Problems with a Powermac G4 and OS9

Question

Hi I'm new to the forum and new to Macs so please excuse me if my questions seem a little dumb.
I've just obtained a PowerMac G4 with OS9 that used to belong to a school. The school wiped out all their work but I'm wondering if they've also wiped off something else as I'm having problems getting it to boot.
If I turn the machine on I get an Apple icon then about a minute later I get a prohibitive sign.
The only way to get the machine to boot is to put in the Install CD and power up while holding the 'C' key. Then the system boots up ok and I can abort the install.
My first guess was that perhaps it was trying to boot from a network, so I made sure that the hard drive was the drive to boot from. That made no difference so I ran a repair on the drive but that was to no avail.
Any ideas what the problem could be?
There doesn't seem to be any applications or anything worthwhile keeping on the machine so perhaps it may be easier to reload OS9, if that's the case will I need to input some sort of product key.(is that the correct phrase?)
Problem is I don't know my product key, is it possible to look into the system and find it?
Edit Forgot to mention I have the System Install and System Restore CD's that originally came with the machine.
Message was edited by: B0BA123

Answer 1

Hi, Bob -
From the info you have given, your machine is the G4 (AGP) model, the second model in the early G4 machine series (the first model was the G4 (PCI) machine).
Boot ROM version $0003.22f1
Yes, you should update the firmware before installing OSX. You can download the applicable updater from a link on this page -
Article #86117 - Firmware Updates
or directly from this page -
Article #120068 - G4 Firmware Update 4.2.8
Note that the machine must be booted to OS 9.1 or later (but not OSX) on a writeable local drive in order to install the firmware update. This means it must be booted using an OS 9.1, 9.2.1, or 9.2.2 which has been installed on the hard drive. In addition, the firmware updater itself must be on the same hard drive.
If OS 9 (9.1 or later) is currently available on the drive, you can use it to install the firmware update. If it is not, you will need to install it. The original disk set that came with that machine may have been for OS 8.6, but more commonly is for OS 9.0.x.
If the disk set you have is for OS 8.6, you will need to acquire the use of a retail OS 9.0.4 or later Install CD, install that and update it (via download updater) to OS 9.1.
If the disk set you got with it is for OS 9.0.x, install that and update it to OS 9.1 using the download update for OS 9.1. The updater for OS 9.1 is designed to install on top of any previous version of OS 9.
You can download the update for OS 9.1 from this page -
Article #75103 - Mac OS 9.1 - Download and Info
Since your Software Install CD is in the International English version, be sure to download the OS 9.1 update in that same version; a different language version, such as North American English, will not install on top of the one you have.
In any case, once you have installed the firmware update you can wipe the drive to get rid of OS 9, and then install OSX. The installation of the firmware update changes some of the coding on one or more chips on the main logic board, and is not residual on the hard drive - wiping the hard drive will not undo a firmware update.
You can then install OSX.
Once the Boot Rom has been upgraded will the machine be able to take a straight OSX load or will it have to be OS9 and OSX ?
You can install OSX directly without needing to have OS 9 on there.
Built in memory 320Mb RAM
You have sufficient RAM for installing and using OSX 10.4.x. However, since OSX likes a lot of RAM, you should consider adding more RAM. I would recommend at least 256MB more; 512MB would be better. For reference, that machine can hold 2.0GB (2048MB) of RAM in the form of four 512MB modules.
Macs of the vintage of your machine can use only RAM designed for Macs - be sure the place you get it from is savvy to that. Things to look for from vendors of RAM - a no-cost return policy; and a lifetime warranty.
Suggestions re OSX:
Try to keep at least 5GB of drive capacity unused after OSX and programs have been installed, and documents created. OSX needs that space to use as a memory swap file, for use in its automatic on-the-fly defragmenting routines, and for other purposes.
You can reduce the amount of space the installation of OSX will need. Its default install will install all language versions of that version regardless of your intended usage. You can alter that via a Custom install, choosing only those languages (or just the one language) you will be using. This can reduce the drive space consumed by the installation considerably.
If in the future you find that you need additional drive space, you can replace the internal drive with a larger one; and/or add a second internal drive (that model is pre-equipped to accept a second internal drive); and/or add firewire drives as needed. The max drive size that will be recognized on the internal bus is 128GB; larger drives can be used, but only 128GB will be 'seen'. This 128GB limit does not apply to firewire drives, nor to USB drives (that machine's internal USB is v. 1.1; hence, USB hard drives are generally too slow for use other than as archiving volumes).
The G4 (AGP) model you have is one of the best models of the early G4s (the only better of those is probably the G4 (DA) model). If you find you need more speed, you can get processor upgrades for it from 3rd-party sources; as I recall, one such vendor offered a dual 1.8GHz processor upgrade for it (though this may have changed).