[gangan]

Hi... Today i bought an used iMac 233 Rev. A, without a hard drive.

Then I installed a Hard Drive.

I only got a Mac OS 8.6 CD, so I booted it, typing C on the keyboard while starting the iMac.

Then, when I tried to install it, it gave the message: Firmware out of date

Then I got into a Firmware Update folder and tried to install it (Firmware Update 1.0)...

And it gave the message: Startup Disk locked or some stuff like that.

Then, I initialized my HD, partitioned it (2 partitions)...

And I tried to install the firmware update again, and i got the message:

This update is for Mac OS 8.6 only...

HOW THE HELL CAN I INSTALL MAC OS INTO MY MAC??

PLEAsE HELP GUYS, I WANT TO SWITCH!

[TETENAL]

Try installing 8.6 without the firmware update. It should let you. Update the firmware afterwards.

[gangan]

I've tried, but it says the firmware is out of date.

[gangan]

Just a thought... I got this Mac OS 8.6 from a friend who owns a lot of macs, can it possible be a Update version instead of a Full Version?

By the way, I got Panther also, is there any risks installing it?

[TETENAL]

Sounds like a catch 22.

Maybe you can drag the system folder of the 8.6 CD onto the hard drive to get "some" system onto the hard drive. Then try to do the firmware update.

Even better, get a Mac mini. It will provide a much better user experience than an iMac 233 with 8.6.

[gangan]

worked great, thanks a lot... now... Onwards to install OS 8.6, then updates 1.1 and 1.2 and finally panther...

Yes, sure I'll get a Mini, this iMac is for my daughter.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by gangan:
By the way, I got Panther also, is there any risks installing it?

Panther will run very slow on that machine, but there is no risk in installing it. I would try that.

That iMac might also have that volume size limit where the system needs to be on the first partition and that partition needs to be smaller than 8 GB I think.

[discotronic]

You won't be able to use 8.6 and Panther on the same machine. You will need at least OS 9.1 in order to boot both OS's.

[gangan]

I thought it worked, but It didn't...

Damn... How can I install this damn firmware update...

Without the firmware update can I install panther?

[discotronic]

The problem could be from the install disk and not the iMac. Some of the older iBooks and possibly iMacs came with install disks that would only work on the computer they where distributed with. Can you get a different install disk?

I would not recommend trying to install Panther without the firmware update. There is always the possibility that the iMac would never boot again.

[gangan]

Yep, I'll get a 8.1 tomorrow, will it work?

[Tyre MacAdmin]

A rev A iMac is extremely slow. It will run OS 9 ok but it will not run any OS X install with any bit of usability. Unless you get a cpu upgrade:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/harmoni_g3.html

If anything I would suggest you install Linux on your system. You will not have to upgrade your firmware for that.

[theolein]

Maybe these people can help you: http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/imac.shtml

[gangan]

Well, I got this problem solved and many others, here's what I did:

The same day I posted the original message here, I got my hands on a Mac OS 8.1 disk set (Install and Restore). For some unknown reason, it not booted at all...

So, I got Mac OS 8.5 Full Install disc, and I booted it.

Then I installed it perfectly.

Then I installed Firmware Upgrade 1.2.

Before I move to panther, I did a little test, I installed Ubuntu Linux. It sucked... Well, it was just a test, I'm originally a Linux Man, I know linux since 95, and if I wanted to install Linux to use it on my iMac, I would be crazy, because I'm using it (Gentoo) on my AMD Athlon 64 3200+.

Gnome sucks a lot of Ram, so, I think Panther, besides of you guys talking about Panther being slow on my iMac would perform better on my:

iMac Bondi Blue Rev. A 233Mhz.
128Mb Ram - 6Mb Vram - 80Gb Seagate HD

So, I installed panther, and in a Hour or so, I was using It... Yes, it's a bit slow, but nothing like i expected, in fact, it runs (walks) really good.

After some using, I got into my machine limits, panther started to slow down a lot... Maybe it's my lack of memory, and panther using the virtual memory instead. I noticed that I can only open 2 windows at a time (Mail and Safari) without slowdowns...

So, I've browsed the internet and got some great tools:

Tinker Tool and Shadow Killer, also, I installed the theme MILK.

After a little of tweaking and cutting animations and stuff, panther was running better than ever.

But I wasn't satisfied... Got 256Mb memory, removed 64 Mb and obtained 320Mb

And now, panther is running really great, without major slowdowns, pretty usable...

And for the next insanity... I've overclocked it to 266Mhz... Bought some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste and a Evercool VC-RE cooler for chipsets. I did some adaptations, and presto... My iMac is now a:

iMac Bondi Blue Rev. A 266Mhz.
320Mb Ram - 6Mb Vram - 80Gb Seagate HD

Running Panther Great!

[Tyre MacAdmin]

Originally posted by gangan:
[B]I would be crazy, because I'm using it (Gentoo) on my AMD Athlon 64 3200+.

Lol... true... too much of any OS will make you crazy. Good to here you got it running good.

[alphasubzero949]

OS X with 128 MB of RAM is painful. Reminds me of the 10.0 days with my clamshell iBook and its 160 MB RAM (before maxing it out).

You can squeak by with 256, but 512 should be the recommended.

[zerologic]

Originally posted by gangan:
iMac Bondi Blue Rev. A 266Mhz.
320Mb Ram - 6Mb Vram - 80Gb Seagate HD

Running Panther Great!

I was going to recommend the upgrade to 320... it helps a ton. I have an iMac 233 in my little boy's room for music and it runs great. He's 9 months old now! :-P

[Randman]

Why the partition?

[wataru]

My mom used to be running 10.3 on a rev B iMac and it really wasn't bad at all after we upped the RAM.

I'm surprised you found Ubuntu to be so slow. I tried out a live CD on my iBook and found it to be much, much faster than Panther.