Resolved Powermac G3 won't boot from OS X and gets stuck at happy face.

[poiihy]

After transporting my Powermac G3 beige desktop, it doesn't boot anymore. It has 10.2 on main HD and before it would boot into it, but now it just shows a happy face and gets stuck at that. happy face is for classic Mac OS. OS X doesn't show happy face. I don't have OS 9 or 8 on it, only OS X. Please help
Also the PRAM battery is dead, perhaps it got reset or something?

 

[bunnspecial]

Do you have an OS 8 or OS 9 disk? If you do, try booting off that by putting it in the drive and holding down "C" while powering up.

This might at least let you isolate whether it's a problem with the boot volume or with some other part of the system.

 

[poiihy]

Do you have an OS 8 or OS 9 disk? If you do, try booting off that by putting it in the drive and holding down "C" while powering up.

This might at least let you isolate whether it's a problem with the boot volume or with some other part of the system.

It does not have a disk drive

 

[poiihy]

Maybe the startup disk is messed up? But I would think it would boot to whatever is available. Maybe because it is OS X it cannot recognize it. But would Mac OS 9 recognize it too?

 

[Intell]

Have you tried reseating everything inside the machine? Something may have gotten agitated.

 

[havokalien]

pram battery and OS X

I have found the beige G3 does not like a dead pram battery.

The easiest way I have found to fix this is boot off an OS X CD and use disk utility to make sure the OS X is seen by the startup disk control panel then restart. The beige G3 was made way before OS X and does not seem to like to boot off of it politely.

Its much like the power double tap on old LC series macs with a dead pram.

Welcome to an almost twenty year old machine.

 

[poiihy]

Have you tried reseating everything inside the machine? Something may have gotten agitated.

Yes I have, everything is in fine.
I think it has to do with the PRAM reset. When it was working, it had not been unplugged for a long period of time since I installed OS X. The install probably set something up with the PRAM and now that it is reset it doesn't work. I probably need that firmware update.

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I have found the beige G3 does not like a dead pram battery.

The easiest way I have found to fix this is boot off an OS X CD and use disk utility to make sure the OS X is seen by the startup disk control panel then restart. The beige G3 was made way before OS X and does not seem to like to boot off of it politely.

Its much like the power double tap on old LC series macs with a dead pram.

Welcome to an almost twenty year old machine.

Dang... so I have to wait until I buy a optical drive and PRAM battery... oh well ok.
Theres a firmware update for it that I have not installed, should I install that firm ware update?

 

[havokalien]

not firmware

The beige G3 did not have a firmware issue per say, but a rom issue. Since you had already been running OS X its a pram startup issue.

Use an OS X disk like I stated (not OS 9) as it won't have the ability really to set the pram correctly.

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you don't have to buy a pram battery just don't unplug it again.

 

[poiihy]

The beige G3 did not have a firmware issue per say, but a rom issue. Since you had already been running OS X its a pram startup issue.

Use an OS X disk like I stated (not OS 9) as it won't have the ability really to set the pram correctly.

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you don't have to buy a pram battery just don't unplug it again.

I would think that that firmware upgrade will allow it to recognize OS X so it will work even after a PRAM reset?

 

[havokalien]

you can try

You can try but for me it changed nothing. When I would unplug it I would have to start with an OS X startup disk and choose a startup device. Its been 2 years and I am pretty sure it would be the same firmware, but I think its a rom issue.

Like rev B rooms work but don't play as nice with OS X and rev C is better closer to the B&W series.

 

[poiihy]

Ok so i bought an IDE disk drive for it (Pioneer drive, just like the one from the G4 that worked) and I burned an OS X Jaguar install disk (1) onto a CD from a disk image. I put it in and booted while holding the C key. It showed the cursor for a bit but then went on with the happy face to try and boot into the startup disk (and get stuck). It's not working!

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

After transporting my Powermac G3 beige desktop, it doesn't boot anymore. It has 10.2 on main HD and before it would boot into it, but now it just shows a happy face and gets stuck at that. happy face is for classic Mac OS. OS X doesn't show happy face. I don't have OS 9 or 8 on it, only OS X. Please help
Also the PRAM battery is dead, perhaps it got reset or something?

Check out the HD. I have a PowerMac G3 beige desktop, and while I did put a new HD in it, OS9 now has giant lag spikes. I am certain there is either a software error, or the HD is dying or something. The original HD in it died as well, (which is why I had to replace it in the first place) as I kept transporting the machine all over the place.

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By the way, does anyone know if there are software updates for MacOSX 10.1.1 to be updated to 10.2.8? (or at least an update package I can download?) I have a 10.1.1 disc but no 10.2 disc. I'm pretty sure I could, but just checking in case.

 

[poiihy]

Check out the HD. I have a PowerMac G3 beige desktop, and while I did put a new HD in it, OS9 now has giant lag spikes. I am certain there is either a software error, or the HD is dying or something. The original HD in it died as well, (which is why I had to replace it in the first place) as I kept transporting the machine all over the place.

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By the way, does anyone know if there are software updates for MacOSX 10.1.1 to be updated to 10.2.8? (or at least an update package I can download?) I have a 10.1.1 disc but no 10.2 disc. I'm pretty sure I could, but just checking in case.

I already solved this problem as being dead PRAM battery causing PRAM to be reset and so it 'forgets' how to boot into OS X.

My newest problem is that I cannot boot from a Jaguar install disk that i burned. I burned it from a dmg disk image that I made with disk utility from a real OS X Jaguar disk.
So apparently the G3 cannot boot from burned disks? Or maybe the dmg file did not save the disk exactly like it was. Maybe I should've used iso.

I am positive the disk drive i bought is good because the seller said it was tested and working, but I have nothing else to test it and cannot be sure.