Power Mac G4 Upgrade for Mac Newb

[Rollnrock]

Hello,

Totally new to Mac computing. Inherited a G4 running OS 9 and want to upgrade to OS X. Checked for firmware upgrade packages. Hard to find. Only one I did find says install engine not compatible with my Mac.

Specs:

Product Family: Z03W
Serial#: XB1331QEKSD
Power Mac G4
867 MHz/128GB/40GB HD/CDRW/NV11/MDM BD
Gigabit/Mac OS 9 / Mac OS X
Model: M8493

Checked official Mac site for support but the machine doesn't seem to have any active support any longer and the archives have no live links to firmware of any kind.

Trying to upgrade as a gift for a needy family's child.

Can anyone help?

Thanks so much in advance?

Rollnrock

 

[Cory Cooper]

You are correct, that Mac is no longer supported by Apple. It was discontinued in 2002.

-The latest version of Mac OS X that it can run is 10.5.8 Leopard.
-I don't remember any specific firmware updates for that model, so it should be OK as is.
-Strange that it only has a CD-RW drive - that model should have come with a DVD-R SuperDrive.
-Does it have the optional AirPort Wi-Fi card? If not, they are sometimes hard to find and can be very expensive.

Your best bet would be to try and find a copy of the retail (black with purple) Leopard install DVD. You'll need a SuperDrive though to install it. You can find copies of that disc on eBay, as well as at many local Apple User Group meetings.

Unfortunately, due to the age of the Mac and OS X Leopard, and the fact that it is a PPC processor and not an Intel, more and more websites and software will not be compatible.

Hope that helps a little,

C

 

[Rollnrock]

Hi Cory,

Yes, a little. Is there a way to print an output of the recognized hardware currently installed in the box?

I don't know how to physically identify the CDRW (?), other than opening up the box and maybe removing the drive if necessary, but that's what was on the sku sticker on the box. Maybe it is a DVD-R.

It does not have an air card.

The discs that it came with are OS X 10.3 Panther, black only with a big white X on the face.

The upgrade I did try seems to complete fine but the machine locked up shortly after the reboot.

I'll see if I can find the upgrade discs you mentioned.

If anything else I've mentioned here brings to mind any ideas would you please share them with me Cory?

Thanks Very Much!

Rocky






QUOTE="Cory Cooper, post: 1535334, member: 3"]You are correct, that Mac is no longer supported by Apple. It was discontinued in 2002.

-The latest version of Mac OS X that it can run is 10.5.8 Leopard.
-I don't remember any specific firmware updates for that model, so it should be OK as is.
-Strange that it only has a CD-RW drive - that model should have come with a DVD-R SuperDrive.
-Does it have the optional AirPort Wi-Fi card? If not, they are sometimes hard to find and can be very expensive.

Your best bet would be to try and find a copy of the retail (black with purple) Leopard install DVD. You'll need a SuperDrive though to install it. You can find copies of that disc on eBay, as well as at many local Apple User Group meetings.

Unfortunately, due to the age of the Mac and OS X Leopard, and the fact that it is a PPC processor and not an Intel, more and more websites and software will not be compatible.

Hope that helps a little,

C[/QUOTE]

 

[Cory Cooper]

Optical Drive
You can identify the optical drive model as follows:
-Click the Apple icon in upper left of the screen
-Choose About This Mac
-Click the More Info... button
-In System Profiler, click on ATA
-It should then list the make/model of the hard drive and the optical drive. Let us know what it says.

Panther install
-Did you do an erase and install or is Mac OS 9 still installed?
-Can you get past the lockup at startup? If not, try holding the Shift key down until you see the Apple logo to startup in Safe Mode. You can then run Software Update via Ethernet...maybe it's a OS X version issue.

Leopard Install DVD
-You will need the SuperDrive DVD drive to install Leopard

C

 

[Rollnrock]

Optical Drive
You can identify the optical drive model as follows:
-Click the Apple icon in upper left of the screen
-Choose About This Mac
-Click the More Info... button
-In System Profiler, click on ATA
-It should then list the make/model of the hard drive and the optical drive. Let us know what it says.

Panther install
-Did you do an erase and install or is Mac OS 9 still installed?
-Can you get past the lockup at startup? If not, try holding the Shift key down until you see the Apple logo to startup in Safe Mode. You can then run Software Update via Ethernet...maybe it's a OS X version issue.

Leopard Install DVD
-You will need the SuperDrive DVD drive to install Leopard

C

Hi Cory,

Thanks for the info! I got all the details as you indicated. The Super Drive is in fact installed in the box. So I decided to just push on. It's been over a month since I last attempted to do the upgrade but I think I tried installing Panther - not Leopard.

I did a clean install of Leopard this time around and it looks great! It completed very quickly and I've had the machine up and running, rebooted and in and out of hibernation for several hours at this point - all with no lockups or hangs.

I'm going to run the machine for a week or so to see how it responds. In the meantime, I'll do some poking around to look for an Air Card.

All said, so far it looks like the machine will be on it's way to a needy youngster in my community.

If you've got any specific advice on anything about the Air Card for this particular model Mac - something specific I should be paying attention to - please advise me at your convenience.

In the meantime, thank you so very much for helping me out with this little project. You saved me a whole bunch of time.

Best Regards,

Rocky

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...glad it's all setup and running.

You need an original Apple AirPort 802.11b card for that G4 QuickSilver.

Apple Original 802.11b Wireless Airport Card

There are also third party solutions...I will forward later.

C

 

[mamlukman]

Hello,

Totally new to Mac computing. Inherited a G4 running OS 9 and want to upgrade to OS X. Checked for firmware upgrade packages. Hard to find. Only one I did find says install engine not compatible with my Mac.

Specs:

Product Family: Z03W
Serial#: XB1331QEKSD
Power Mac G4
867 MHz/128GB/40GB HD/CDRW/NV11/MDM BD
Gigabit/Mac OS 9 / Mac OS X
Model: M8493

Checked official Mac site for support but the machine doesn't seem to have any active support any longer and the archives have no live links to firmware of any kind.

Trying to upgrade as a gift for a needy family's child.

Can anyone help?

Thanks so much in advance?

Rollnrock

I own two identical 867 mirrored drive doors Macs. The system you installed will work fine, and you can also toggle to system 9 to use pre-system X software. The downside is that because you can't update your system, you can't update any web browsers--Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc.-- and certain web sites simply won't work (mostly banks, etc. as far as I know) with the older browsers. I went off and bought a 2012 Mac last year to solve the problem, but I still use the 867 as a backup computer and do run software that doesn't run under system X. As long as you've got software that runs on it, it's just fine. I should add that a lot of older software is available on eBay. You can also buy older software--and books about it--at library sales. Craigslist is also a good bet. Just because something is from 2002 doesn't mean you can't use it!