Can't Get My B&W G3 to Boot From ANY OSX Panther CD or DVD!

[MajorPayne]

I have a problem with my new rev 1 Blue and White G3. I was all set to upgrade it from it's existing OS (Mac OS 9.2), to Panther. I purchased a new Panther install DVD, installed a new DVD drive in the mac, and tried to boot to the CD -- I get a black screen! The CD spins up, and seems to do some things, but never do I get anything on the screen.

I tried opening the DVD from within Mac OS9, and it said "press this button to reboot, and start the upgrade". I did so, and got a black screen again -- I even waited for 1/2 and hour, but still nothing.

At this point, I was suspecting my DVD drive might not be compatible, so I got ahold of a copy of Panther on CD instead, and used the Mac's original CD drive to boot it -- same thing -- black screen, no nothing, even after a long time. The same thing when launching the upgrade from within OS9 using the CD's

I tried holding down C during boot, but still get the black screen. I also tried Command+Option+Shift+Delete, but got the same result.

I am about at my wits end here.... I do not know a ton about Mac's (I was raised on Windows-based computers), so I am not sure where to proceed next. Is there some step I am missing here (I have heard about other key combo's to disable extensions, and/or zap pram, but I do not know if these help in this case or not)? Is there possibly something wrong with my Mac, and if so, can if be fixed? Is it possible that Panther will simply not work on my old G3?

Any advice at this point would be appreciated.

[masterofpuppets]

I'm not a Mac expert, but I know installing OS X is possible since I have seen it running on G3 before.

[MajorPayne]

I'm not a Mac expert, but I know installing OS X is possible since I have seen it running on G3 before.

quote:
Originally posted by: Ecgtheow
This page has a lot of info on installing OS X on a B&W.



Yeah I had been under that impression too (otherwise I would not have spent the money to get OS X)! I have found some sites that supposedly cover the issues with installing X on a B&W, but unfortunately, none of them address my issue, which is not that I cannot get it to boot to the CD, but that when I do, I get no video at all!!!

The one (possibly) useful suggestion on one site that I have NOT tried yet, is that the author said that you MUST have a USB keyboard/mouse, and I am using the old apple port keyboard/mouse (the one where the mouse connects to the keyboard, and the keyboard to the port on the back of the mac. Would this make enough of a difference to cause this problem?

Also, one thing I am NOT sure of is WHEN to press the C key during boot -- as soon as I power on, or do I wait until I see the little mac picture???

If I press it right away after power on (before the screen comes on), I never get ANY video at all. Should I be doing this later in the boot process?

[MajorPayne]

One thing that occurs to me is that I DID add a bunch of RANDOM memory to the system before I tried installing OSX for the first time. I had several RAM chips laying around, and tried all of them, to see which would boot OK. It came with 1 mac certified 128MB PC100 DIMM, and I have added 1 more 128MB DIMM, and 2 64MB DIMMS (for a total of 384MB of RAM). At least one of these chips is actually PC133 (I believe that it is the 2nd 128MB DIMM), and the timings are all varied. Is it possible that this varience in RAM is OK for booting into OS9, and running programs, but not for installing OSX?? This is the ONLY thing I have really modified on this computer so far.

[MajorPayne]

I may have found my answer by googling "mac G3 os X Panther no video"... It took me to this site http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021023065837185]http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021023065837185]http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021023065837185.
Apparently, you need to update the firmware on the G3's, or when you try to install Panther, you get... No Video!!! (or some systems get all pink, etc.). I will try the firmware update tonight (from the Mac download site), and see if it helps. I really hope so, because I bought the G3 with the intent of putting OS X on it. Has anyone else had experience with this issue? Does the firmwarew upgrade really solve the problem?