how do i upgrade my mac os x 10.3.9?

M

maire

Registered
Hi - any advice on the following greatfully appreciated:

I have a mac powerPC G4 with 256 MB. It has mac os x 10.3.9. I use it mainly for the internet and it has served me well for about four years. But now I cant use lots of internet sites properly because my browser needs to be updated and my computer keeps crashing. But when I tried to update my browser I found out that I need to be on a later version of OSX before I can update to safari 4.

I am pretty much a technophobe so have no idea what specifically I need to do - what version of OSX I need to get or how/where to get it/ how much it might cost/what process I need to follow.

If anybody can give me any advice that would be great.
Thanks!

Maire
 
Go to macsales.com and plug in your machine. It'll tell you which & how big you can update your RAM. Get as much as you can. RAM is very cheap right now. Also how to do it.

While you're at it, purchase a retail version of OS 10.4 (Tiger). IMHO, that is the most stable for your Mac.
 
If you want to buy ram and install tiger, and your processor doesnt meet the 867mhz requirement, type this into the open firmware

1. dev /cpus/PowerPC/G4@0 Press enter and ok will be displayed,
2. d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property
3. boot cd:,\\:tbxi

Push enter after each of the lines, i numbered them to make it a little bit easier.
I'd recommend having at least 1.5-2 gigs in your powermac if you want to run leopard on a slower processor, otherwise leopard will lag.
But if i were you, and my experience with leopard on an unsupported G4, just run Tiger, it will run much better.

But also Note: Make sure that you type that in with all of the space's and capitalization that ive put there, otherwise it wont work.

Good Luck.

Http://crucial.com also has a system scanner that will show you compatible ram upgrades.
 
Jesse714 said:
If you want to buy ram and install tiger, and your processor doesnt meet the 867mhz requirement, ...
Click to expand...
The 867 MHz (not mhz) requirement applies to Leopard (MacOS X 10.5), not Tiger (MacOS X 10.4). So long as the OP has sufficient RAM and free hard drive capacity, Maire's G4 will run Tiger just fine.
 
10.4 Tiger comes as a DVD. If your G4 doesn't have a DVD drive then you will not be able to install it.

I believe you can get Tiger in CD form. Might be worth ringing the Apple Store.
 
Im pretty sure that the Powermac's all have DVD drives, unless its the Yikes! version, im not too sure about those.. it should be though, and i thought you couldn't buy tiger from apple anymore, if you want tiger on CD's, it comes with 4 or 5, i'd look on ebay
 
Im pretty sure that the Powermac's all have DVD drives, unless its the Yikes! version, im not too sure about those.. it should be though, and i thought you couldn't buy tiger from apple anymore, if you want tiger on CD's, it comes with 4 or 5, i'd look on ebay
 
Jesse714 said:
Im pretty sure that the Powermac's all have DVD drives, unless its the Yikes! version, im not too sure about those.
Click to expand...
The PowerMac G4s were offered in many different configurations, and the earliest models were available with CD-ROM or CD-R/W drives.

You can check if a computer has a DVD-ROM drive by visiting the System Profiler application.
 
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