cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 I have just received an older g3 imac from a friend and when iturn it on a folder with a ? sign and the old mac smiley switch on and off and hangs, can some one help me please? p.s. i believe it is running os 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 sounds like the hd may need to be reformatted and a fresh install of an os is in order. if you have 128mb or ram you can install jaguar and panther if you have 256mb you can install tiger. but remember that the more ram you add to a mac the more it will love you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 i dont think i can do a fresh install considering i dont have the install disks..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 BTW i hav som more information, its iMac DV, 10 gig, DVD 64mb ram and i received it maybe 2 hours ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 You're not going to be able to use it until you install an OS onto it. You could put Linux on it until you can get a Mac OS for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 questions,1.will an ubuntu cd work in the imac 2.can i take the ram out of my pc and put it in my mac, because they look identical and when i start up with the option button, no drive shows up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 if its a ppc build it would work. and it takes pc100 ram so any ram from a pentium 3 pc should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K4bren Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Yes, The hard drive sounds like it needs to be reformatted. I'd install Linux. Ubuntu if your new to linux, Gentoo if your not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 ok, i think i will install ubuntu for now, but where can i get some cd's and how do i reformat etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 You can get Ubuntu from the Ubuntu website's download section. The installer will guide you through a reformat as well as the rest of the installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 I already have an install ubuntu cd, i meant for mac os cd/reformat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 i put in the ubuntu cd and nothing happened, and now the computer wont eject the cd. How do i get out and thank you so much for all the help, i am totally new to macs and have no experience with how to us them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 when you just turn it on and hear the *dong* press and hold down on the mouse and it will eject the disk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseelbo Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 I think you can download OS9 for free now from apple. I'd try that before I'd install linux. Or, find a earlier OSX (10.1 to 10.3) disk and try that. That question mark means it cannot find the startup disk. My mom has an iMac DV , I'll see if I can get her boot disks for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 thanks, and the instaal (linux)cd isnt working anyways. so if i do find a os 9 file online, do i just burn and go?or do i have to unzip the file, set special bur setting? again, all help is very appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 I think you can download OS9 for free now from apple. The latest Mac OS that you can download from Apple is OS 7, and that's for the 68k Macs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 so can i upgrade 7.0 to 9? and i have found an old 8.6 cd, will that work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin1976 Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Hey, a buddy of mine just gave me one just like it. So, can I install OS X on it? What kind of RAM it uses? How the hell do I open this thing? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 locuras, i found that you can install osx on it if you upgrade the ram to 256mb, and i also found that my old pentium iii has the correct ram needed , so if you have an old comp look at the ram, it just might work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 30, 2006 Author Share Posted September 30, 2006 and heres a guide for the mac:Apple iMac Manuals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin1976 Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 Thank you! Do you have an idea of what's the max of RAM I can toss in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman_go Posted September 30, 2006 Author Share Posted September 30, 2006 i believe its 512(at least the one i have) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 i believe the max ram is actually 1gb. if you have the $$ to actually find 2 512mb pc100 these days. Last i checked the cheapest brand new ones i can find they were 65 each! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin1976 Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 i believe the max ram is actually 1gb.if you have the $$ to actually find 2 512mb pc100 these days. Last i checked the cheapest brand new ones i can find they were 65 each! Well, according to Apple, for the model I have, 333MHz, it will only take up to 256, unless you know something I don't... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 o damn sorry dude. i guess your right. atleast if you max out your ram you can run tiger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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