ALORDS

Q: iMac G3 Question mark folder

Hello people.

 

I have had this iMac g3 (tray loader) for almost a year now. Sometime last year it kept freezing on the desktop. No matter what I did I could not fix the freezing problem. It was running OS 8.6.

 

So I pulled the hard drive out of the mac and put it into a powermac g4. I upgraded it to Mac Os 10.0.1 and then put it back into the iMac. Now when I boot it shows the annoying question mark folder. I have operating system discs from 10.0 - 10.4. When holding down c it never boots into the upgrade cds or the restore cd that came with the iMac. I also have a OS 9.2 upgrade cd but I don't think you can boot from that right?

 

I have gone into open firmware and done: 

reset-nvram

reset-all


I've held down command, option, p, r and that never works either.

I have done every boot command you could think of!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I just can't get past the stupid question mark???????????????????


I think the cd drive works because I hear it turning and thinking.


Also I upgraded the ram to 128mb from a Powerbook G3.


Please help me if you can? I know its a old computer but I really enjoying messing around on old Macintosh computers.


- THANKS!

iMac, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier, PowerPC iMac G3

Posted on Apr 6, 2015 9:19 PM

Close

Q: iMac G3 Question mark folder

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Apr 7, 2015 1:43 PM in response to ALORDS
    Level 6 (14,367 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 7, 2015 1:43 PM in response to ALORDS

    The older G3 iMac requires a Firmware Update to be able to run early OS X 10.1.5, or 10.2.

    Before attempting to boot from any OS X volume. Also, an old HDD may be worn out.

     

    Much later OS X may not run at all. But the best you could hope for may be Panther 10.3.9

    if supported. An upgrade requires the hardware to be capable of supporting the OS X.

     

    So it would appear a few things are not quite right with your configuration and not ready to

    run an OS X. The old hardware, if a slot-loading iMac G3, usually may support 10.3.9...

    And even that, only if a correct Firmware Update was applied in a system prior to OS X

    because even attempting to start from Any OS X volume, may mess up the hardware.

     

    Did you check specs at everymac.com to see what the various hardware versions could support?

    http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html#specs

     

    To correctly identify the unit and its limitations, and see about any firmware update, is first.

    Good luck & happy computing!

  • by rccharles,

    rccharles rccharles Apr 7, 2015 2:31 PM in response to K Shaffer
    Level 6 (8,486 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Apr 7, 2015 2:31 PM in response to K Shaffer

    Now when I boot it shows the annoying question mark folder. I have operating system discs from 10.0 - 10.4. When holding down c it never boots into the upgrade cds or the restore cd that came with the iMac. I also have a OS 9.2 upgrade cd but I don't think you can boot from that right?


    The question mark means the firmware could not find a valid OS on the harddrive.   I the case of the c key, it should first look for the cd then the harddrive. Is this the same harddrive you removed earlier?  Jumpers need to be set master (???) not cable select.  Cable select doesn't work.

     

    I do not know why the c key didn't work. You did hold down the c key then power on your computer with the cd in the closed tray?

     

    I think if you mess around with the hardware, you can get a regular size cd drive attached in place of the laptop cd drive. Maybe you put the standard cd drive in the harddrive slot.  Don't know where you put the harddrive.  USB attachment???  Harddrive would not boot but might load software slowly.  Worth a try to see if you can get the cd to boot.  I've read about some odd way of doing this don't remember the details.

     

    The maximum official os for this machine is 10.3.  You can force 10.4 on the machine by installing on another machine then moving to the tray iMac I have heard.

     

    I upgraded the firmware before running X on this imac.  I do not think the c key not working is a firmware problem.

     

    Extract the harddrive.  Attach the 'bare' harddrive to the adapter. Attach the adapter to a Mac.  Try reading the data. Run a household fan on the harddrive.

     

    examples:

      http://www.cablewholesale.com/products/usb-firewire/usb-2.0-products/product-40u 2-01000.php?utm_source=Nextag&utm_medium=cpc&zmam=54972865&zmas=1&zmac=4&zmap=44 77

     

    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=32765 54&CatId=3770

     

     

     

    Robert

  • by Jeff,

    Jeff Jeff Apr 7, 2015 11:04 PM in response to ALORDS
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Apr 7, 2015 11:04 PM in response to ALORDS

    "I upgraded it to Mac OS 10.0.1 and then put it back into the iMac. Now when I boot, it shows the annoying question mark folder. I have operating system discs from 10.0 - 10.4. When holding down c it never boots into the upgrade CDs or the restore CD that came with the iMac."

     

    Did you use another model Mac's (OS 10.0.1) Restore disk to install that software build on the iMac's hard drive, or were you using a retail OS X (universal installer) disk?  Even if the latter were used, when you transfer the hard drive into a Mac having a different form factor, the software build that's written to the drive may  lack critical components needed by the original target computer to boot properly.  As for your "system disks from 10.0 - 10.4," are they retail installer disks or a collection of Restore disks from an assortment of Macs?  You should avoid Restore disks if you want a trouble-free installation.