Panther won't install on G3

[Nermal]

I have a Blue and White G3 that's been working fine until now. Two days ago I turned on the system and got a blinking question mark. I tried to reinstall Panther (formatted the drive) but fails near the end of the basic install with the exceedingly helpful "an error occurred".

I've tried installing multiple times, and it keeps failing. However, OS 9 and Jaguar both install and run correctly. My Panther CDs verify correctly, and the longest RAM test also passes. I've cleared the PRAM and done "reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all" in Open Firmware. Nothing seems to help.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[RacerX]

Well, if Jaguar installs okay, you could try doing an upgrade to Panther.

More troubling is why you are having issues to begin with. I'm not a fan of the Blue & White systems, they have given me tons of issues with my clients over the years (and I personally wouldn't own one). If it is the ATA controller on the logic board, you have two options... replace the logic board (Apple recommends using the Yikes G4 logic board as it fixed most of the issues with the first generation Blue & White logic boards) or use a third party ATA card (like an UltraATA 66 or 133 card... or even a Serial ATA card if you wanted a newer, and bigger drive).

Without being able to test the system in person, that is about the best I can offer for advice.

Sorry.

 

[Nermal]

I took half (2 modules) of the RAM out, and it installed successfully. As all the RAM had passed testing, I now wonder whether it's one of the slots at fault; I did all the testing in slot 1. As a "spare" computer, I don't really need all that RAM in it, so I think I'll run it "as is" for a while and see whether it falls over again.

For what it's worth, it's one of the "revised" Blue and Whites.

Thanks for your help

 

[islandmonusvi]

Installing Panther on G3's was never easy do to limitations & exacting specifications based on partition size and RAM/VRAM sequencing.
Are those modules in the correct slot sequences ?
Are they all the same 70nano speed ?

 

[yellow]

I don't think it's the RAM slots at fault. I would like to echo RacerX's comment on B&Ws being serious PITAs. I too have had my troubles with them over the years and particularly with OS X. I have had exactly the same experience as you and as soon as I scaled back to the original RAM that came with the box, everything installed fine. And post-install the removed RAM worked fine. I'm very glad that the B&Ws are long gone around here.

 

[Nermal]

I don't know why I jumped in and suspected the slot, because as I said I did all the testing in one slot. So, while all the RAM may work, that doesn't mean it's all compatible with each other!

It's currently running with 512 MB, which is enough, so I'll leave it running for a couple of weeks and see whether it behaves itself