My iMac G3 won't read/boot the Mac OS X disk!

I am having a lot of trouble with an old iMac G3. It has Mac OS 9 on it (I recently updated it to Mac OS 9.1), and I am trying to upgrade it to Mac OS X Panther. I also installed the recent firmware thingy for it. But I am coming across problems...
First I tried loading the Mac OS X disc 1 into the CD-ROM drive, and it detected the CD, but when I tried beginning the installation process, when I clicked the button for it to restart to begin installation, I got an error message reading...
"An error occurred. 'Startup disk was unable to select the install CD as the startup disk. (-2).'"
I also tried rebooting the PC holding the "C" key on the keyboard, but doesn't work, and I also holding the "Option" key down among rebooting, but the OS X disc doesn't show up in the Startup Manager. It DOES show up in the Startup Disk Utility in OS 9 but won't let me select it as the startup disk.
I REALLY need help here. I am tight on money and I don't want to do any hardware upgrades right now. The Mac already has enough memory (578 MB of RAM, to be precise) and has a 7 GB hard drive. I don't really like Mac OS 9 and would much prefer Mac OS X on it.
Please reply with answers/suggestions!

Well, I found the problem: turns out the disks for Mac OS X Panther I had were incompatible BECAUSE I got them from a friend whose Panther disks came with a Mac he bought some time ago. So I solved that dilemma by acquiring a RETAIL copy of Mac OS X Panther, and it installed. So now my iMac G3 is running Leopard almost like a G4 Mac Mini!

Similar Messages

My iMac doesnt want to read/run the Mac OS X Install DVD, what can I do?

My iMac doesnt want to read/run the Mac OS X Install DVD, what can I do? What I want to do is format my mac, so I need to run de DVD Installer when the Mac start up holding C buttom. Is there any other way to do it?

You must be using the original grey OS X discs that shipped with the machine or a retail OS X installation disc.
If you are attempting to use a grey OS X disc that did not ship with your iMac, it will not work since they are machine-specific.
Other than those reasons, it is possible the disc is dirty or scratched, or your optical drive has simply failed. In the latter event you need to replace it or use an external optical disc drive, or boot your iMac in FireWire Target Disk Mode and use another Mac to read the disc.

I have a Olympus C-3000 and it won't read in the new iphoto. It reads in my old version on my older computer. Is there a driver I need or something else?

I have a Olympus C-3000 and it won't read in the new iphoto. It reads in my old version on my older computer. Is there a driver I need or something else?

Yes, different computers, different OS's, as stated, does not work on any machine except PPC.
Nothing in console logs. Does not show up in USB under system profiler.
Level 1 tech support. "May be this" or "may be that", but all a waste of time unless someone has the actual camera and can independently verify my results.
If it were just a matter of it happening on one machine that would be one thing. The fact that it only does not work on Intel based machines (and thus Snow Leopard and Lion) it is a pretty good indicator that something is missing in the OS.

I have remote locked my mac using find my iPhone app via my iPad - I am unable to enter the unlock code as the mac keyboard won't pair with the mac - I guess that will teach me for playing...any ideas?

I have remote locked my mac using find my iPhone app via my iPad - I am unable to enter the unlock code as the mac keyboard won't pair with the mac - I guess that will teach me for playing...any ideas?

Thought so - ace - find my phone really needs an unlock function. - another £40...

Windows Easy Transfer (WET) Issues with External Hard Drive - "Can't read from the source file or disk"

I work for Office Depot, in the tech department. Basically, one of our associates was supposed to do a data backup, and re-install Windows 7, then transfer the files back. He used Windows Easy Transfer and compacted everything into a 163 GB file.
Now comes the hard part. When we try to put it back on his computer ((drag-and-drop to the desktop) which has been wiped back to factory settings using the recovery partition), it stops at 79.5 GB remaining (you know how it doesn't give you a % of completion,
it just shows how many GB are remaining) and then says "Can't read from the source file or disk" and gives you an option to try again, or cancel. It gets hung up on the same point each time.
Normally, this wouldn't be a huge issue, but the contents on the drive are his wife's architect blueprints and interior design stuff, along with wedding photos, etc, which are the only copies they have. On top of those, they have court documents and other
important files that we are unable to access now.
I wasn't involved with this transfer, so I'm trying to clean up the mess as best I can. I remembered that the customer's wife was Russian, and had some files typed with a Russian keyboard, so on and so forth. I wonder if that's the issue? If not, I really
have no idea how to manually extract things from a ".mig" file, or how to diagnose what area is potentially corrupted.
In light of this situation, we tried using "Recuva" to recover the files post-wipe, but everything was corrupted or unable to be opened, and it also extracted and recovered all of the "useless" photos, such as the skype logos, up and
down arrows for browsers, etc (it was 160,000+ photos).
Trying to avoid a potential lawsuit, unhappy customer, and costing the company lots of money to see if professionals can get into this external hard drive.
Other relevant information:
We used a Toshiba 500 GB (465 GB) external hard drive.
Customer's computer is an HP Pavilion P6000 Series (Model No. p6520y) running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1.
Any other information that is needed can be provided, thanks in advance, and hopefully we can find a solution to this issue quickly!
-John

I think there's a lack of understanding somewhere.
"If you even can't start the process, please unplug it from your new PC. Then head back to your new computer and plug
the external drive back in to your new computer. "
Unplug from new, head back to new, plug it back in? That doesn't make much sense! Haha.
I knew what you meant though, somewhat. When I search through the drives after clicking yes (Has windows easy transfer
already saved your files blah blah blah) I click on the transfer file and it says "Windows Easy Transfer could not open the file".
Rather than drag-and-drop the file to the desktop, I now tried to double-click on the file itself while it was plugged
into the computer. It opened, and it started transferring until it was about 70% completed, and then an error popped up saying "WET can't open the easy transfer file, make sure your USB device is plugged in or check your internet connection".
I checked, and the USB hard drive's light wasn't on. Now, I unplug it and plug it back in, and the light comes back on,
so I click Retry, and it resets the bar back to nothing and says "Transfer time: 1 minute".
Rather than continue trying, I clicked "Cancel" instead of Retry, and it says "Your transfer did not complete successfully."
It says to click "view report" for more information, but there's no "view report button".
At the moment, I am scanning the External Drive for bad sectors using the check disk tool in properties. It's frozen
at "0 USN bytes processed".

After updating I ended up with 4 icons on my desktop - I cannot delete any of them. The error message reads; "Cannot read from the source file or disk".

I updated from the original version to 6.0.1 and when I re-started FF there were 4 icons on my desktop. I managed to delete one of them, but I cannot delete the other two - to leave me with just one.
I get the error message of "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source fie or disk".

Here's the meaning of the error that you received.
"An error has occurred. ERROR :10-FC06-0002" -- may be caused by damaged recovery media or faulty hard drive"
Possible that the problem is on the recovery also.
Hope this helps.

Cannot read from the source file or disk

I had to get a new hard drive for my Satellite A665 old one kept freezing up; had a recovey disk from Geek Squad when I got it but they did not work. So I ordered a Recovery Disc set from Toshiba.
A few minutes after I insert the 3nd disc, I get the following message:
Cannot read from the source file or disk
PREINST14.SWM
Type: SWM File
Size: 670 MB
Modified: 10/29/2010 11:24pm
Clicking [Try Again] or [Skip] clicked try again twice. Gave same message so clicked skip. Got another message.
Cannot read from the source file or disk
PREINST18.SWM
Type: SWM File
Size: 372 MB
Modified: 10/29/2010 11:24pm
Clicking [Try Again] or [Skip] clicked try again twice. Gave same message so clicked skip after checking do it for next one. Got error message.
An error has occurred.
Error: 10-FC06-0002
Recovery Error.
Please press [OK] to turn off the computer.
I tried erasing the disk, then running the Recovery Wizard again, but wind up in the same place.

It's hard to know exactly what the problem is. You might want to contact customer support because it could just be a faulty disc.
- Peter

My iphoto won't open after the mac softwareupdate and i can't update i photo it says there is a diffrent apple id ..plz help

my iphoto won't open after the mac softwareupdate and i can't update i photo it says there is a diffrent apple id ..plz help

If you own a copy of iPhoto 'qq Log into the App store usimg the Apple I'd you used to set up the computer and go to updates to update. If you have an older version of iPhoto or purchased a used system then you must purchase iPhoto version 9.5
LN

HT2845 My magic mouse dropped connection and now won't pair with the mac.

My magic mouse dropped connection and now won't pair with the mac. When I search for it, it finds the mouse but just won't connect. Any ideas?
(I've tried new batteries)

Try resetting the PRAM and SMC.
Barry

I have bought a used macbook, to bad i do not have the admin password. is there any way to bypass this issue with out the Mac OS X disk? (without loosing my obtained files?)

i have bought a used macbook, to bad i do not have the admin password. is there any way to bypass this issue with out the Mac OS X disk? (without loosing my obtained files?) I NEED HELP BADLY PLEASE....

What version of the Mac OS X are you running. Go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac and post the version.

Whats the Mac equivalent to Disk Defrag?

Newly converted PC guy....now a Mac guy. Just got my mac yesterday. I like to keep things clean on my computers.....what is the mac equivalent to disk defrag...and how do i do it?

bp4life71 wrote:
oh...in case your wondering why i put this here in bootcamp is because im trying to run bootcamp assistant and it tells me I have to reformat my drive to a particular format....i checked and its at that format.... So i was advised to clean my hard drive...ie disk frag to free up some space...this was the suggestion...
There is almost never a reason to defrag a Mac. Indeed, doing so can be a negative. Defrag is defrag regardless of the OS.
What you say above does not make much sense. Formatting and defraging are vastly different things. What is the exact wording of the message you refer to as "it tells me I have to reformat my drive to a particular format?"

2011 iMac 27" won't finish booting

Yesterday my iMac stopped booting all of the way. It gets the desktop up, but then stops doing anything. It has the rainbow wheel For a while but the finder never comes up. right when the desktop first comes up I can do things but only for 20 seconds or so before it locks. I have tried booting as guest and in safe mode and have the same problem. I have run disk utility in recovery mode and it finds no disk errors and almost no permission errors either. I fixed the ones it had
It will run in single user mode happy as can be. I thought it was a piece of software but I have deleted every trace of it in single user mode with no luck. moved all startup items out of the folder other than apple stuff. Cleaned out caches, cleaned network preference lists.
THere are lots of system stated assertion failed .... Com.apple.xpc.launchd service exited with abnormal code 1 in the system.log file
i went to system restore to try and restore it but it won't connect to the wireless network and just says to move it closer to the router ( even though it shows full bars.). Barring hauling this beat over to another building somewhere where I can find a network cable to plug it into, are there any other ideas what could be causing the problem?

Yeah I tried that but it refuses to connect to my wireless network even tho it has full bars ( and never had an issue before this).
wping was hoping to avoid having to carry it somewhere to try and get a network cable to it

IMac G4 won't read or mount CDs

I have a iMac PowerPc G4 700 MHz with the original Sony CD-RW drive. It refuses to mount or read any CDs, including store-bought music CDs and the Mac OS X Tiger CDs (I exchanged them because I don't have a DVD drive).
I have tried the following fixes:
- CD lens cleaner
- switching to OS9 and checking that the CD driver extension is turned on
- logging on as a different user
- updating software
- restarting
- zapping the PRAM
- running Tiger Cache Cleaner to repair permissions and run maintenance scripts
I'm guessing that the drive is dead. I have added memory myself, but don't feel comfortable replacing an internal CD drive. The catch is I live in France, and I don't want to take my machine to the local Mac repair shop. I can't afford "down" time, and I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for parts and labor.
Do you agree that the drive is dead? Should I go ahead and buy an external drive, and while I'm at it, one that reads and burns DVDs? I'm looking at ordering a LaCie DVD+RW with LightScribe. This Mac suits my current needs, and I wasn't planning to replace it in the next year. But is it worth the investment for a machine that I bought five years ago?
Thanks!
iMac PowerPc G4 700 MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) Sony CD-RW CRX170E

Hello and Welcome back to Apple Discussions.
Yes, go ahead with the external drive.
External drives today are:
Over twice as fast as those internal ones used in iMacs on sale today. Typically 18x versus the 8x in the Intel iMac.
Tray loading versus slot loading allows use of small and mis-shapped discs.
Optional Lightscribe capability if that appeals to you.
So there are a number of positive reasons why even if you do replace the whole iMac the drive will continue to be useful to you.
cheers
mrtotes

My new iMac computer won't read my Canon 550D camera? Please help.

I am trying to transfer my photo's from my Canon EOS 550D to my new 21.5" iMac but when I plug my camera into my computer, via USB chord, it just says "No camera found". I have installed the Mac compatible software onto my computer that came with my camera. This software included the following:
Camera Window
Canon MOV Decoder
Canon MOV Encoder
Digital Photo Professional
EOS Utility
Image Browser
Movie Uploader for YouTube
PhotoStitch
Picture Style Editor
I am a Photography student and I am becoming very frustrated with the fact I can't do anything with my photo's as I bought the iMac soley for Photography and Music.
Can someone please help me solve this problem.
Cheers,
G.

The followng was suggested by another poster...
MartinR
Re: CANON 550D not displayed on iMac - how import movies in Final Cut Expre     Apr 9, 2010 6:01 PM    (in response to BPLK)
The Canon EOS Utility should enable you to download both stills +and video+ from your 550D.
I don't think you will see the camera on the desktop or in the Finder (My Canon cameras never show up on the desktop or Finder when I connect & download, but Image Capture and iPhoto both communicate with the camera and download images & video. I never installed the Canon utility.)
The EOS Utility should see the camera and from there you should be able to download stills and video to your hard drive. +Is this working or not?+
The following discussion threads may be of some help to you, click on the links below to be directed to them...
     https://discussions.apple.com/message/11362461#11362461
     https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2379552?start=0&tstart=0

USB stick dies in iMac, another won't read, what's happening?

Hi there. I have recently had the experience of a USB stick (4GB) die in my iMac. I plugged it in, an error dialog box came up saying that one USB device was drawing too much power... the port on the USB stick had gone very warm and there was a burning smell coming from the device.. Since then, the same box comes up whenever I plug in the stick from whatever port on the computer or from the USB hub that I have attached to the Mac. I've bought another stick thinking that one is now dead but the new one is not even seen by my Mac, I plug it in and... nothing, it doesn't show up anywhere.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

Hi Philippe Mion;
Try the suggestions listed here. Hopefully your bad USB stick didn't burn out the logic board in you iMac.
Allan

My iMac G3 won't read/boot the Mac OS X disk!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for