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thinkapex

Q: Powerbook G3 was running beautifully until I ran Software Update

I just picked up my first Mac laptop, a slightly abused but still functional 300mhz PowerBook G3. It had OS 9.2 and 10.4.1 installed on it. When I got it home and on the network, I ran Software Update. It downloaded several things including Java updates and at least one security update. I rebooted as requested after the install, and the usual OS X boot screen with spinning wheel came up and stayed there for at least 5 minutes. I forced a reset, and then it attempted to boot into OC 9.2, only to give the error message "Illegal Instruction". Rebooting with extensions disabled got me to the beginnings of the finder, but it locked up there. Zapped the PRAM several times to no avail. Any ideas? Thanks!

Powerbook G3 300mhz, Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 10:48 PM

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Q: Powerbook G3 was running beautifully until I ran Software Update

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  • by jpl,

    jpl jpl Jul 23, 2008 10:26 AM in response to thinkapex
    Level 7 (28,285 points)
    Jul 23, 2008 10:26 AM in response to thinkapex
    thinkapex,

    Welcome to the Discussions.

    If you have a 300MHz black G3 powerbook, you probably have the Powerbook G3 Series M4753 "Wallstreet" that has neither USB nor FireWire ports. Would you please verify this?
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24604

    If this is the case, the Wallstreet can natively run up to OSX 10.2.8; in order to run 10.3.x or 10.4.x, you also require a third-party utility called XPostFacto. The Wallstreet can also exhibit odd behavior and have some difficulties when running the unsupported OSes.

    Do you have any CDs with either 9.x or 10.x? If not, it will be difficult troubleshooting the problem.

    Since you have reset the PRAM, try this: Restart while pressing the 'command(Apple)-X' keys and see if you can force OSX to boot. If you see the gray screen with the big Apple logo, immediately press the shift key so OSX will boot in Safe Mode (if you do not press the shift key quickly enough, you will not get the Safe Boot). If you have the Wallstreet and can get OSX to try booting, allow the spinning beachball to run for up to 10 minutes; the Wallstreet can be very slow to restart after an update.
  • by Niteshooter,

    Niteshooter Niteshooter Jul 23, 2008 6:46 PM in response to thinkapex
    Level 2 (454 points)
    Jul 23, 2008 6:46 PM in response to thinkapex
    In addition to what JPL wrote, I recall one particular update package that would lock up some of our Macs, in that particular case we found it best to download only the package which is found under the Update menu. Then run the update package from where it was saved.

    It also seems to me that some updates will take a long time to install so you may have corrupted something by not waiting long enough and forcing a reset.

    But as JPL mentions you are probably running XPostfacto in order to run 10.4 so that could be where things have gone haywire....

    Kevin
  • by thinkapex,

    thinkapex thinkapex Jul 23, 2008 10:39 PM in response to thinkapex
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 23, 2008 10:39 PM in response to thinkapex
    Thanks to all for the helpful advice. Looks like a fresh install of 10.2 will cure the problem.