[geeks] Problem booting G3 B&W

[velociraptor]

On 9/7/05, Ido Dubrawsky <idubraws at dubrawsky.org> wrote:
> Well here's a twist to the whole story.  I tried the MacOS 9.2.2 install CD
and
> the system found the disks and allowed me to re-initialize them.  I then
tried
> the OS 10.2 installer and it found the disk (which I had partitioned into
two
> partitions each about 5GB big).  When I went to install it it came up with
an
> error and I could only reboot.  I'm going to try my hand at it again but it
> could well be the disk.  Although I can't understand why the MacOS 9.2.2
> installer succeeded in seeing the disk and working with it and the OS 10.2
> installer couldn't.

There are a couple of potential reasons for this--OS X is more rigid about
HW meeting minimal specs (like RAM), and does not have support for
all older hardware (Apple wants you to buy new hardware).

My advice is to switch to SCSI if you can.  I had no issues with 10.1
or 10.2 on my beige using SCSI drives.  The whole issue of boot
partitions size, &c. vs the performance increase just made it not
worth the effort given that I had SCSI cards and disks already.
You should be able to get a used SCSI card on LEM for $10-20--
since most people are ditching SCSI b/c you can't get large HDs
for cheap.

Other things to investigate:

I saw something googling that suggests that an OS X boot partition
  has to be at least 8GB in size (and in the case of some machines,
  no more than 8GB)--so you might try partitions of 8G & 2G
any firmware updates necessary for the beige?
transfer the HD after  installing OS using another Mac--assuming you have
  another Mac
boot the g3 in target mode, and connect it to another Mac via firewire then
  install that way--2nd Mac issue again, though (that's how I used a 10.4
  DVD to install the iBook that only has a CD)

=Nadine=