Powermac G3 handed to me - how to get it working?

[swindmill]

My dad gave me an old Powermac G3 Gossamer that was in a closet at an office of his. He just gave me the actual computer, so I hooked it up to a Dell monitor and turned it on. I get an otherwise blank screen with a floppy disk which has flashing question mark on it. I have no idea what I'm dealing with. Is there any way to hook up a generic mouse and keyboard, or will I need a monitor and mouse/keyboard designed for the Gossamer? Also what do I need to do get the computer running? I would guess the fashing question mark on the floppy disk means it needs the OS disc; just a guess.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[748s]

has it got a hard drive inside? if yes, you'll need an OS disc. flashing question mark means it can't find an OS. try 10.2 could be still around and cheap. the keyboard and mouse have to have ADB connections. you might find them on ebay. or mac user groups. does it have enough ram to run OS X?. pc 66 ram could be hard to find.

 

[spacepower7]

?

The flashing ? means that the computer can't find a hard drive to boot from. You can either boot from an install disc or other utilities disc, and try running disc repair. You also might want to make sure the hard drive connectors are secure.

from apple-history.com

Power Macintosh G3

Codename: Gossamer
CPU: PowerPC 750
CPU Speed: 233/266/300/333 MHz
FPU: integrated
Bus Speed: 66 MHz
Data Path: 64 bit
ROM: 4 MB
RAM Type: PC66 DIMM
Minimum RAM Speed: 66 MHz
Onboard RAM: 0 MB
RAM Slots: 3
Maximum RAM: 768 MB
Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction
Level 2 Cache: 1 MB backside, 1:2
VRAM: 2 - 6 MB (2 MB onboard, one socket)
Maximum Resolution: all resolutions supported
Slots: 3 PCI, 1 personality (filled)
Floppy Drive: 1.4 MB SuperDrive
Zip Drive: optional
Optical Drive: 24x CD-ROM
Hard Disk: 4 GB
ATA Bus: EIDE
Ethernet: 10Base-T
ADB: 1
Serial: 2
SCSI: DB-25
Video Out: DB-15
Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini
Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini
Speaker(s): mono
Gestalt ID: 510
Power: 240 Watts
Weight: 33.1 lbs.
Dimensions: 15.2" H x 9.6" W x 17.8" D
Minimum OS: 8.0
Maximum OS: 10.2.8 [10.3.8 unofficially supported]
Introduced: November 1997
Terminated: January 1999


ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) is a Mac specific interface for keyboards and mice.
You either need ADB mouse and keyboard or you can buy a USB PCI card for about $20, and then use almost any PC keyboard and mouse.

You can use any VGA monitor (except some of the bigger LCDs.)
You could also put in a new ATI PCI video card, in order to support almost every VGA and DVI monitor.

good luck

 

[FFTT]

Yup,

Sounds like it's lookin for which hard disc you want to start from

You're gonna need the OS CD.

 

[swindmill]

I plan on running xpostfacto so that I can install 10.3. Do I have to buy 10.2 just to get it running in order to run xpostfacto and install 10.3?

 

[swindmill]

Ok, well I have discovered that this is not a Gossamer, it is a 9500 with 132Mhz processor. Anyways, the maximum OS it will run as is, is OS 9, which I have. It will start up on the OS 9 disc fine, but I tried to install it, and I got a window saying that 'this program cannot be run on this computer'. I've now tried to install OS 8 and it seemed to be working, but it cannot find a destination disk. What does this mean? It says in order to continue the installation process, mount a valid volume for software installation.

 

[KingSleaze]

Ok, well I have discovered that this is not a Gossamer, it is a 9500 with 132Mhz processor. Anyways, the maximum OS it will run as is, is OS 9, which I have. It will start up on the OS 9 disc fine, but I tried to install it, and I got a window saying that 'this program cannot be run on this computer'. I've now tried to install OS 8 and it seemed to be working, but it cannot find a destination disk. What does this mean? It says in order to continue the installation process, mount a valid volume for software installation.

Sounds like it has no hard drive/only has a faulty hard drive installed and that is why it can't find/mount a destination disk.

 

[swindmill]

That's what I was thinking. there is no HD icon on the desktop. Is there anyway to be sure of this before scrapping it?

EDIT: I took the cover off and there is definately a hard drive installed. I took it out and put it back, making sure everything was plugged in correctly. It seems to be spinning just fine. Why would it not be showing up?

 

[swindmill]

OK, I think I have finally figured out the problem, I just don't know how to fix it. The HD in the mac is manufactured by Seagate, and is not supported by Drive Setup in OS 8 or OS 9. I imagine I just need to resolve this. If anyone knows how to solve this, please share. Thanks

 

[MisterMe]

OK, I think I have finally figured out the problem, I just don't know how to fix it. The HD in the mac is manufactured by Seagate, and is not supported by Drive Setup in OS 8 or OS 9. I imagine I just need to resolve this. If anyone knows how to solve this, please share. Thanks

Your computer dates back to about 1995. Back then, Apple would only support hard drives that it sold directly and their replacements. However, third-party disk utilities and drivers were an active segment of the software market. Such drivers often supported hard drives from multiple vendors. You are going to have to look around for such a utility and driver package.

 

[swindmill]

How would I install 3rd party software on the computer which I have to boot from the OS CD? I can't insert a CD-ROM b/c the OS CD has to be in at all times, and if it's possible to access the internet from the computer while booted form the OS CD, I haven't figured it out.

 

[FFTT]

You're going to have to determine why the internal HD is not showing up.

The brand name shouldn't matter as long as it's properly connected on BOTH ends of the original HD ribbon cable.

You may also want to check if the HD is set to Master not Slave
and that there is no other problem like a bad floppy drive.
Disconnect the floppy drive ribbon on both ends and try again.

You may also need to replace the P Ram battery on the mother board.

If you can get it working at all, it might be fun for the challenge, but hardly worth spending any money on with all the functions of a mini now so affordable.

IF you can get the HD to show up on your display, then be sure to set
your boot drive preferences before you shut down again.

Good luck

 

[MisterMe]

How would I install 3rd party software on the computer which I have to boot from the OS CD? I can't insert a CD-ROM b/c the OS CD has to be in at all times, and if it's possible to access the internet from the computer while booted form the OS CD, I haven't figured it out.

A PowerMac 9500/132 will also boot from a floppy.