Imac operating system

T

TheRev13

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I recently purchased an Imac G3 (model M4984). When I switch it on I am presented with a small file/smiling face icon on the screen and nothing else. I have no experience of macs. Is the machine missing an operating system? If so which one do I use?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
Did the Mac that you bought not come with an installation disc? If that is the case, you can probably buy one of the earlier releases (OS X 10.3 Panther, for example) of the Mac OS. Check out eBay. You are looking for a retail copy of the operating system, not a copy that came packaged with a Mac, if possible, since the discs that come with the machines are tied to the models with which they come. Now, if someone has your model, and will sell you the disc, that should be fine, but getting a retail copy removes any risk.

I suggested an earlier version, because I assume that Panther will run a little faster on his model, but someone else, with more experience with G3s, can suggest buying OS X 10.4 Tiger, if they feel it will run just as well as, or faster than, Panther.
 
It could be that there is no OS, or it could be that the hard drive is broken. You'd probably be ok getting OS 9.1-10.3 to install.
 
um, if there is a smiling face, then it has found the os. but if it doesn't get past that, then the os install is bad, or the hard drive is bad. if you get a flashing question mark, then it can't find the os, or the drive is bad. what excatly does the mac do step by step when you turn it on. remember, it may take it awhile to get to the desktop. it doesn't hurt it to get up and leave after 10min if it doesn't seem to be doing anything. and if there is no change after 30min, then you will have to reinstall the os, or/and get a new hard drive.
 
Try booting in Safe/Root Mode to perform a disk repair; maybe it will reboot after that:

restart and hold command + S till black screen with white text appears/type fsck -f/type reboot when process is finished.

Let us know what happens.
 
I tried to restart and hold command + S till black screen with white text appears but keyboard is dead. I have tested keyboard on another machine and it works.

Any ideas?
 
Can you boot up with your install disc (Use Disc 1) and see if your hard drive shows up? Hold mouse down on restart to open tray. Insert disc.

Your other option is to boot in safe mode, hold down shift key till restart happens. Basically turns off everything but your system required files (kind of like booting up with no extra extensions was in OS 9).
 
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