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kitsu · Nov 22, 2003, 07:18 PM

I just got an old blue G3 tower to mess around with. There was supposed to be an OS on the G3, but it wouldn't boot, so I went ahead and installed Panther.

Unfortunately, there is a video problem that I don't know where to start trying to fix. On initial boot (with the Apple and circle timer thingy) color seems fine, however throughout the installation process and now that I'm in Panther, the video is this very grainy greyscale. Text is nearly impossible to read, depending on the background color of the window.

Any ideas or strategy to troubleshoot?
Thanks

dagaz · Nov 22, 2003, 07:32 PM

Did you update firmware before installing Panther?

kitsu · Nov 22, 2003, 08:08 PM

Actually, I feel sort of stupid. I checked the specs for Panther again, noticed it needs at least a Ge Force 2 of 16mb. I took out the existing card and after some poking, figure that it can't have any more than 4mb of ram, so I think maybe thats the problem.

Cadaver · Nov 23, 2003, 07:50 AM

I know for a fact that Panther will run just fine on a Rage 128 w/ 8MB of VRAM, since I'm typing on such a device right now.

I also know that Panther will run on a blue & white G3 with a Radeon Mac Edition PCI, since I've got one downstairs (soon to get a 900MHz G3 ZIF upgrade, too).

The GeForce 2 and 16MB VRAM is a requirement for Quartx Extreme. Since the blue & white G3s don't have an AGP slot, this is not applicable anyway.

The b&w G3s shipped standard with an ATI Rage 128 with 8MB VRAM. There were some odd education-only configs that used an old ATI card with only 4MB VRAM. I doubt these would work correctly, so perhaps that's what you have. Open the case and look at the video card. If it's a Rage 128, it should say so on the circuit board silkscreen. If necessary, you can still find PCI Radeon 7000 cards (slower than the original Radeon Mac Edition, though).

kitsu · Nov 30, 2003, 08:14 PM

Yes, based on what you said I think that the card I have in there is one of the special ATI cards with 4mb of ram (I did some part time work unpacking and configuring new iMacs for a school, and was offered one of the G3's that they were replacing).

I'll try to find one of those PCI Radeon cards. Until then, I'm happy using the 17" studio display and kayboard on my 12" G4. At least my wrists won't be melting while I'm working at my desk

Thanks~

-Q- · Dec 1, 2003, 08:11 AM

I used a PCI Radeon in my Beige G3 for years and it handled OS X fine. Never tried it with Panther for the obvious reasons but I'd imagine it'd work fine.