Restoring PowerMac G3

[macintouch]

I've got an old beige PowerMac G3 266 desktop (non-minitower). It's got 128 megs of ram, cdrom, zip, etc. Not sure on the hard drive size. It's currently got OSX 10.2 on it, I want to restore it to OS9.

I'm having a problem though. I can't boot off my OS9 install disk. When I boot it up, it shows the old style boot screen with the small happy mac, then automatically resets and the 10.2/OSX grey apple boot screen shows up.

What am I doing wrong? Why isn't it letting me boot off the OS9 disk?

Also, what should I upgrade on this machine? I want to max it out pretty much since I imagine it'll probably be fairly cheap.

 

[Nermal]

Make sure that you're running the latest firmware.

 

[livingfortoday]

Up the RAM as much as you can - that'll make a big difference. Also, see if you can grab a 7200rpm drive for it. Finally, you can fit faster G3 CPU's in there - and overclock them a bit. I'm not sure if that model can fit a G4, and it would be a lot pricier than a G3, but you can check.

 

[macintouch]

Make sure that you're running the latest firmware.

I can't find any firmware updaters for my PMG3. Any idea where I can find one?


Thank you, everyone else!

 

[Nermal]

I can't find any firmware updaters for my PMG3. Any idea where I can find one?

Sorry, I've owned both a Beige and a B&W. It's the B&W that needs the update, not the Beige.

 

[macintouch]

Sorry, I've owned both a Beige and a B&W. It's the B&W that needs the update, not the Beige.

Not a worry. Thank you

 

[applefan1997]

Install OS 9 from OS X (classic), or try holding 'C" at startup.

 

[macintouch]

Install OS 9 from OS X (classic), or try holding 'C" at startup.

Am I able to get rid of OS X by installing OS 9 thru Classic? I want to get rid of OS X completely.

 

[jodelli]

Am I able to get rid of OS X by installing OS 9 thru Classic? I want to get rid of OS X completely.

It should boot if you hold down the 'C' key, as applefan1997 says. You'll be able to get rid of OS X that way with a clean install of OS 9.
You can boot from the disk also if you select it from OS X's System Preferences>System>Startup Disk if it's already inserted.

 

[macintouch]

Still can't get this thing to boot off CD.

This is what happens when I try:

Put the CD in the drive, turn off the computer. Power it up, hold C. Happy Mac shows up, comes to a grey screen, restarts automatically. Keeps doing that no matter how long I push C. Over and over and over.

If I let go of C and boot up the computer as normal, Happy Mac shows up, computer automatically reboots and OSX boot screen shows. Computer boots as normal into OSX just fine.

Also tried changing the startup disk (within OSX) to the CD drive, no dice.

Any ideas?

 

[macintouch]

Acutally, I was just able to boot it up and begin installing OS9!

 

[livingfortoday]

Acutally, I was just able to boot it up and begin installing OS9!

Woo! What was the fix in the end?

 

[macintouch]

Woo! What was the fix in the end?

Install disk was wrong. I was trying to use an update disk. Got ahold of a full install disk, worked perfectly!

 

[dmr727]

DOH! Glad you got it working. That's still a useful machine.

 

[macintouch]

I know! It's a great machine. I still love OS9 for basic stuff. I'm going to up the ram, upgrade to 9.2.2, install iCab, etc.

This will be a sweet vintage box!

Thanks guys.