imac g3 266 tangerine issues

[Techtarded]

I got that stupid ? folder thing on my screen and thats all it will do. I have lost my system disks and I have no money to get a new one. I also do not have the original keyboard, and i'm not positive if the cd is working or not. I try to do key commands but it doesn't work can any one help me?

 

[DeltaMac]

The flashing ? means that your Mac cannot find a bootable system on your hard drive.
It can mean that there's some file in the startup software that is corrupted, or missing.
You will need your system reinstall disk or disks to fix this.
The flashing ? can also mean that your hard drive is failing (and very slow to get 'picked up' by the computer during boot), or simply means that the hard drive has already failed.
You will need either your Mac OS installer disk, or some other repair disk. If you have been using OS 9, then you might even have a Norton System Tools disk, or a Tech Tools disk of some kind. Anything that you can boot with, should also be able to help you decide if the hard drive can be fixed. You may find out the nothing will see your hard drive (because it's completely dead)
If the drive is original - 12 years is a long time to expect a hard drive to work.

So - bottom line - you need some kind of boot up disk for your iMac. Anything with OS 9 should work fine.
Do you know _anyone_ else with an older Mac who might be able to help you?

But - if you think that your CD drive is not working - that will make everything more difficult.
Find an old OS 9 CD someplace. Try to boot to that CD. As always, boot to a CD by inserting that disk in the drive. Restart while holding the letter C on the keyboard.

 

[Techtarded]

Is there anywhere i can download and create a cd? I am the only person i know with a mac of any kind. I opened up the computer and it was super dirty and i cleaned it out the hard drive is new. if the hard drive has failed what can i do?

 

[DeltaMac]

If you replaced the hard drive, then that new hard drive needs to be formatted, and the system needs to be installed. A new hard drive does not come with a system already installed.
Here's what I do with old iMacs that need the hard drive replaced:
New hard drive in an external case.
Connect that to another Mac through Firewire - you can't do this external install on your old iMac, as you have no FireWire, and the USB is too, too slow - and you need a working CD drive for that to happen anyway.
Continuing on, you would install OS 9 (or OS X including 10.4 at the highest - you'll need enough RAM to make that work) on that hard drive. When the install is complete, move the hard drive back into your old iMac.
I can't think of any other methods to get a system on your iMac, when none is installed now. If your CD drive is not working, then you are "between a rock and a hard place"