy your computer!

 

[Minmus]

Embedded for you!

Thanks, still learning how the forum works 😅

Out of curiosity, what's the other flag to the left of the Star Spangled Banner?

Indiana state flag!

 

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks, still learning how the forum works 😅

You're welcome. Soon enough you'll be an expert.

Indiana state flag!

Ah ha! Thanks for letting me know.