Panther install problems on B&W G3

[haz]

I want to install Panther on a 350mhz G3 blue & white tower , but every time I put the install CD in the tray it loads up and shows a gray apple and then it shows one of those "no" signs. After that it just hangs. It doesn’t even boot into any part of the installation process.

Previously I had the same problem so I had my cousin install Panther on my hard drive while it was installed in his g4 tower then we reinstalled my hard drive onto my computer and it worked perfectly. I can easily do the same thing again but I won’t see my cousin for another 3 weeks and was just wondering if someone knows what the problem was and how to fix it.

Also once I get this up and running I have an empty 8 GB drive that I want to clone my working hard drive into for emergencies such as this one. What would be the easiest way to go about this? Is there a free app that can do this?

 

[Horrortaxi]

Do you have more than 128MB of RAM? Is this a retail OS X installer? If you don't have enough RAM or if you are using a System Restore disk from another Mac then it won't work. If you trick it into working you most likely won't like the results.

You know that it's "1 disk, 1 installation", right? You can't "borrow" somebody else's copy.

Once you get it all up and running you can use Disk Utility to clone your drive.

 

[haz]

Thanks for the advice guys. I finally got it to work. All I did was put in the cd and held "c" and it installed fine. However the damn machine crawls!!!! Sure if I run just one or two apps it does fine but anything more than that and it goes into super slow mode. So I decided to just throw the machine out.

These were the specs:
G3 350 in the bluen and white enclosure
348mb ram
120gb HD.
Revision 1 motherboard

Guess I can't ask for much from a G3. Anyway hopefully Apple's new iMac is headless so I can purchase one. If not I'll just stay in the windows world for now.

 

[Horrortaxi]

Guess I can't ask for much from a G3.

Terribly unfair generalization. It's not going to run like a G5, but it should still run great. What are you asking it to do that bogs it down? What do you want it to do?

 

[FoxyKaye]

...Sure if I run just one or two apps it does fine but anything more than that and it goes into super slow mode. So I decided to just throw the machine out.

These were the specs:
G3 350 in the blue and white enclosure
348mb ram
120gb HD.
Revision 1 motherboard

Guess I can't ask for much from a G3. Anyway hopefully Apple's new iMac is headless so I can purchase one. If not I'll just stay in the windows world for now.

Sorry to be a nudge here, but you threw out a Blue & White? While I highly condone your desire to switch over to the Mac world, I would hope that you literally didn't toss your machine into the trash. Not only are there environmental concerns with old computers going into landfills, but for a lot of folks, the system you describe is perfectly servicable. Please check with nonprofits, students, and community organizations in your neighborhood (as well as right here on MacRumors) - there are a lot of folks who would really appreciate this system as a donation.

 

[maxvamp]

I'll be the martyr.. send it to me for disposal...

Max.

 

[haz]

Thanks for the replies guys. No I didn't literally throw it out... well not yet. I just disconnected it and was going to get rid of it this coming Monday. But someone at applenova told me that I can just purchase a 1.1ghz 750GX "Gobi" G3 for $350 and it will run a LOT faster. WEll I've decided to do that instead of buying one of thoes upcoming iMacs.

PS: You think the reason OS X is not installing correctly is due to the fact that I am using my brother's install cd's?

I seriously doubt that's the case because there is no way that the CD itself can recognize the fact that it has been installed in more than one computer unlike windows Xp which utilizes that stupid "call home" feature and cd keys.

I understand the whole moral aspect of paying people fpr their work, but when you are only a 2nd year college student making $170-$200 a week buying the actual cd's is just out of the question.

Another question... I can easily install the OS by putting my hard drive in my cousin's G4 tower and then installing the OS into the hard drive through his computer using his install cd's. When I put my hard drive back into my computer it works like a charm. The CPU is even reported correctly even though the OS was originally installed on a 800mhz G4.

The other awesome thing about smurf towers is that they can use the fastest G3 ever - 1.1 GHz 750GX, with 1 MB of full-speed L2 cache. Apple has never released a computer with 1 MB of L2 cache running at 1:1 with the CPU speed. eMacs, iBooks, PowerBooks, and PowerMac G5s all have 512 kb. Also, unlike Sonnet's 1 GHz G4 upgrade, it allows the bus speed to remain at 100 MHz instead of dropping it to 66 MHz. I am quite sure the $350 1.1 GHz G3 upgrade would outperform Sonnet's $400 1 GHz G4 upgrade.

 

[Horrortaxi]

Aw, you had to go and "go there" didn't you? I was going to overlook the piracy and give you a helpful answer (actually did already, see my first post), but you gave the 2nd lamest defense there is: I'm too poor. Too bleedin' bad. Being a starving student and having a lot of things don't go hand in hand. That's why people complain about being a starving student--it sucks. Pay your dues, use an old OS, eat Top Ramen and Macaroni for a while, then graduate and make F You money and buy everything you want. Besides, if you have enough money to get the upgrade processor you have enough to buy the OS. If you can realistically plan to buy a new iMac, you can plan to buy the OS very quickly.

Let me shift gears now and talk about upgrade processors. They're not all they're cracked up to be. It'll run faster than it does now, but will still have a 100mhz system bus so it won't exactly be like having a new computer. It's certainly no way to fix an install problem. Upgrade processors can cause problems during an OS X install, causing you to replace the stock processor during the installation.

What do you want this computer to do? If it can do it as 350mhz G3 then great. If not, you may be better off saving for a new computer.

 

[7on]

Personally I think the 120GB drive is at fault. The 350Mhz and 300Mhz G3's have problems with Data corruption with ATA66 drives and faster (maybe ATA66s are ok - but I have no idea) when using the built in ATA controller. I myself have a G3 400Mhz (but with only 256MB of RAM) and it's pretty speedy. Hell, I've used a 333Mhz iMac with 128MB of RAM and it was usable.

They are saying it's illegal to use another's OS CDs. Not that it's impossible (unless it's a software restore disk - I believe which are made for a specific model of computer), just frowned upon. It's like stealing candy. Sure you can do it - but there's the moral aspect as well.

Upgrades are generally not worth it. Unless it's a Pismo upgrade of course ;P. Blue and Whites are fantastic machines. I bought mine online for $237 on ebay. And people say you can't get Macs sub-$500. pshhhhaww

 

[seamuskrat]

Sounds like you got it working.

I use an old B&W with Panther and its snappy. Amazingly so with 756 ram and a Radeon 7000 PCI card. I also updated the processor from a G3 400 to a G4 1000 even though that slowed the bus back to 66. It made a huge difference.

Yes, I had issues with any drive over 80 gigs as an internal. Anything works as an external in a firewire case.

The ethics of stealing software aside, every time you do not purchase a Mac OS, Mac Game, Mac application, it contributes to the further erosion of the market share and motivation for developers to write software for our favorite platform. None of us are rolling in dough, but having legit copies of the core OS you run, should be a priority. Many companies offer a very good student discount. Depending on your school, you could get OS X for as little as 10.00 (USC, UCLA for example) or no more than 79.00 at the Apple store. Being poor does not entitle anyone to free stuff, but it should make you want to earn more or investigate other legal options.

Apple is a victim of its own success. In this case a 6 year old Mac can STILL be usefull, so no new Mac sale. The OS is easy to pirate and utilize, even on an older machine, so no new OS Sale. The machine can be upgraded via a third party for even longer life, again, no new Apple sale.The OS requires little to no technical support to instal and operate, so no need for official license to call for support. To increase Mac market share, Apple just needs to make it computers breakdown sooner and make the OS harder to use.
OK, so I am being sarcastic.
But I was a starving student once. I coveted the LC3's we had on campus, while I slaved away on my trusty MacPlus. I mean COLOR, wow. But you make do and contribute what you can. But you cannot expect to get free software as a student or for any reason and still have the right to complain that "game X' is not yet ported or is ported too many months later or costs too much. Its all economics. A game company is selling a marginalized product to a marginalized market share. How many copies of Halo did they sell to PC users vs Mac users? It must be 75 to 1.

I digress.

I am glad you are keeping the old trusty blue in service and can get some life out of her yet. Consider a PCI videocard as your next update (After a legal version of OS X and the new G3)