Wanted: OS 8.6 install disk for a G4

[funkymonkeypie]

I am trying to get OS 8.6 installed on an upgraded G3 B&W with a 650 Mhz G4 cpu in it. I want to use it as a retro-style juke-box to play a 120 gig mp3 collection. I have the original applecare OS 8.6 Install disk but it is for when it was a G3. Any time i open either quicktime or itunes 1.1 in OS 8.6 it crashes.

According to this chart :

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

my mac (which has become a G4 PCI) will run 8.6 but only with an OS 8.6 install disk that would have come with a G4 PCI when it was new.

Apparently there are some extra extensions that either disable Altivec, or allow 8.6 to access it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I went into a local Apple store and asked and they (all of them under 25) looked at me like like I was a bark eating hermit.

Thanks.

 

[synth3tik]

I have an OS 8.6 copy made for me buy a guy that runs a computer store near me. It's in a box some where but I could look for it. My old G3 is running 9.2 so I don't have the need for the 8.6 disc.


Edit: Never Mind. I see you need the restore disc which I do not have. Sorry.

 

[shu82]

I don't believe OS 8 ever would support a g4. I would put 9.2 on it. iTunes 2 ran on mine when I had OS 9.

I understand not wanting to upgrade. With the TI book I gave my grandmother I had to install 9.2 on it because she was still using system 7 and she didn't like OSX.

 

[funkymonkeypie]

shu82

The mac has already got 9.2.2 on it as well as 10.3.9 and 10.4.10

I'm just trying to get 8.6 to work with the G4 to spook my technocratti pals.

The link i posted show a chart that shows that a G4 will support 8.6 but only with a disk that came with a new G4 PCI. A copy of that disk is what i'm looking for. Or even just the system extensions.

MMM bark.

 

[shu82]

I might start eating bark too if you could get this to work. You may be able to do it with a retail disk, hack tools and patience. Good Luck. That is beyond me.

Also if you can go to an independent apple store, they probably know more since they have been around long before the corporate store.

yummy bark!

 

[dpaanlka]

It isn't that hard I have 7.6.1 working with G4 processors. You're G3 hasn't "become" a G4, its still just a G3, only now it has G4 processor upgrade. Use your 8.6 disk. The important thing here is to UPDATE everything. QuickTime 6.0.4, for example, is the latest version for Mac OS 8.6 (and 9.x as well). Your CD only comes with QuickTime 3. No hacking or anything of that sort should be required. What you want is a the single AltiVec extension for Mac OS 8.6. I'll find it for you and post here when I do. If that Mac OS 8.6 install CD you have works with your G3 system when the G3 processor is installed, then nothing should change when you install a G4 processor upgrade.

By the way, the earliest G4 towers shipped with Mac OS 8.6 very briefly.

EDIT: Here is some stuff I have posted that you might enjoy:

iTunes 1.1
iTunes 1.1 Mac OS 8.6 Patch
Mozilla 1.3
Opera 5

More Editing: Some further explanation... your G3 install disk does not feature the AltiVec extension I speak of. Because of this, your Mac OS 8.6 install essentially treats your G4 processor as a G3. If you installed the driver software with your G4 upgrade card (what brand is it anyway?) then you may or may not have had AltiVec installed.

 

[funkymonkeypie]

Exactly.

It is only when using software that can use the altivec capibilities of the G4 that the system hangs. Everytime i try to run quicktime or i browse to a webpage with a QT file on it the mac freezes up. The first G4 PCIs used exactly the same motherboard as the G3 B&W (befrore switching to the AGP mobo). Any thing after the AGP cant run OS 8.6 as per the chart in the link on my first post. The applecare OS 8.6 install disk that i have has me select which hardware i am installing on. When i click on G4 it says that that version is not available on that disk, so I installed as though it is a G3. It is one of those original disks that shipped with the first PCI G4s that i am looking for. (or the delta between that and a retail OS 8.6 disk).

 

[dpaanlka]

Exactly.

It is only when using software that can use the altivec capibilities of the G4 that the system hangs. Everytime i try to run quicktime or i browse to a webpage with a QT file on it the mac freezes up. The first G4 PCIs used exactly the same motherboard as the G3 B&W (befrore switching to the AGP mobo). Any thing after the AGP cant run OS 8.6 as per the chart in the link on my first post. The applecare OS 8.6 install disk that i have has me select which hardware i am installing on. When i click on G4 it says that that version is not available on that disk, so I installed as though it is a G3. It is one of those original disks that shipped with the first PCI G4s that i am looking for. (or the delta between that and a retail OS 8.6 disk).

The point I was trying to make is that nothing should actually be crashing if you don't have the AltiVec extensions installed. QuickTime and such will not try their AltiVec capabilities in this case.

And where did you get a 650mhz G4 from anyway?

 

[funkymonkeypie]

E-bay of course, i originally wanted one of those swanky sonnet 1 gig CPUs but the drop in bus speed to 66 from 100 and the need to depend on sonnet to release cache enabler updates for each new os update lead me to a powerlogix 550 Mhz. It has a tiny 10 position dial on it for setting cpu:bus ratio, i just turned it to 11. Powerlogix used to sell them in either 550,600 or 650 mHz "pre-configured" I just re-configured it. They sell exactly the same CPU for different prices and all they do is spin a dial.

Aruugula, I just did a fresh install of 8.6 on a newly formated drive, downloaded and installed QT 6.0.3 (i couldn't find 6.0.4) and exactly the same thing happened. After restarting and setting the connection speed preferences for QT as soon as i start it the system freezes.

 

[funkymonkeypie]

dpaanlka:

Thank you for your input, i solved it. I had to replace the OS 8.6 "Mac OS rom" file with version 1.8.1 (for G4) I had version 1.6 i think, which was off my install CD. I dug a little deeper in the "whats new" folder of that cd and found that update. It wouldn't install normally because the installer querried the motherboard and as it was a yosemite it would not continue, so i just used tome viewer and extracted to the system folder and re-booted. As soon as i did that i could install both quicktime 6.0.5 and iTunes 1.1 without crashing every time i opened them or accessed a plug-in. Now I'm able to rip and import CDs at 12x speed into iTunes in OS 8.6 --- unheard of.

P.S. Thanks for the opera.