I was holding out on making a thread, but I can't find an answer.
I got a G3 Blue iMac and it was booting with a system folder icon. Put in a 0S9 disk, everything loaded, and it couldn't find the hard drive.
Put in a OSX 10.4 disk in, and it froze during opening disk utility.
Now it won't boot at all. Sometimes I get a single beep followed by the startup sound, I can hear the CRT turn on but no screen. Then the power LED goes dim, and or flickers a little bit followed by some faint popping sounds. Sometimes the power LED is just dim, no sounds, CRT dosen't turn on.
I hooked it up to another CRT via VGA and it will do the same, but show just a blank grey screen on the external CRT.
I put in a new PRAM battery thinking that might be it, new HD, reseated the ram, still not working.
I don't know what is going on here.
It all started after I loaded up the OSX disk. I never got close to installing it though.
I forgot to add that its a slot loader from 1999, but It wouldn't tell me what processor speed when It was able to boot the OS9 disk.
Hello jaykii,
reading your both postings i assume that you did no walk along the regular updateing process but instead jumped from OS9 to OSX ? Apple recommends in the technotes not to do this, because prior to installation of OS X several updates of the firmware must be performed... and just another hint, because it seems that patience is missing for that process.... be warned ! if you turn off the computer while updateing process is running this may leave an unuseable and inaccessable computer behind if the firmware was not updated completely. In some cases it makes sense to first read the attached instructions complete.....
speedyG
I never got to installing OSX. I was using the 10.4 system disk to use disk utility to see if the Hard drive was formatted for OSX, and if that's why It wasn't showing up in OS9.
I put a new hard-drive in, and installed OS9, and it seems to be working okay, I had some problems booting where it wouldn't boot but It's okay now.
one problem I do have is the screen will have different tint's everytime I turn it on, sometimes it will be blue, green, purple, or pink. I'm looking for display service utility 4.2.1 so I can change the hue depending on what it starts up with, but I can't seem to find an active link.
OOps, double post. I'll add that i know theres nocturne for OSX that lets you change hue and tint. Are there any programs for OS9 that let you do the same?
hello jaykii,
lets start again..... if you insert the OS 10.4 in and start the access to the drive - it would not recognize with the OS9 installed on the harddisk if there is also a new partition... why ? because the driver changed... so the first thing it will do, is to try to update the firmware to be able to handle OS 10.4 .... that are the useless things that you would read if you would have read the update notes from Apple..... please remember that the iMAC G3 was distributed with OS 9 and 10.4 came along with the iMAC G4..... that´s also the reason that - if you would have tried to install 10.4 the system would have told you that that will require update of the firmware.... thats also within the documentation about the update to 10.4 if performed on the iMAC G3.....
i´m not an expert on iMAC but i have performed this process three or four times with my own iMAC G3.....
and the documentation is completely availiable at the downloadpages of Apple.....
the only bad thing is, that it´s a painfull struggle through a large bunch of pages there to find all the stuff .... it´s scattered over a dozend of pages....
regards speedyG
thanks for the info, but I'm not trying to install OSX, I was just using the 10.4 system disk to see if the hard drive would show. I'm not using that hard drive anymore, and have OS9 installed on another.
My main concern now is the tint on the monitor and sometimes it fails to boot and makes a ticking sound and the power LED flickering.
Go to Apple Menu > Control Panels > Software Update and run the iMac Firmware Update. Follow the instructions carefully. This firmware update mainly addresses the video circuitry, and should straighten out your display issues.
Old post I know but yes, failing to update to iMac Firmware 4.1.9 prior to installing OSX.2 or later will cause display anomolies, I believe to do with incompatibilities and blah blah blah with refresh rates, resolutions etc... This can range from intermittant tint anomolies, pops and clicks, to a complete failure to boot the display. In some instances if X is intstalled without an update it may initially appear fine, but then degrade over a short time... Most of the time, whatever the severity of the initial issue, it will continue to degrade until the firmware update is done, and I am told in some cases it can permanantly damage the video circuitry if left unchecked.
There really is no two ways about it... the firmware MUST be up to date. if you boot into the Open Firmware screen (using OPT+CMD+O+F combo at power-on), it will give you a firware version number at the top of the white OF screen. If it isnt 4.1.9, you shouldnt even put an OSX CD or hard drive anywhere near it until the update has been performed. Many many people get trapped by this, and m sure many a usable iMac has been junked cos of this simple idiosyncracy.
To be fair, Apple should have made a stronger point of the importance of the update, but I guess for what its worth, every iMac G3 that got thrown in the bin due to an avoidable and sometimes reversible issue would mean another iMac G4 leaving the door of the friendly local reseller....