DVD on slot loading?

Question

Level 1

6 points

DVD on slot loading?

I'm working on an IMac for a friend...it's one of those Blueberry or Indigo IMacs. All I know is that it's a 500Mhz. with 192MB RAM and a 20GB HD and it's a slot-loader running 10.0.3. I'd like to instll Tiger on it but I don't think this thing has a DVD drive in it and don't know how to check. Is there a source on the Apple site that gives descriptions of all the Macs ever made so I can get the specs on this thing? The "About this Mac" on this OS really tells me nothing I need to know.

Dual 1.4Ghz. Fastmac processor (revision B) Gigabit ethernet G4 dual boot, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 1.25gig RAM with dual monitor setup, Pionerr DVD-RW, Digi 002R/Pro Tools 6.9

Posted on Jul 16, 2008 6:09 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,893 points

Jul 16, 2008 6:15 PM in response to Gothboy

That computer probably doesn't have a DVD drive; click here for more information.

(33774)

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Answer 2

rccharles

Level 6

12,957 points

Jul 16, 2008 8:39 PM in response to Gothboy

OK here are some more comparison charts:
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/05/0202.html
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58669

Bringing G3 iMacs and Other G3 Macs into the Tiger Age
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/md07/1207.html

There are some CD versions of tiger, but they are hard to find. You could buy an external DVD drive. It needs to be firewire and bootable by Mac OS. If you have another PPC with firewire, you could try target Disk mode and installed tiger that way.

You need to figure out the level of your firmware before installing 10.2 or greater. ( The PC name for firmware is BIOS. ) Installing 10.2 with a down level firmware will most likely make your iMac unusable and difficult to fix.

Figuring out what level of firmware you have?
1) Mac OS 9.x or 8.x, you need to use the Apple System Profiler.
Apple -> Apple System Profiler

2) Mac OS X, use the System Profiler.
Apple -> About This Mac
click on the More Info... tab
click on Hardware
read the Boot ROM Version

3) Open Firmware, boot into Open Firmware.
Power on your iMac while holding down command option+of
The first output line contains the firmware level. Mine reads:
Apple PowerMac4,1 4.1.9f1 BootRom built on 09/14/01 at 13.18.04
Copyright 1994-2001 Apple Computer Inc.

Some machine may not contain the firmware level but some other number which can be translated to the firmware level.

On my machine, I have 4.1.9f1.

What firmware do you need?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117

For tiger, you need 256meg of memory. For panther, you need 128 meg of memory.

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Answer 3

omaandopa

Level 2

485 points

Jul 17, 2008 1:29 AM in response to Gothboy

Hi Gothboy,

All you need to do to see if your iMac has an DVD Drive is to go click on the Blue Apple in the top left hand corner select "About this Mac" , Then select "More Info",which opens the System Profiler, then select ATA under Hardware and you'll be able to check and see if your computer has a CD or a DVD.

If it is a CD you'll be able to pick a DVD up from eBay sometimes for less then 10 dollars.

To swap the drives is only 15 minutes work and all the info to do it is available on the internet.

Cheers

Adrian Vogel.

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Answer 4

Gothboy Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 17, 2008 5:51 AM in response to omaandopa

Thanks for the help on this one guys! It's presenting quite a challenge as it's been awhile since I poked around my now deceased Bondi. Here's what I've found out:

This IMac has a CD-RW drive not a DVD. Last night I just decided to stick a DVD disk in the thing and it spat it out so that was a pretty good indication, and then this morning it booted into OS 9.1 and the system profiler confirmed this for me.

She's got both OS 9.1 and OSX 10.0.3 build 4P13 on the HD side by side, no partition. Did the machine ship this way back then?

The boot ROM version is 4.13f2 and in this way early version of OSX is found under Apple system profiler>system profile>production info. So I checked out the list of firmware downloads for this model and they seem to all be for OS 9.1. If I want to install Panther or Tiger do I want 4.1.9?

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Answer 5

Niel

Level 10

726,893 points

Jul 17, 2008 8:45 AM in response to Gothboy

She's got both OS 9.1 and OSX 10.0.3 build 4P13 on the HD side by side, no partition. Did the machine ship this way back then?

Yes.

If I want to install Panther or Tiger do I want 4.1.9?

Yes. No firmware update can be installed from Mac OS X on that Mac model.

(33811)

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Answer 6

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,690 points

Jul 17, 2008 10:36 AM in response to Gothboy

Here is an outside article on some options for getting Tiger on a DVD-challenged machine:

http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2005/05/thecats_mustachesinstalling.html

And remember NOT to remove that OS9 system from the drive; as Niel points out, you WILL need It to upgrade the firmware.

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Answer 7

Gothboy Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 18, 2008 8:29 AM in response to Allan Jones

I just installed the 4.1.9 firmware and now I'm upgrading the OS 9 to 9.2.2. I'm going to use target Disk mode from my G4 PPC to do the OSX upgrade. If I install OSX Tiger will it wipe out the OS9.2.2 from the drive or will it just upgrade the OSX that's on there already?

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Answer 8

Niel

Level 10

726,893 points

Jul 18, 2008 9:08 AM in response to Gothboy

If I install OSX Tiger will it wipe out the OS9.2.2 from the drive

Only if you perform an Erase & Install.

(33862)

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Answer 9

Gothboy Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 18, 2008 10:03 AM in response to Niel

Thanks! A slight diversion here: I'm trying to use the ethernet connection on this IMac to connect to the internet via my broadband modem but can't get online because the Explorer keeps trying to dial the PPP she has set up. Usually my PPC just imediately connects when I hook it up. How do I get the machine to use the ethernet and not a dial up connection?

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