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glynn · Oct 27, 2004, 02:45 PM

i recently managed to get hold of an old powerPC G3 from myflatmate with OS9.1 on it and have been spending most of the time since trying to install OSX on it to little avail. technically it should be able to run it but whenever the process begins the monitor plays up. we've tried three so far with various results. it either begins then powers off (on the monitor which came with it) or asks us to restart the mac (when we tried a brand new one). since you can't seem to restart the G3 by holding in the power button - it just turns off, i wondered if anyone on here had any bright ideas on how toinstall the bloody thing. it works fine otherwise while running 9.1 but i'm at a loss as to how to get 10 working.

any help appreciated

Glynn

discotronic · Oct 27, 2004, 02:56 PM

Sounds like you are getting a Kernal Panic. Could be a RAM problem. If you access to different RAM try changing it out. Also, try to disconnect all non essential PCI cards (ethernet, modem etc).

jamil5454 · Oct 27, 2004, 04:17 PM

I agree. Start by isolating the problem if you can.

-Q- · Oct 27, 2004, 09:11 PM

What kind of G3?

If it's a beige, there's a special process that must be followed. If it's another type (blue & white), then you may be having a hardware issue.

discotronic · Oct 27, 2004, 11:05 PM

Originally posted by -Q-:
What kind of G3?

If it's a beige, there's a special process that must be followed. If it's another type (blue & white), then you may be having a hardware issue.

I forgot about that. OSX must be installed on an 8GB or smaller partition on the Beige PowerMac.

glynn · Oct 28, 2004, 06:30 AM

thanks. done what everyones said and got a bit further (posted in a new topic upscreen because the problems a bit different now). yeah it is a biege and its got two different ram modules (a 64 and a 128). by 'changing them out' do you mean physically swapping them round or is thera an electronic way to swap which one is used first?

ValVashon · Oct 28, 2004, 06:32 AM

Installing OS 10.2 (Jaguar) is certainly possible on a beige G3. My install went so well I have forgotten just how I did it, but I do remember that it was on a completely erased 4gb drive, and it installed on the first try. Installing on this machine was much easier than on my iBook or Bondi iMac (would not install until drive was wiped clean).

I would suggest that you wipe the drive clean and make two partitions and install OS X on the first 4gb. Or make three partitions and install OS X on the first 3gb, OS 9 on the next 1GB and then the rest of your stuff on the last 4gb.

My screen resolution is horrible, but useable for what I need it for.

And I believe that Jaguar is the last version of OS X that you can install on this machine.

Val

ValVashon · Oct 28, 2004, 06:34 AM

Originally posted by ValVashon:
Installing OS 10.2 (Jaguar) is certainly possible on a beige G3. My install went so well I have forgotten just how I did it, but I do remember that it was on a completely erased 4gb drive, and it installed on the first try. Installing on this machine was much easier than on my iBook or Bondi iMac (would not install until drive was wiped clean).

I would suggest that you wipe the drive clean and make two partitions and install OS X on the first 4gb. Or make three partitions and install OS X on the first 3gb, OS 9 on the next 1GB and then the rest of your stuff on the last 4gb.

My screen resolution is horrible, but useable for what I need it for.

And I believe that Jaguar is the last version of OS X that you can install on this machine.

Val

I thought that these machines would only boot from the first 4 gb of drive space, but it might be 8gb.

glynn · Oct 28, 2004, 07:02 AM

cheers, but its panther i've got. i was lead to believe that was the easier of the two to install on g3

-Q- · Oct 28, 2004, 07:17 AM

Panther isn't supported on that machine. You'd need to use an application like XPostFacto to install it on the beige G3.

And it needs to be installed on the first 8 GB of a partition.

tooki · Oct 28, 2004, 09:54 AM

Here's the correct condition for installing on a beige G3: OS X must be installed on a partition that is completely contained within the first 8GB. Since the first few KB of the disk are occupied by disk drivers, etc., the partition must actually be slightly smaller than 8GB. 7.9GB is more than enough leeway.

tooki