Just have to chime in from the sidelines. As one who owns/uses G3 and G4
iMacs and iBooks--all now running OSX10.4.11 with max RAM, I have to give a
round of applause to Jim's email. Concise, accurate; very helpful.
Jim Scott jesco...@gmail.com wrote:
On Aug 16, 2012, at 8:34 PM, rebtevye wipeda...@gmail.com wrote:
USE CASE:
Supporting a grade school Mac lab and am trying to make a consistent
load for all of the iMacs (G3, Indigo, 500MB RAM), with OS 10.4 and OS
9.2.1
PROCESS:
I followed the recommendations in How to Clone Mac OS X to a New Hard
Drive, using Carbon Copy Cloner instead of SuperDuper. To simplify this
operation, I connected the target iMac to the source machine using a
firewire cable, and starting it in [T]arget disk mode.
RESULT:
The transfer went very well, however, when I disconnected the two
machines and tried to boot the target iMac, the gray OSX startup screen
came up briefly, then a black square ~2 x 3 popped up on the screen and
the computer shut down.
When this has happened in the past, I started up from a OSX install
disk and re-installed the OS.
This time, I tried booting in Safe Mode (hold Shift after chime, and
release at gray apple), and the computer booted up, starting me at a user
selection/login screen. When in Safe Mode, I ran Disk Utility and
confirmed permissions were OK. I also reset PRAM on the next restart.
Still, the computer either gave the black warning screen, or just went
dark and shut off.
Any other suggestions? I would rather not re-install from scratch on
every computer, plus I like the advantage of having the same 'student'
and 'admin' user accounts on every iMac in the lab.
What you are experiencing is a kernel panic. In G3 iMacs on which OS X
has been loaded, this usually means bad or incompatible RAM. To
successfully run OS X on a G3 iMac, both sticks must be the same speed,
have the same latency and preferably be made by the same manufacturer.
IOW, they should be identical in all performance characteristics, except
capacity, ie they can be of different sizes (64 MB, 128 MB, etc.)
I have successfully done exactly what you are attempting to do, and also
in a grade school Mac lab.
Since OS X 10.4 is very picky about RAM, and does all sorts of strange
things when it doesn't like the RAM, the first thing I do with a G3 iMac
is to put it on its side and open the RAM door. Then I boot it from the
Apple Hardware Test disk. If the iMac chimes and boots with the installed
RAM, that's a good sign. If it beeps or refuses to chime and boot, I
substitute RAM until it does chime and boot.
If the iMac chimed and booted, I then check to see if the specs of the
two sticks are identical. Both must be matched, with the same latency
(CL: 2.5 etc.), and with the same PC100 or PC 133 numbers. The amount
of RAM on each stick can vary, but the specs must be identical *in that
particular iMac*. Mismatched latency can really play havoc with a G3 iMac
running OS X, as can mismatching PC 100 with PC 133. Data moves at
different speeds because of the mismatch and sooner or later OS X cries
Help! and that's the kernel panic screen you see.
(When I've got a large number of iMacs, I usually put all the available
RAM -- 512 MB is optimal -- into a big pile and laboriously test pairs of
sticks using just one iMac. As I identify specification-matching pairs, I
mark them AHT OK and put them in an iMac. It's a lot of work, but it's
the only way to ensure the iMac will run OK with OS X 10.4. OS X 10.3 and
earlier versions were much more forgiving of mismatched RAM, but not good
ole Tiger.
If, after sorting out the RAM you still have problems, check to make sure
the iMac slot-loader's firmware has been updated to (IIRC) 4.19f1 or
something like that. I still find G3 iMacs that have never had their
firmware upgraded to the latest. Since Apple's Software Update stopped
being available to G3 iMacs online this year, you may have to dig into
apple.com's support website a bit to find and download the firmware
updater.
Have fun!
Jim Scott
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