Q: I have a imac g3
I have a imac g3 tray loading. It has no operating system and when it boots up it shows a folder with a mac face and question mark? What is the highest level operating system I can buy for it?
Posted on Jun 14, 2012 9:03 PM
With only 32mb of RAM, it will not run Mac OS X. I think it originally came with Mac OS 8.1 (or 8.5). It can run Mac OS 9 (barely) if you set virtual memory to something like 64mb. The latest version of Mac OS 9 is 9.2.2, which it can run.
You'll need to find a Mac OS 9 installation disc. Any version (including the initial "9 dot nothing" release) will work, but if possible, find one that is 9.2.1 or 9.1. And it should be a retail full-installation disc (white with a big orange 9), which was sold separately in a box, NOT a disc that came with a particular Mac model.
Any version of Mac OS 9 can be updated to 9.2.2. Unfortunately, the Apple web page with the updates
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1387
does not currently link to the actual downloads (it's been that way for a while). That's why I recommended 9.1 or 9.2.1, because those were solid versions (even if you don't update it further). You may be able to find the update downloads elsewhere.
Alternately, if you are "just looking to have the operating system running," you can look for a Mac OS 8.5 installation disc. Once 8.5 is installed, you can update it to 8.6 using this download (which seems to be working unlike the updates for Mac OS 9). 8.6 was a solid version.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1259
Plus, Mac OS 8.6 would be better with only 32mb of RAM.
Posted on Jun 14, 2012 11:22 PM