Am I missing something?

Hi,

My friend recently gave me a imac G3, he said he's not sure what's wrong with it. I've got quite a broad knowledge base but sadly its just PC's.

When it loads up I get passed the apple logo & loading animation I get a blank (gray) screen with a cursor on it which can be moved via the mouse... i've left it for a little while in the hope that icons will appear.

Am I missing something or is it likely to be a screwed up installation?


Hopefully that makes sense to someone out there?

p.s I don't have an install disc, i understand that different versions will cost different amounts but what's a rough price for OS X?

Cheers

Hello Cybrix & welcome to the forums

I'm afraid you're going to have to ask your friend for some extra information about the G3 like:

The Model, Sys Specs, Memory, OS version if any.

Also any clues whatsoever as to the lead up to this issue, what your friend may have done that could possibly have contributed to this issue.

If the G3 meets the specs for Firewire Target Disc Mode, then you could try that method as a means to access the internal HD of the G3 to see what's on there .... whether there is an OS installed etc.

If you had an external HD enclosure you could take out the internal drive of the G3 and put it in the ext casing, then connect it up to another Mac and check the drive out ... you would more than likely need an IDE drive enclosure ....

It's true that the different versions cost different amounts ... I picked up Panther Mac OS 10.3.9 on ebay for about 50 dollars or so ... whatever you buy, make sure it's not an upgrade version, but the Full Retail Version .... these discs are universal and are needed in this situation ... if you try to use an install disc from another mac that type of disc is usually only for the Mac it was released with and when placed into a different Mac, the disc looks for certain information and if not found it will tell you that you can't install Mac OS X onto that particular Mac .... these types of discs are usually grey for Mac OS X.

We would need the specs of the G3 to determine what Mac OS versions can be installed ...

Hope this helps you

Hey Spawn,

Thanks for the info :-) I'll ask my friend for more details when I see him next. The price of OS X seems very reasonable after forking out for windows for so long, I'm looking forward to get this running.

I've flipped the mac onto its roof, there's a sticker that states:

400Mhz/ 512K L2/ 64MB/ 10GB/ DVD/ 56.

Also got a 'my family number:m5521' number printed on it.

I'm pretty sure my friend said he'd upgraded the RAM on it, I pulled the sticks out there compaq but they don't state the size, and I haven't got a PC that's compaitble with them. So I'll ask him that to.

Am I right in thinking as long as I get a OS disc that will work with a G3 of the same spec I should be good? Stupid question but do macs use product keys? if so will a second hand version still be good for updates... like i said cluesless on the mac front...

Once again thanks for taking the time to reply.

Oh one last thing will any usb keyboard and mouse work with the mac?

Mac OS comes with a license either a Single user or Family license ... the single user allows the installation of the OS onto 1 computer and the family obviously allows the installation to take place over the family computers, there is a limit to the amount of computers that you can install the OS on at the one time, I can't think of it at the moment but you'd find it on the main Apple website.

Regarding product keys ... when you buy a Mac from Apple it comes with the install media and you need these disc/s to restore your OS in the event of a major issue ... these discs have something on them, hidden, that searches your Mac for something that will allow it to continue with the installation ... if it doesn't find that certain info, it will tell you that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer".

So, this is why these type of discs can't be used to install Mac OS X (or pre-X) on a computer other than the Mac they were originally released with. These discs are identifiable by their label ... for Mac OS X it's a grey label and I'm not sure about the pre Mac OS X label colour .... but in your case you need the "Full Retail Version" of Mac OS X which has a black label with a white X on it. This type of install is Universal and allows the OS to be installed on a Mac that meets the System Requirements ... there is also a type of Universal install called "Upgrade" which requires your Mac to already have a certain version of Mac OS to be already installed before you can use them.

You need to be very careful that you don't buy this type of install media as they won't work unless you already have the required OS version ... like to upgrade to Mac OS x.x.x you must have Mac OS x.x.x already installed on your Mac ....



There's no harm in trying whichever USB keyboard/mouse you have to see if they are recognised ... that's the quickest way to find out

Once again thanks for the reply I'll ask my friend what type of version he used on it just to make sure I buy something compatible.

I guess the black disc version is going to be the safest especially the with the current install how it is.

One last quick question (hopefully) I'm pretty sure he'll remember what version it was but if not is there anyway of telling which version will work on it?

Hi

Here's the iMac G3 Line-up:




Can you identify the culprit from this motley crue?

If you can, we should be able to work out something ...

From the line up I think its number 6 can you get him to say a few words....

Sorry just had to.

Well its pink... not my cup of tea but my GF should enjoy, and it'll give me a chance to see how these puppies work.

Thanks once again your a big help

Hello Mac Peeps I've been mad busy with lots of other stuff, but now i'm back on the case...

Can anyone help me out, on which version I need for it. I've made room on the desk and got my keyboard and mouse just no OS for it

Thanks in advance

You could run classic OS 9.2.1 /2 w/o problems. It's not OSX, so you'll have certain limitations in regards to flash, browsers etc. but the basics are there. I see free OS9.2 discs floating around on freecycle & craigslist occasionally so assuming you can find one, it won't cost you anything beyond your time.

good luck. :smile:

Initially you wrote that this Mac was given to you and that it had "issues" and whether or not there is any OS installed was unknown.

Is this still where we're at? I re-read through this whole thread and I can't see that these basic issues had been resolved so I have no other option but to presume they are still relevant.

If you found a Full Retail Version of OS 9 (Not an Upgrade Version) then you could attempt to erase & partition the hard drive and install OS 9 with your fingers crossed.

Your Mac can take Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) and even possibly Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) but it would require the iMac Firmware Update 4.1.9 before installing Mac OS X.

This is why it's important to know if there is an OS already installed because if Mac OS X has already been installed then the required Firmware Update has then been applied which would mean that you could go for either Panther or Tiger.

It depends on what you plan to use the iMac for, I guess .... OS 9 would be fine for word processing and some web browsing / email, bearing in mind that OS 9 couldn't handle some modern Flash content or sites like eBay ...