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Please Help My Daughter - iBook G4 Needs Software Upgrade ??

I have recently inherited an iBook G4 1.2 GHZ 256 RAM I think 30 or 50 GB. I cannot tell now because of what I did. The iBook was not working and I found it had a bad solder on one of the chips (a common issue on this model). Once repaired, it needed a new battery, and then it sprang right to life. The iBook worked great - I could use Safari, Garage Band, etc, but due to it's age, Itunes did not work and so I thought if I reinstalled the original operating system (Panther 10.3.5 circa 2004) from the original discs, then I could upgrade from there until I found an iTunes version I could use with a newly reset iPod I had and use it basically just for music. BIG MISTAKE. After I cleanly installed it all, I now cannot use Safari, profiler won't open and neither will most other applications - I double click them, they flash once and then go away on the sidebar. So, I need to find a way to upgrade this machine past 10.3.5 so I can get it to work. Right now, I can only get to the internet using ie for Mac 5.2 - UGH !!! Now I know why Apple stopped using that software. Anyway, I was doing all of this to get a clean version of iTunes on it so as a surprise, my daughter could sell it and the iPod to raise money for a class trip she is taking to New York in the Spring of 2015. Please please help me. Is it as simple as getting updated OS software? I have tried a Tiger disc, but it stopped before it really even got started and said it could not be loaded. I can see the previous user still has files under user and I can see the folder for the previous system, but they are not accessible. I do have a 27" Mac desktop if that will help me to upgrade the iBook in any way. Thank you for reading all of this. Please let me know what options I might have to get this running so it can be sold off. IBook

Posted on Jun 26, 2014 7:12 PM

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2 replies

Jun 26, 2014 9:37 PM in response to Redsled

256 MB RAM is the biggest problem.


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/specs/ibook_g4_1.2_12.html


http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iBooks-PowerBooks/G4-iBook/


Tiger Requirements...

To use Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, your Macintosh needs:

* A PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor

* Built-in FireWire

* At least 256 MB of RAM (I recommend 1GB minimum)

* DVD drive (DVD-ROM), Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM) or SuperDrive (DVD-R) for installation

* At least 3 GB of free disk space; 4 GB if you install the XCode 2 Developer Tools (I recommend 20GB minimum)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514


Apple may even have an International version...


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5231053?tstart=0

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+tiger+retail+10.4

See Tom's, (Texas Mac Man), great info on where/how to find/get Tiger...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3089008?answerId=15305521022#15305521022#15305521

Or Ali Brown's great info on where/how to find/get Tiger...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10381710#10381710

Leopard requirements/10.5.x...


* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor


minimum system requirements


* 512MB of memory (I say 1.5GB for PPC at least, 2-3GB minimum for IntelMacs)

* DVD drive for installation

* 9GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)

Classic/OS9 Apps no longer supported.


May be available from Apple again, or not...


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0

Trouble is Apple no longer sells it, check eBay & such for the Retail version, not the Gray Discs...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+leopard+retail+10.5

What color &what is the 2z691-****-A number on yourInstall Disc?

Jun 30, 2014 7:16 AM in response to Redsled

Great tips from BDAqua.


As a general note, is it worth it? You have a computer that cannot possibly run any software younger than about 5 years because everything new is programmed for Intel Macs. It is going to take a really tolerant user who is willing to coddle it. Most people want Internet. Yes, you can browse but even with using browsers that work with a G4 there are features that are no longer being supported and it is going to get worse. Online video will likely be terrible. The computer will require a RAM upgrade and a hard drive upgrade (40GB is nothing in the modern world) in order to make it a workable machine except for somebody in a early 2000s time bubble. You might have to have luck even finding a hard drive that will work in that computer. I don't know what retail version (black, which is what you need) Tiger discs are going for these days. At one stage they were going for more (~ $150) than they cost originally from Apple but probably they have dropped again. Still, I suspect you're looking at a $150-$200 investment for a computer that will sell for what? I bought my G4 four years ago for $200 with higher all around specifications than yours (250GB hard drive, 1.5 GB RAM, Leopard installed). Not to be disheartening but I can only see a person with very specific requirements purchasing the G4 and only at a pretty humble price that may not be worth your personal investment. You might consider selling it as-is for not much and let a person who already has a spare drive, spare RAM, and a copy of Tiger lying around buy it. I have a computer almost identical to it in the basement and I decided it was not worth even the cost of buying a new hard drive (which is about a 30 step process to replace in this computer).

Please Help My Daughter - iBook G4 Needs Software Upgrade ??

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