iMac G3 hard drive issue

we need a litle bit more information actually. Does the amchine have a slot loading CD drive (where you feed the CD into it) or a tray loading one (where a tray pops out to put the CD on)

If its a tray loader that was previously running 9.2, you should have the latest firmware already. In that case, there are a couple of potential issues. First, make sure all the cables are properly attached. Make sure the jumpers on the drive are set to master. Also, if the drive is larger than 8 gigs, it would need to be formated and partitioned so the first partition is less than 8 gigs so you can install the OS there.

A slot loader doesn't have that 8 gig first partition limit, so in that case, its probably a cable or jumper issue.

However, you have to be sure you had firmware update 4.1.9 on there before updating a slot loader to OS X. This can only be done by reinstalling OS 9.

Also, make sure the drive is formatted to mac os extended (hfs+).

...but someone on another forum suggested that I might need the firmware update before I could install OSX (i think it was running 9 before). Seeing as how it won't even see the hard drive, there's no OS to even install a firmware update. Any thoughts?

Yes you need to ensure that the firmware is updated. But having old firmware won't cause the hard drive not to be recognized.

Have you tried connecting the original hard drive to another Mac and see if the drive is OK?

Since Windows can't read the Mac HFS+ format, your Dell won't help.

To connect it to another Mac you could put it in an external FireWire (preferred) or USB enclosure.

I'd advise booting with the old hard drive installed from an OS9 Setup disc or the original "iMac install"/"iMac restore" disc, quitting Setup/Restore and running Drive Setup from the Utilities folder on the CD. Hopefully you'll see a disk on ATA at 0 0 0 and you'll be able to initialize (format) it.

I misread. Since you've been able to boot the OSX installer disc, boot from the it and run Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (Utilities menu in 10.4) If a hard drive shows up in the left pane along with your optical drive/media, then your hard drive is being recognized by the machine, it's just not showing up in the installers because the drive hasn't been partitioned for your mac or in the case of the old drive the partitions may be damaged.

Select the drive, and go to the Partition tab and choose the 1 Partition scheme. Select the "Install OS9 Drivers" option if available. Click Partition. Once that's done, quit Disk Utility and Installer.. Boot from an OS9 install CD and install OS9 to the drive to update the firmware to 4.19 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130 and then install OSX if that's what you want to run. I'd recommend erasing the disk in installation if you don't need OS9 as it will save disk space.

I have the same problem but I think the hard drive failed. Is there a posting dealing with the actual removal of a hard drive on a slot loading iMac. I have no idea how to do it.

Go to www.macworld.com/2001/10/bc/howtoimac/ and scroll down to the section on slot loading iMacs.

" ...I took it, bought a new hard drive and installed it. It won't even recognize the new one. I'm starting it up with an OSX install disc and it starts the installer but when it gets to "Select a Destination" it only lists the CD as a destination. I'm assuming this is an issue with the cables, but someone on another forum suggested that I might need the firmware update before I could install OSX (i think it was running 9 before)...I don't think it has to do with the settings on the hard drive or the format because his original drive stopped working first. I assumed that this meant that the drive was bad so then I bought a new one. Since it won't recognize the new one either, I'm assuming that it's a cable issue."

Similar symptoms can have different underlying causes. I doubt that the cabling has anything to do with the drive not being recognized by the OS X installer. You haven't indicated whether you ever ran "Disk Utility," to format the drive as a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volume (the Mac equivalent of FAT-32). From the factory, the drive isn't formatted for use as a Mac startup volume, so you must use the appropriate formatting utility ("Drive Setup" for pre-OS X and "Disk Utility" for OS X). The drive must be jumpered as master, so you need to verify that it isn't factory-jumpered for cable select, which isn't supported in the iMac.