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White Imac G3 Frozen at Startup

Hi, I recently bought a white imac G3 from our local school. It is running os 9 and osx 10.2, and we didn't get any install disks. It loads (osx 10.2) and appears to begin booting (it shows the gray apple and it has the spinning loading icon) but up in the top, left hand corner it says "no admin password" in white text with a black background. It is two lines on on top of another. Then when it appears to be done booting it freezes up and stays locked up. What can I do to make it boot completely?
Thanks

Imac G5 Aluminum, Mac OS X (10.5.8), White Imac G3 OS (9.2.2) Emac G4 700MHz Ipod Touch 8 GB

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 9:32 AM

Best reply

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 9:57 AM

What can I do to make it boot completely?

You need to get install disks. I suggest that you get the _Full Retail Version_ of Panther or Tiger. When you have it I would suggest completely reformatting and erasing (post back for step by step directions if desired), then installing the OS.

😉 cornelius

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29 replies

Sep 27, 2009 4:59 PM in response to cornelius

I will try to get some.

Sep 29, 2009 5:07 PM in response to cornelius

Also, are these going to work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140348394552

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Mac-OS-9-Apple-Works-5-Claris-Homepage-3W0QQitemZ300350685098QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Software?hash=item45ee4bbfaa&trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://store.fastmac.com/productinfo.php?productsid=105

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Sep 29, 2009 5:24 PM in response to corrytonapple

corrytonapple:

Also, are these going to work?

I don't know for sure which is the Full Retail Version, if any of them are. I would go with FastMac since the say it is compatible with All Mac G3s and G4s. If it does not work out you can get back to them. With eBay it all depends on the kind of seller you get, and, therefore a bit risky. If you are interested in any of the others, ask the seller whether it is the Full Retail Version and whether you can return it if it does not work.

😉 cornelius

Message was edited by: cornelius

Oct 4, 2009 2:56 PM in response to cornelius

I will keep looking! Is there a terminal code I could use? Could I hide OSX without booting? Is there anything like Toast but cheaper Are there no keyboard shortcuts that block OSX? Could I uninstall OSX without getting into OS 9 or OSX? I have also reseted the PRAM.
Thanks

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Oct 9, 2009 6:06 PM in response to corrytonapple

I am not sure what you want to do, so it hard to respond to your questions.

Is there a terminal code I could use?

For what?

Could I hide OSX without booting?

You mean with your computer turned off?

Is there anything like Toast but cheaper

Again, what do you wish to do? You can use Disk Utility or iTunes to burn disks. There utilities like Simply Burn and Burn that will burn CDs and DVDs but they require OS X.

Are there no keyboard shortcuts that block OSX?

Again, block OS X and do what? Do you have OS 9 installed and wish to boot into OS 9? If so, boot into OS X, then go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Startup Disk and select OS 9 and reboot. Anytime your boot your computer after that it will boot into OS 9. However, you must have OS 9 installed.

Could I uninstall OSX without getting into OS 9 or OSX?

Yes. You can boot from the install disk, either OS X or OS 9, then completely erase and reformat the HDD. That will get rid of everything.

If you clarify what you wish to do, we can likely respond so that we might better help get you where you want to go.

😉 cornelius

Message was edited by: cornelius

ali brown

Level 7

26,493 points

Oct 10, 2009 10:43 AM in response to corrytonapple

corrytonapple,

The best advice is in cornelius' Reply Here.

The image below shows the location of the Serial #

Once you have that, enter it in the text field for "Search Tech Specs' On This Page.

Post the iMac specs here.

ali b

Oct 11, 2009 8:54 AM in response to cornelius

Sorry for not being clear on everything. I just want to get back to OS 9.

cornelius wrote:

Is there a terminal code I could use?

For what?

To boot to OS 9 or hide OS X 10.2.

Could I hide OS X without booting?

You mean with your computer turned off?

No, I mean make OS X 10.2 temporally go away so the computer only sees one OS.

Is there anything like Toast but cheaper?

Again, what do you wish to do? You can use Disk Utility or iTunes to burn disks. There utilities like Simply Burn and Burn that will burn CDs and DVDs but they require OS X.

I mean to burn a bootable disc.

Are there no keyboard shortcuts that block OSX?

Again, block OS X and do what? Do you have OS 9 installed and wish to boot into OS 9? If so, boot into OS X, then go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Startup Disk and select OS 9 and reboot. Anytime your boot your computer after that it will boot into OS 9. However, you must have OS 9 installed.

I can't get it to boot to OS X. Yes, I want to get to OS 9 and have OS 9 installed.

Could I uninstall OS X without getting into OS 9 or OS X?

Yes. You can boot from the install disk, either OS X or OS 9, then completely erase and reformat the HDD. That will get rid of everything.

I don't have any install discs.

Message was edited by: corrytonapple

Oct 11, 2009 9:27 AM in response to ali brown

Here are the specs. Also correction to the above post: I have OS 9 Installed right now.
iMac
Order no.:M8546LL/A-Snow
Processor: 600-MHz PowerPC G3
Level 2 cache: 256K at 600 MHz
Memory: (PC100 SDRAM) 128MB
Hard disk drive: 40GB Ultra ATA
Optical drive: CD-RW
Graphics support: ATI RAGE 128 Ultra with 16MB SDRAM
FireWire: Two ports
USB: Two ports (12 Mbps each)
VGA video mirroring: Yes
Fax modem: 56K V.90
Ethernet: 10/100BASE-T
Wireless networking: AirPort ready

Message was edited by: corrytonapple

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Oct 11, 2009 5:49 PM in response to corrytonapple

corrytonapple:

If OS 9 is installed on your HDD here are the options:
• If OS 9 is ins talled on a separate partition from OS X you can boot holding down the Option key, then select OS 9 as startup disk.
• If you are able to boot into OS X you can go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Startup Disk, select OS 9 and restart.
• If you are able to boot from an install disk you can go to the Installer menu and select OS 9 as startup.
If you do not have OS 9 installed, you will need to get an OS 9 Retail Version and install from disk to be able to has OS 9 on the disk, but I think we have discussed this earlier in the thread.

😉 cornelius

Oct 12, 2009 9:09 AM in response to cornelius

I will buy a OS 9 disc, partition the hard drive, and remember that if I put a second OS on the computer I should create a separate partition for it. Also I will be hooking up the broken computer to the another white imac and use firewire target disc mode to compare system folders and look for damage.

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Oct 12, 2009 7:55 PM in response to corrytonapple

I will be hooking up the broken computer to the another white imac and use firewire target disc mode to compare system folders and look for damage.

If you are able to do this, and if both computers have the same version of OS X installed, launch Disk Utility on the host, select the Target computer and run Repair Disk on it. That may be able to sort our any directory issues and get it to start. It will, at least, give you an idea of what is wrong. Let us know how it goes.

Getting the OS 9 disk and installing on a separate partition should enable you to Option boot into either OS 9 or OS X.

😉 cornelius

Oct 13, 2009 12:44 PM in response to cornelius

Thanks for the info. Currently, if you boot with the option key held down, it only shows the last picked OS. I'll post once the cable is bought and I have tried hooking them up.

Nov 25, 2009 12:20 PM in response to corrytonapple

Here we are a month and a half later and it's fixed. My solution is in my other thread. Thanks to all who helped.

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Nov 25, 2009 5:50 PM in response to corrytonapple

corrytonapple:

Thanks for posting back with an update. I'll check out your other thread.

😉 cornelius

White Imac G3 Frozen at Startup