Member Avatar for stevemk

Actually it is a computer here at work. I know PCs pretty well, but I am lost when it comes to Macs. It was booting up for a while, but now it just shows the arrow cursor in the corner. It will move with the mouse. I don't know what OS was on it. When booting up I listen to the HDD and it spins up , and then spins down a bit. I thought the drive might be bad, so I found another Quantum Fireball on Ebay. Where can I get an OS to put on and how do you install the OS? Is it like a PC? I do have a version of OS 9.0.4 but it won't install on the new drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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A few focused checks will get this back on track faster than guessing. The single white arrow and a spinning/stopping drive usually mean the firmware is running but the Mac cannot find a valid system volume (bad or uninitialized disk, a dead drive, or a non-bootable install medium). After swapped drives and followed 's suggestion to try an install, the next steps are to verify hardware, prepare the new disk with the correct partitioning, and use an alternate install route if the internal CD drive will not boot.

Try these in order:

  1. Hardware quick-tests — power the drive externally (IDE-to-USB or a known-good machine or enclosure) and listen for clicks or repeated spin-downs. A noisy or intermittent spin usually means the drive is failing or the Mac's power rail is marginal. Also reseat the power/IDE cable inside the G3; bad connectors are common on older machines.
  2. Firmware and alternate boot paths — reset PRAM (hold Command+Option+P+R at startup until you hear the chime twice). If the Mac still won’t boot the installer from its optical drive, use FireWire Target Disk Mode on a FireWire-capable G3 (hold T at boot) to attach the new drive to another Mac and run Disk Utility/Drive Setup there.
  3. Prepare the disk correctly — PowerPC Macs require an Apple Partition Map and a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volume. For OS 9 installs avoid a journaled HFS+ volume; use a non-journaled HFS+ formatted with APM. Use Disk Utility or Drive Setup on a working Mac to partition/format before running the installer.
  4. Installer compatibility — retail system CDs or the machine-specific restore discs are required. Some restore discs refuse to install to different models. If the internal CD-drive is flaky, use Target Disk Mode or clone a working system from another Mac.

If the replacement Quantum Fireball behaves the same when tested externally, replace it. If the disk is healthy but the Mac still refuses to boot after proper partitioning and a compatible installer, the optical drive or logic-board components may need attention.

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Member Avatar for John A

Where can I get an OS to put on and how do you install the OS? Is it like a PC? I do have a version of OS 9.0.4 but it won't install on the new drive.

Be more specific. Why doesn't OS 9.0.4 install? Does it give out any error messages? To install Mac OS, you need to boot the comptuer from the CD drive of course, which you can do by holding the C key I think (hard to remember, as Apple may have had a different key back then). I think you can also use the D key to select the drive to boot from (includign CD), so you might also want to try that if the C key doesn't work.

The only other operating systems you could install on this G3 are Linux, which I don't recommend for a business, because it becomes a very complex install, and the other operating system is probably Mac OS X, which if it is possible (look up the specs on Apple's website), would probably be the best option. You can get older version of OS X, such as Jaguar or Panther for around $15.

Member Avatar for stevemk

Be more specific. Why doesn't OS 9.0.4 install? Does it give out any error messages? To install Mac OS, you need to boot the comptuer from the CD drive of course, which you can do by holding the C key I think (hard to remember, as Apple may have had a different key back then). I think you can also use the D key to select the drive to boot from (includign CD), so you might also want to try that if the C key doesn't work.

The only other operating systems you could install on this G3 are Linux, which I don't recommend for a business, because it becomes a very complex install, and the other operating system is probably Mac OS X, which if it is possible (look up the specs on Apple's website), would probably be the best option. You can get older version of OS X, such as Jaguar or Panther for around $15.

I tried holding down the C key, but it didn't work. I'll give the D key a try. Thank you for your reply.

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