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Tenacious Dyl · Feb 13, 2005, 02:23 PM

Hello everyone,
I have an iMac (blue) Slot-Loading 350 MHz G3 computer. It has 8 megs of video ram, and 64 megs of normal ram, and an 80 GB, 5,400 RPM drive. Here is my problem...

Recently, I wanted to upgrade it to OS X.. so I installed OS X (10.1.5) on it with no problem. Ran tons of updates, everything was good. However, I started to realize how little I could do with 10.1.5 on that computer, and my G5 and Laptop having 10.3.8. Very little good compatibility with applications and needs. So I decided to get Panther for the iMac.

Panther requires 128 megs or more of ram, so I picked up some PC100 256 mb module from Kingston. Popped it in the iMac, and it read that its original 64 mb stick of ram, and the new 256 mb stick of ram were both ok. I went to install Panther and it required a firmware update.

I updated the iMac's firmware, and in doing so, my 256 mb module no longer works. It is listed as "uncompatible" or "incompatible" in the apple system profiler.

So, I got ram so that I could run panther, I installed firmware update to run panther, and now panther wont run, because the ram is no longer recognized and it won't install on only 64 megs of ram.

Does anyone know a way I can somehow get the iMac to "like" both the 256 meg module AND panther at the same time, its like the computer wants only one or the other. OR could anyone offer a way to somehow "force" panther to run with only 64 megs. Please help me. I feel like I keep hitting dead ends....

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 13, 2005, 06:21 PM

I talked around with some people, and just traded PC100 256 meg sticks with someone. Mine worked in theirs fine, just got home, and popped theirs in the iMac and it booted and recognized the ram (yay!). Panther is currently installing... we will see if it is successful and runs properly....

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 14, 2005, 10:09 PM

So as we know, life always likes to mess with us.

After finally getting enough ram to actually install panther, and being able to run the installer. I have more problems

Once Panther was successfully installed, computer had restarted, PRAM had been reset, I went to repair permissions. Each time, Disk Utility "unexpantly quit". So I shut it down, reset the PRAM again upon booting, and tried again. Each time it just quit. So I tried to run software update to install the newest version of Panther, and Software update unexpantly quit, and then iTunes quit, etc, etc, etc. Everything randomly quits and stops responding. So I thought maybe the NEW 256 stick was crummy, but Panther, no matter how much or how little of that 256 it uses, is perfectly stable and has never froze or given me errors. So I have NO IDEA what is going on.

I decided maybe there is a bad sector in my HD or something. So.. with the new firmware really being my only progress, I completely wiped the drive, reformatted it, etc, etc. Went to install Panther, yet again, and now during Panther Installation it freezes or errors out.

WHAT can I do here? Can anyone who has had a similar experience offer a hand or some advice. Is there a step I am missing to make this all work better. Please help me out. Despite being an older computer. I have an 80 GB drive in it that I DO use, and I need that functional ASAP. Thanks!

Detrius · Feb 15, 2005, 09:12 PM

You may have a bad RAM slot. Either that, or you got gypped with a bad RAM module from your friend. You should have gotten the original RAM replaced from Kingston.

Your issues definitely sound like bad RAM. The core OS is squeezed into that first 64MB, so it's still kind of stable, but everything else is crashing, and the OS on the drive is probably corrupt too.

Put the 256MB module alone in the 64MB slot and see if you can boot. If not, you have a bad RAM module. If so, you may have a bad slot.

Will C · Feb 16, 2005, 05:11 AM

Does that model of iMac need the HD to be partitioned into first 8GB + remainder for OS X?

tooki · Feb 16, 2005, 10:32 AM

No.

tooki

mikerally · Feb 17, 2005, 03:51 PM

I remember this problem, there was lots of talk about it when the firmware update came out and lots of people were complaining that their 3rd party memory no longer was "seen".

Basically, the newer firmware is more "picky" about the specifications of the memory modules it can reliably detect. This has nothing to do with Panther though, Apple just got real strict about what RAM they would consider as "compliant" with their computers.

Normally the SPD (a chip on the DIMM memory module) isn't programmed with the full set of speeds the DIMM supports (generally this is to be the case on cheaper DIMMs) because a PC's motherboard can over-ride this if it doesn't find any.

Apple however, with this firmware as stopped supporting the DIMMs unless the SPDs meet with their strict requirements.

Anyway, a guy wrote a program for Mac OS 9 back in the day that could reprogram your DIMM's SPD with the appropriate information to get it working (thus bringing your memory "back to life").

The program is called "DIMM First Aid" (search Google for it) and could even tell you if your memory was compatible with the firmware update before applying it (and offered to reprogram the memory to remedy the situation if possible).

Have a look for it and give it a try (there are numerous reports and feedback on macintouch.com and xlr8yourmac.com ).

Good luck!

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 20, 2005, 12:31 PM

Alright, thanks everyone. My current problem is installing Panther, and having it run stable.

The 2nd 256 stick I have works, and I ran multiple tests on it, it passed all. The other stick in the iMac is the original 64 mb stick from apple, that tests out ok too. I now have a problem, where Panther boots up, I can log in, and I can open most applications, but within a few seconds each crashes. The finder now randomly restarts too.

I figured I would clean out the computer just in case, and reformatted and erased the harddrive completely, and tried to reinstall Panther. Now, every time I go to install panther, the installer just crashes or freezes... usually about 2/3 to 4/5 through the installation process.

What is going on?!?!

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 20, 2005, 06:47 PM

Ended up getting worse and worse... computer won't do anything now. Had to clean-install OS 9.2.2 onto the iMac. It behaves perfectly well with the 256 AND 64 both in. Downloaded and ran Dimm First Aid, it said both memory sticks checked out, and that the 256 stick did not have any SPD data. There is no option to do ANYTHING with the program however. It just reads-out my ram data. No option to enter SPD, no option to "fix" or edit anything. Please help?

Detrius · Feb 21, 2005, 01:29 AM

Originally posted by Tenacious Dyl:
Ended up getting worse and worse... computer won't do anything now. Had to clean-install OS 9.2.2 onto the iMac. It behaves perfectly well with the 256 AND 64 both in. Downloaded and ran Dimm First Aid, it said both memory sticks checked out, and that the 256 stick did not have any SPD data. There is no option to do ANYTHING with the program however. It just reads-out my ram data. No option to enter SPD, no option to "fix" or edit anything. Please help?

Apple Hardware Test isn't a perfect RAM test. From your description, it sounds like bad RAM. Just for the heck of it, use OS 9's Disk Utility to run a surface scan on your drive--it's the Test Disk option in the menus. Assuming that passes, the most likely diagnosis I can give you is bad RAM--despite AHT passing it.

vmarks · Feb 21, 2005, 09:53 AM

Just for curiosity's sake,

what happens if you have only the 256mb module installed and run panther install?

and what happens if you try that with your old stick from kingston?

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 21, 2005, 10:33 AM

vmarks: with just the 256 stick (that might be bad?) it does the usual install part way and crash. The older stick from kingston simply won't be recognized by Panther at all.

OS 9.2.2 disk first aid said it checks out just fine.
Using Drive Setup, I ran the surface scan and results were: STRANGE...I'll quote what the dialogue box said..
"The test was interrupted. An unrecoverable error occurred and could not be fixed."

I then booted from the OS 9.2.2 disk, to see if perhaps I could do the surface scan from the CD with better results and my results were there same. About a minute or two passed, and I got the "The test was interrupted. An unrecoverable error occurred and could not be fixed." message.

So...where do I go from here?

Tenacious Dyl · Feb 21, 2005, 10:57 AM

double post.. kill this please.