OS X Tiger on iMac G3 400

J

jokersson

Registered
I recently bought a working iMac G3 400 at a local auction, and it's running OS 9.2.2. Problem is the lack of advanced softwares for the OS, so I wanted to install OS X Tiger.

I just want to run through the proper steps with you guys:

1. Install Firmware 4.1.9 on the iMac 400.
2. Start the iMac in a target disk mode.
3. Run the OS X installer on a DVD-capable Mac, and reboot.
4. Connect the FireWire cable to link the two machines upon start up.
5. Reformat the iMac HDD to ? format (pls advise).
6. Install OS X on the iMac volume.

The iMac has 128MB RAM. Should I wait to upgrade the memory, or proceed with the installation now and upgrade the memory later?
 
I'd get OS X 10.3.9. Tiger won't run nicely on that machine _unless_ you install more than 512 MB of RAM. For 10.3.9 as well, I'd upgrade to 512 MB RAM.
 
Well, having more memory does seem reasonable, but I've gone ahead and attempted to installed Tiger via the target disk mode from my iBook.

1st try - installer detected the iMac as a mounted volume, but popped the error "cannot install mac os x on this volume" with a red exclamation mark. I rebooted.

2nd try - there's a yellow exclamation mark on the iMac target volume, meaning I have to reformat the HDD with Mac OS Extended format. Follows all the prompts, but in the end it said "Error - cannot unmount volume". Again I rebooted.

3rd try - This time there's a red exclamation mark on the iMac volume. Figured I can reformat using Disk Utility run from the CD. Did all the correct steps, but in the end it returned the same error - "cannot unmount volume".

So, after 3 tries and more than 2.5 hours of time spent, I'm back to square one. I'll try again tomorrow.
 
Latest update - tried again to install Tiger. This time I was successful in formatting the volume to Mac OS Extended, and proceeded with the installation. But again I got the unhelpful "There were errors with the installation. Please try again."

This happened 3 times.

Could it be because of the insufficient memory on the iMac (128MB)? The overall installation process of pretty much straight forward, so I'm in quite a bind now. Anyone can help me out?
 
Mac OS X Version 10.4 requires a Macintosh with:

PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
Built-in FireWire
At least 256MB of physical RAM
A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer
At least 3.0 GB of available space on your hard drive; 4GB of disk space if you install XCode 2 developer tools
DVD drive for installation (get CD media for $9.95)
Click to expand...

The minimum requirement is 256 MB RAM, so I would see about getting an extra 128 at least, having 512 total would be better, 1 gig would be amazing. If you can successfully install panther, then that would confirm that this is a RAM problem.
 
Thanks for the link. I've ordered mine (512MB Kingston) from a local Apple reseller last week, and waiting for the thing to arrive sometime this week. I needed something to do in the mean time, which was why I attempted the Tiger installation before. I hope the real installtion will go smoothly after I've upped the memory.
 
I've installed the extra memory, bringing the total to 640MB, which should be more than enough to install Tiger. Unfortunately it failed with an unspecified error. I'm now trying to install Panther instead, and even then my first try did not go well (it hanged midway). I'm starting to have some doubts on the machine's stability, but I'll give it a few more tries.
 
If you still have a copy of OS 9 or below (or whatever came with that iMac), you might need to perform a firmware upgrade in order to run OS X properly. The firmware has to be installed from within Mac OS 9 as it won't work through the Classic environment. Look for your iMac in the list below, download the firmware and install it. Hopefully that should resolve the issues with the OS X installation.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
 
Thanks for the tip, but I've already upgraded the firmware to 4.1.9 when I had OS 9.2.2 on it. Now the HDD has been formatted to OS Extended, so perhaps there's some problem elsewhere.

Short of sending it to the shops, I don't think there's anything more I can do, other than try and try again.
 
Still no dice. The iMac G3 hangs just 2 minutes from completion (running installer script) three times now. I've already repaired the disk and repairs permission via the Disk Utility, and the HDD checks out fine. I'm now thinking of removing the newly installed 512MB memory and try to run the Panther installer again on the original 128MB memory.

Anyone has any tips?
 
The iMac's running on its original memory of 128MB, but still it hangs while nearing the end of the Panther installation - "Processing Mac OS X" "running installer script". Anyone can help me out?
 
Aloha, I just joined and am trying to do the same thing....my new-old imac needed ram too. try www.newegg.com I just purchased 2 PC133 SDRAM chips 256Mb each, for only 24.99 a piece. And having experimented with this machine already, any PC100, PC133 (not sure about faster speeds) will work. Remember matched speeds are essential, IE:pC100 w/another PC100. On a MAC I don't think the size matching is as important on a PC. I have seen several people running wierd size combos.
 
sorry, previous post was prior to realizing that there were two pages to this thread. Today is your lucky day...LOL. I just had that same EXACT problem with ram that you are having. The original ram is PC100. More than likely the ram you got is a PC133. PC133 is backwards compatable with PC100, but they don't like to run together in an IMac for some reason. I bought a second stick of matched speed and have no problems yet....now to get tiger installed.
 
Well, turns out the problem wasn't with the RAM, because I bought another 256MB RAM taken from another original iMac G3. The issue could most probably be overheating, because the machine would hang after about 10-15 minutes of use, regardless of what apps are running on OS9. So far my efforts to install Tiger, Panther or even Ubuntu have been unsuccessful.
 
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