[krec]

Hi everyone...
This is my first post here and I sure hope someone can help!
I just tried to upgrade to OS X 10.3.7 via my cable modem. During the process the upgrade froze at 50% of the installation. Now I am dead in the water. Can't boot into safe mode. Can't boot from a cd.
The computer never goes past the gray screen with the Apple logo... the timer goes round and round and never stops!
I wasn't going to update tonight but the computer locked up and required about 7 reboots today. I was frustrated and thought, why not!!! Now I know why not!
I have a G3 B&W 450 with 256 mg ram, 120 gig hard drive. I purchased the computer used on ebay and I don't have any operating system cds for os X. I have cds from my old 7500/100 (8.5 and 7.6)- but they don't do me any good because it won't look for the cd.
I search posts here and didn't find anything about what to do when all the suggestions fail. I'm not worried about losing data... haven't really had a chance to do much with it - most of my files are on external scsi hard drives right now.
I don't know what to do next.
Thanks for any help.
krec

[krec]

Hi...
It's me again.. .I just tried zapping the p-ram and now I get the gray screen with the apple for a second then a get the "NO" symbol... the round circle with the slash through it. And everything stops there!
Any ideas?
Thanks, again
krec

[DPG4450Guy]

Well, he who doth dwell amongst the living without yon Operating System Install CD's doth walk without the light of the Lord. And Satan was at work, for the Evil One violated the licensing agreement
and did sell thee the Mac without the System Restore disc set. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Man, run, don't walk to your nearest Apple software source and get ahold of two things:
1 - A set of OS X retail installation CD's
2 - A good disk utility that is bootable - first one I'd get in your situation is Alsoft's DiskWarrior
If you don't have these, you're going to be toast.
I've not looked up that model, but I'm pretty sure that Mac OS 8.6 is minimum boot,
or is it 9.0.2? Either way, no, you can't boot with what you've got there. Oh, and lastly, it might
be a good idea to track down that seller and beat him mercilessly about the head and shoulders.

[doggdamac]

Agreed.......
Go get the RETAIL OS X discs, use the paperclip trick to open the CD drawer, insert the CD, hold down the "c" key and boot that puppy. Once booted, then you should be able to completely reformat the drive, install the OS, and start completely fresh.
THEN get online & beat that clown that sold you a machine w/o OS CD's over the head repeatedly /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
And while your at it, grab some more ram too /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 512mb minimum......

[krec]

Thank you for your posts.
You know... that ended up being the worst ebay experience of my life, it was a nightmare from the moment the guy got my money. I had to turn him into paypal to get him to deliver the unit. He made lots of promises he did not keep (original operating system disks was one of them) and I thought he was legit - his email was an @mac.com email address! I just counted, and I had 31 email correspondences (mostly me to him) during the month I tried to get him to ship the G3.
To top it all off, I have now researched and the CDRW that the ebay seller installed in the machine (my choice CDRW or DVD) is not a bootable cd drive (I went right to Sony tech support to find this out). Ughhh. Does anyone know where I might be able to get one of the original cd drives that were shipped pre-installed on the G3? I don't care if it burns cds - I have an external drive that can do that for now.
I will run, not walk to purchase my copy of the OS - I'm not sure about the OS X again... should I begin with 9.2, the OS X that the seller installed was a bit unstable?
Thanks again,
krec

[Reboot]

I believe the Sony CRX230 series, it's listed as a CRX230xx-x, is bootable and burns CD's, and you can find them for cheap. xlr8yourmac.com has a database of drive compatability you can check too.

[krec]

Thanks... I checked out that cd at Sony and it lists only Windows compatible. So I'll keep looking for one that I have no question is bootable on the Mac!
Please let me know if you think of any other cdrw drives I should check out!
krec

[RFM]

You could also try installing another hard drive that has
a bootable system on it. I'm not sure what the oldest OS
you can run on a B&W G3 is, and whether or not your logic
board has any SCSI buses (you might be able to use something
from your 7500)?
To boot from a secondary drive, hold down the "C" key or
"SHIFT-OPTION-COMMAND-DELETE" keys during the boot process.
Good luck.
I hate OS X,....

[Reboot]

It is bootable. Check out xlr8yourmac.com. You will not find one off the shelf that says Mac compatible, except official Apple stock parts. That's why I recommended checking out the xlr8yourmac site. If a drive is not comaptible they offer suggestions for alternate drives and patches to make them work. The Sony works with stock drivers.
Certain firmware chipsets in off the shelf drives happen to be compatible, not all but some. Apple will take drives that happen to be built to their standards and use those, but their part #'s in no way reflect the manufacturer or model.
HTH

[krec]

Thanks, I'll look again at it.
It will need to be bootable out of the box. If it needs me to update something in the system to make the drive be bootable - I'm stuck until I can get in with my new OS X cds (which I just purchased, by the way). And I can't get in with my OS X cds unless and until I have a CD drive that will work in the G3 as it is now.
Does that make sense? I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Thanks again,
krec

[krec]

Thanks, I have already thought of that. I do have two external hard drives but they have older operating systems that won't work with the G3.
I don't think the G3 has internal scsi... I have a scsi card installed to use my external scsi devices.
krec

[krec]

OK - I'm back and still having no luck. I have purchased the Mac OSX cds and I get nothing when I try to boot holding down the c key except the circle symbol with the line through it. I even purchased a used Apple Cd drive from a G3 and replaced the internal cdrw just to be sure that my cd is bootable.
I tried booting while holding down the d key - and I get the gray apple symbol with the rotating wheel of death that never stops rotating.
I really don't know what to do next - is it worth it for me to by the Disk Warrior software - does this sound like something that can be fixed? Why won't the Retail Apple CDs be recognized?
Anyone have any clues or suggestions?
Thanks for any help,
krec

[krec]

Hi again...
Here's an update of what I've tried so far and where I stand. I would appreciate any ideas anyone may have...
I've tried unplugging everything - I've removed the scsi card, unplugged the other ide drives and still can't boot from cd or hard drive - I've tried booting with the only things plugged in are the monitor and keyboard. I've tried to boot from the cd from within open firmware... nothing will work. I can't boot from a cd or the hard drive. I've switched ram around - the only difference with a different stick of ram is that instead of the spinning pizza that never stops - I get the folder with the blinking question mark that never stops! I plugged in another drive that was formatted all zeros - and couldn't even access the OS install in the cd drive to initiate it. I've switched the cd rom drive from the cdrw drive that needed patchburn to burn cds (when the computer was operational) back to an original apple cd reader on the off chance that the cdrw was not a bootable drive - but that drive didn't work either - the apple drive should be bootable, yes? It powers up and spins like it wants to read the disk but nothing appears on the monitor.
So that's where I am right now and what I've tried.
Just for fun I just purchased a used hard drive (very small and inexpensive) on ebay that has been formatted and has OS 9 and OS 10.2 on it. The drive is guaranteed not DOA and has a 30 day warrantee. I'm anxious to see if I can boot with that drive in the G3. If I can boot from the small drive with OS 9 or the OS 10.2 on it, maybe I can set the screwed up drive as a slave drive and reformat the screwed up drive.
One thing I don't know... when I put the small drive in the compute - what keys do I hold down to select either the OS 9 or 10.2??? If I don't hold anything down, what will it boot up into?
I can't think of anything else to try - and I'm open and grateful for any and all suggestions!
krec

[DPG4450Guy]

If you have a working OS X install, you hold down the Option key at boot/restart;
this will bring up a list of bootable volume boxes.
If you have currently booted into OS 9, you'll have to use the StartUp Control panel.