Thanks for the comprehensive response, Kris. I am away from the Mac at the moment so can't provide the exact number, but the current firmware is definitely below the required 4.2.8. I bought the machine 2nd hand so don't know how Tiger got on it with the firmware it has. I have a second HDD in it, and have cloned the (Tiger) boot drive onto the second, so have that as back-up. I am not familiar with the "NetBoot for Mac OS 9" you provided a link for - can I use that to boot from and run the firmware updater?
Andrew On Aug 28, 3:26 pm, Kris Tilford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Aug 27, 2008, at 10:43 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > I have a PowerMac G4 Ethernet (400MHz) that I want to put a Sonnet > > processor upgrade into, but the upgrade requires an update to the > > firmware. Trouble is, I am running 10.4.11 on the G4 and the firmware > > updater only runs under OS 9 - for which I do not have disks. Is is > > possible to update the firmware without having to go buy the OS 9 > > install CD? > > You should already be running the correct 4.2.8 firmware - I thought > the Tiger installer checks for this before installation unless you > transferred a previously installed System or cloned a system. If not, > you'll need to install a 9.x OS to run the updater from. The easiest > way would be to carve out a new small partition or add a 2nd HD to > your PowerMac, being certain to format it with the OS 9 drivers. Then > you can boot your 10.4.11 OS and install OS 9.2.2 onto the partition > or HD. You may also be able to install 9.2.2 directly onto your > 10.4.11 partition or HD, but sometimes these secondary installations > can't boot, they're restricted to Classic emulation only. My > understanding is that on some Mac models that are capable of dual > booting, the OS 9.x System needs to be installed first for it to be > bootable. Others have reported that OS 9.x systems that are installed > after the OS X are good for Classic only. I don't know if the firmware > updater can be run from Classic, but I suspect not, however you may > want to try? > > You can download OS 9.2.2 from here: > <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120243#English> > > After you install it, be sure to go the the System folder>Extensions > folder and remove the two "Netboot" extensions before trying to use > this system. > > After upgrading the firmware you can trash the entire OS 9 stuff, you > should be good to go. > > Link to firmware updater: > <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120068#English> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
