You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Ways to install Mac OS X in iMac G3

Hi everyone. This is my situation: my iMac G3 (summer 2000 slot drive) has a broken Optical drive, so I can't install another operating system.

Is there another way to install OS X? Using an external firewire CD-ROM drive, USB flash.. I don't know.

I tried but it's impossible to repair the CD-ROM drive, and I need to install OS X. Also, I tried dismantle the iMac and connect a laptop DVD-Drive (using the 820-1050-A, interface converter CD-ROM slim to Apple 50-pin) and it didn't work either.

What can you recommend? It's impossible to find that drive here (Argentina).

Thanks.

MacBook White 13'' - Late 2007 - 2 GB Ram, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iMac G3 400 Mhz (using Mac OS 9)

Posted on Mar 14, 2011 9:17 AM

Reply
2 replies
Sort By: 

Mar 14, 2011 10:41 AM in response to nicolunacba

You may use an external firewire dvd drive. I "built" my external dvd drive from parts. Find an external 3 1/2 inch harddrive enclosure that is bootable. Take it apart & attach a 5 inch dvd drive. The connectors should be the same. It will not look great.


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.

What is firmware?
The firmware software receives control when you poweron your machine. It does some hardware testing and some hardware configuration then passes control to your version of Mac OS. It reside on a PROM ( program read only memory ) chip on the logic board.

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.

On my machine, I have 4.1.9f1.

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

For a slot loading iMac, this article indicates that you need to be running 9.1 or later version of Mac OS Classic.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130
"The iMac Firmware Update 4.1.9 will only run on iMac computers with lot-loading CD or DVD drives running Mac OS 9.1 or later from a local drive. If you are using Mac OS X you must boot from a local Mac OS 9.1 or later writeable partition (not a CD, or network disk) prior to following the update instructions."

You can download the Mac OS 9 updates from the Apple site.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1387?viewlocale=en_US

For tiger, you need 256meg of memory.

Mac OS X 10.4: System requirements
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514


There is no need to partition. You can save hard drive space by doing a custom install. Leave out the print drivers you do not need and the languages you do not need. Doing so you will need about three gigabytes of space.


outoforderorder explains how...
By the way, here it is how you find the terminal application.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

From: san francisco,ca
Registered: Apr 27, 2007

Re: Do the widgets drain system resources and power?
Posted: Apr 28, 2007 2:51 PM

I tend to think dashboard is neat, but not neccesary for my everyday workflow.

it is possible to enable and disable it as needed,
by entering the following commands into the terminal:

#To turn Dashboard off:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

#To turn Dashboard on:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO

#*You have to restart the Dock after making either change for it to take effect:
killall Dock

Bye Bye Dashbaord
http://www.kainjow.com/kermitsoft/downloads.html

Disable Spotlight, Bonjour and Dashboard:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8749558#8749558

If you have another PPC mac...

If you have a second Mac computer, you may want to try to copy over as many files you can. One way is to use target disk mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
http://lowendmac.com/misc/06/0710.html


Robert
Reply

Mar 26, 2011 9:05 PM in response to nicolunacba

Hi
Would you consider looking for a working second-hand drive on Ebay or the like?
They are relatively easy to replace and aren't that expensive.I would recommend a DVD-ROM as then you could load 10.4 (making sure your firmware is 4.9.1f,and that you use black retail discs,not grey one supplied with another computer)
Cheers Dave
Reply

Ways to install Mac OS X in iMac G3

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.