Restore iBook 700 mhz?

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Level 1

45 points

Restore iBook 700 mhz?

I have a completely dead G3 iBook. 12 inch Dual USB 700 MHZ With Fire Wire, and it is White. It looks almost identical to the White 1.33 ghz iBook G4 I have. (if this helps you figure out which dead G3 iBook I am talking about)

I got it on ebay for the purpose of Mac OS 9.2.2 as the primary OS and I want to boot from that OS.

The listing said that it has Mac OS 9 on it.

When I started it, it had OS X Tiger "Welcome and Setup" with no Mac OS 9 at all. ⚠

I was familiar with the Copy The Mac OS 9 System Folder(s) but I must have done that wrong. The next thing that happened was the Blinking Question Mark Of Death. 😠

BEFORE YOU READ MORE, you might want to know my question, which is: I need a Mac OS 9 Install CD. But these are getting impossible to find, so I want to expand my search. Can I include Restore CDs that have Mac OS 9 on them? What if they are for example Power Mac G4? I have seen compatibility charts with these Restore Discs, AND I know it is not recommended, but I have purchased a Tiger Restore DVD for a G4, and the listing said it is compatible with ETC. including a Blue & White G3, a imac G3 Slot, which installed successfully. The iMac installation I can't remember but I think I installed it through Fire Wire by connecting a Desktop DVD Player to a Fire Wire Adapter (which I don't have the adapter anymore) So ... Will the wrong Mac OS 9 Restore CD absolutely not work? 😕 I can't find my Mac OS 9 Installation CD or my Mac OS 9 Restore CD (which is grey and says "iBook" on it, presumably for a Clam Shell) BUT I still have my Tiger G4 Restore DVD. Is it possible to boot from a Fire Wire DVD Drive to the ibook g3 so I can install Tiger on it? 😕 Or even to try to select a Startup Volume? And, even if I can successfully install Tiger to the dead iBook, ... How would I install Mas OS 9?

Here are the rest of the details if you need them:

Booting while pressing OPTION revealed no Startup Folder for Mac OS 9 or Tiger.

I connected a Fire Wire from the dead ibook to a 366 mhz Clam Shell with 9.2.2 and successfully loaded Target Disk Mode. Both Startup Folders for the "External" hard drive appeared. Selecting either resulted in the Blinking Question Mark Of Death.

I then deleted Mac OS 9 on the dead ibook and then recopied it. When I disconnected the Fire Wire this time, I got the other Blinking Question Mark Of Death, on a diskette with no purple folder. Pressing OPTION revealed no internal startup disk, but instead it displayed the ClamShell's startup disk!

I am not sure how "Install Mac OS 9 Drivers" work, but perhaps the person I bought it from may not have selected Install Mac OS 9 Drivers. I am not sure what they did, or how they were able to install Tiger, because this iBook only has a CD not a DVD drive. I decided to worry about Tiger later and so I erased the drive using Mac OS 9.2.2's "Erase Disk" and selected "Extended". I then copied the folders, beginning with System Folder, then Application Folder, Then Users, Then Documents,

Still connected to the Clam Shell with Target Disk Mode, I opened Startup Disk again and the Mac OS 9.2.2 appeared with the name of the "external" hard drive. This time I booted successfully from it, although it was through the Clam Shell.

I tried to boot the dead iBook, but the same Blinking Question Mark Diskette Of Death appeared.

I selected OPTION. And the name of the dead iBook's hard drive appeared.

It still displays the Blinking Question Of Death.

I have tried everything else. I have disconnected the power and the battery. There is no reset button so I tried COMMAND OPTION P R, SHIFT OPTION CONTROL POWER, and even COMMAND OPTION OPEN FIRMWARE reset-all.

I asked on another website and they suggested I just use Target Disk Mode and a cloning software to clone a hard drive to the dead ibook. The only Mac OS X that I have is still on an imac G3 which has a CRT Monitor. It has 1 GB RAM but only 400 mhz. When plugging in the imac I think the CRT Monitor Voltage zapped the ibook hard drive to oblivion. Because now the

dead ibook g3 won't appear on Target Disk Mode connected to any computer, using either OS 9 or Tiger.

I can still press OPTION which still displays an available startup volume on the internal ibook hard drive. but clicking the --> continues to do nothing except still show the Blinking Question Mark Diskette Of Death. 😠

Am I handling the OPTION wrong? 😐 Do I need to actually click on the icon before pressing the --> ? 😕

Should I get a Fire Wire adapter to boot the DVD? Will using the wrong Restore Disc make things even worse? Does Target Disk Mode not working anymore mean that the hard drive is zapped?

iBook, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Mar 11, 2014 9:29 PM

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Answer 1

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,972 points

Mar 12, 2014 3:15 AM in response to In-Correct

One of the first things regarding an eBay purchase that appears to be not as represented by the seller, is to contact the seller to inquire about such things which are not as they were said; since this detracts from the value of the purchase.

System discs, original software, restore discs, and official copies of the media which represents the license to have and use the OS materials on the computer hard disk drive, should be included.

{To get copies of OS 9.1/9.2, etc can be difficult, and the original gray label discs had the correct content. Some could be used, but not recommended, since certain drivers for hardware could be lacking, and other regions of error may result.}

There are a few great places online to buy a repaired, restored, &/or refurbished Apple portable computer, with a limited guaranty, from companies who repair them for a living. Without the risk of an auction seller who does not know the equipment, its real condition (or does not specify, etc) and with the buyer getting a fair value. And those would include an OS & system backup on DVD media; plus a power adapter, battery, etc.

So at this hour (2AM here) I will not address your questions; I do hope that some of the Community (of Apple users who reply to these posts) will see the iBook section and offer some tangible advice. There are at least three posts in this vintage area that have a similar theme; need software to use the computer that was just bought.

At a more reasonable hour, I may be able to look back into this.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

edited

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