iBook G3 Clamshell: How can I update firmware without working optical drive to install OS9

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Level 1

8 points

iBook G3 Clamshell: How can I update firmware without working optical drive to install OS9

My compter: iBook G3 Clamshell, 466 MHz, 576 MB, running 10.4.11, current firmware version 3.3.3f3

I recently swapped out the hdd to an mSATA ssd. I copied OSX 10.4 to the ssd using superduper! Everything works on the computer, but the optical drive. I soon found out that my firmware was not up to date. The only way to go about updating the firmware on a G3 clamshell involves having OS 9.1 or 9.2 on a local drive. I would like to know if there is any way I can get OS 9 on my iBook without the optical drive working?

iBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Mar 30, 2017 9:07 PM

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Answer 1

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,241 points

Apr 11, 2017 4:11 PM in response to mchudzik

The 466 MHz iBook G3 Clamshell has FireWire. This means that more options are available than for the earlier models.

For example, an external FireWire optical drive could be connected to the computer. This could be used for formatting purposes and/or direct system software installations onto an internal hard disk.

A hard drive could also be placed in an external FireWire enclosure. That drive could be made bootable.

The FireWire port would also allow target disk mode.

Use target disk mode to share files between two Mac computers - Apple Support

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Disk_Mode

This iBook should also support booting from USB. This may or may not work, depending on things like the USB drive type (hard drive in USB enclosure, USB flash drive or flash memory card in USB card reader), formatting and the operating system. However, transfer speeds would be low. Regarding the firmware update, I do not know whether a USB drive could be considered to be a "local drive", though.

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Answer 2

DonH49

Level 6

16,716 points

Mar 31, 2017 3:13 PM in response to mchudzik

I assume the optical drive not working was not the result of you upgrading the drive. Anyway your OS system and hardware is so old what is the difference. If things are working then leave the firmware alone.

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Answer 3

mchudzik Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 31, 2017 3:22 PM in response to DonH49

Smokerz: One of the major reasons of me wanting to restore this older iBook was so that I could have the capability of playing DVDs on it. Without that the only use it has to me is being used for extremely light browsing and a word processor.

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