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Power Mac G4 refusing to boot to CD

Hello, I am currently collecting vintage Macs, and one of those is a Power Mac G4 Quicksilver (867MHz). At one point, it had Mac OS X 10.4.11, and I wanted to wipe it since the previous owner left lots of junk in the system. But now, all I can boot up to is a gray screen with a flashing question mark in a hard drive icon.


I have a Mac OS 10.3 install disc that I tried, and the drive starts spinning, but never boots into it, a Mac OS 9.2.2 disc that does the same thing. However, I have a Mac OS X Public Beta CD. I put that in the drive, and it does show up on the menu with the different volumes. That starts loading up like normal, but then I get a Kernel Panic.


Anyone have any ideas? I've searched the Apple Support Community numerous times, but couldn't find a useful answer.

PowerMac, G4 QuickSilver

Posted on Jun 12, 2015 8:43 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 9, 2016 6:47 AM

Hi,10.3 won't work...


Pre-Installed MacOS:9.2, X 10.0.4Maximum MacOS:X 10.5.8


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_867_qs.html


As I recall it needed a special version of 9.2 to Install.


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


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.


http://bobskelley.com/2015/01/04/9-reasons-leopard-keeps-power-macs-real-in-2015 /


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

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 9, 2016 6:47 AM in response to Wind5387

Hi,10.3 won't work...


Pre-Installed MacOS:9.2, X 10.0.4Maximum MacOS:X 10.5.8


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_867_qs.html


As I recall it needed a special version of 9.2 to Install.


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


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.


http://bobskelley.com/2015/01/04/9-reasons-leopard-keeps-power-macs-real-in-2015 /


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

Power Mac G4 refusing to boot to CD

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