I think I just broke my Powermac G3...Please Help.

[Matt_C]

To be honest, somebody with my level of knowledge in this field really has no business in attempting what I just attempted.

I have a Powermac G3, it is running OS8.6, I downloaded the Macos9lives 9.2.2 and burned the image to a cd.
I tried to install it and I told it to overwrite Macintosh HD.

I did read the instruction included that told me to partition the HD, but it would not allow me to it.

My logic was that I want a fresh install, overwrite the current HD and start a fresh right....well...no it seems.

It started working, and then failed, saying that Macintosh HD may be unusable.

I tried to boot up the Mac again and it says OS 8.6 and then I get this message..

Sorry, a system error occurred.
address error
To temporarily turn off extensions, restart and hold down the shift key.

I followed that instruction several times, but I keep getting the same thing over and over.

What have I done?

Thanks in advance,

Matt.

[Mat]

You have created a mix of Mac OS 8.6 an 9.2.2 at your Hard Disc as it seems

So, what you need to do now, is to boot from CD, and repartition/reforat your HD while your OS comes from anything else that that HD, that you like to reprtition (with broken OS). So start with holding down the "C" key to see if you can boot from CD, or hold down "ALT" to see all your boot options.

BTW, upgrading is not always the best option with Mac OS. For example 8.6 is a lot faster at several machines. So you should check if you really need it in my opinion. What G3 is it exactly?

[Matt_C]

Thank you for your reply.

It is blue and white in colour and I believe that it is the 400mhz version.

It was my intention to upgrade to 9.2.2 because as I understand it I would be able to install a larger hard drive.
I intend to use it as a music production computer sending mostly midi commands to an external sampler.

Thanks,

Matt.

[IIO]

you are supposed to boot from the CD in order to install from the CD, if you started the computer from the HD then that is why you were not allowed to overwrite it.

however, you do not need to reformat the disk to install a new classic OS.
you could just have installed OS9 onto the old disk, rename the 8.6 folder (but not yet delete it) and then you shuld be able to select the new system folder from  the startup disk control panel.

another question bf we continue: is that a blue imac or a blue tower?

[Matt_C]

Hi, thanks for helping me out.

It's a G3 tower.

I was able to turn Extensions off and boot up 8.6. I assume this is the equivalent of some sort of "safe mode" as functionality is restricted.

I did manage to boot OS 9 by holding the C key down after the startup "bong" but once the CD was removed, it went straight back to 8.6 showing the same error.


I have purchased an 80GB IDE HD from eBay as the internal HD is very small, 8GB I think.

I am assuming that I will need to remove the old HD, fit the new one and a fresh install of OS 9 should be done from the CD?

Thanks,

Matt.

[ovalking]

Why don't you leave 8.6 on one drive and put 9.2.2 on the other?
That's what I've got on my B&W.
You can compare them for fun! (they're actually very similar IME)

Always useful to have OS/drive options...

[teroyk]

Some old G3 needs to boot under 8GB partition, I am not sure about your mac.
You can split one HD to many partitions and even install many OS versions in them.
Last partition without OS can be very big.
Big enough partitions for some OS:
Mac OS 8.1 0.5 GB
Mac OS 8.6 1 GB
Mac OS 9.2 1 GB
Mac OSX 10.1 2 GB
Mac OSX 10.2 2.5 GB (this is not big enough, it's real use minimum)

[Matt_C]

Why don't you leave 8.6 on one drive and put 9.2.2 on the other?
That's what I've got on my B&W.
You can compare them for fun! (they're actually very similar IME)

Sounds like my only option at the moment as I seem to have fried 8.6 on my machine.

[IIO]

yes booting classic mac os with extensions off is very similar to safe boot mode in unix or windows.

the clever kids always have a safety copy of their system folder (and everything else important) around, which will be useful when you brake something.

but you dont get that for free with birth, we all had to learn it once the hard way.

p.s.:
if you dont get it repaired otherwise, you could now reinstall 8.6 on the other disk, and 1. compare the content manually or 2. move your personal preferences folder and possible custom drivers (/system extensions, /controlpanels, the OMS folder...) and such things from the old to the new system folder.

after i install a fresh OS, i mark all items with blue label color, then later you can sort by color to immediately see what has been installed by other programs / during the last 3 months.