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Restore Disc Questions

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DoubleHelix

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2008
5
0
Okay. I'm brand new to the Mac world. I've been using PCs my whole life, can build them and am proficient with them.

I recently bought a second hand iMac. It's older, M8812LL/A, Power PC G4 version. I plan on updating the Memory and using this system to get acquainted. If I like it, I'll buy a really nice one.

The lady I bought it from, against my wishes, 'restored' it back to original by giving it to her tech guys at work. None of the OS 9 folder stuff works and she said that they only installed the OSX (10.1.5) disc and nothing else. I don't believe it was done properly and I want to restore it. What I received with the computer is an OS9 Install disc, an OSX (10.1.5) disc and a OSX Jaguar? 10.2 upgrade disc. Also, there are 6 discs that just say 'OS9 Software Restore' on them. Now, some of the stuff on the computer like the DVD player, iTunes and so on work fine. Should I just install the 6 discs? Should I install the OS9 disc and then the OSX disc then the OSX upgrade disc? My research hasn't been as clear as I'd like and some of the answers I have found are confusing because I don't speak Mac yet. I just want to get it restored to where everything works correctly so I can start playing with it. I'll have more questions later, I'm sure, more specifically about how to connect to a network hard drive, but right now I just want it to be like it's new. Can anyone give me some simple new guy advice?
 
Unless you have classic Mac apps that require OS 9, I'd stay away from it. Just install OS X 10.1.5 and then upgrade to OS X 10.2. Depending on the G4 iMac, I'd go as far as to suggest getting a copy of 10.4 Tiger. It's much better than the early versions of OS X.

But if you must install OS 9, start with it and then move on to OS X (10.1.5), then upgrade to 10.2.
Optional: I'd recommend reformatting with 2 or 3 partitions. It'll make it easier when you want to install OS 9 or OS X.

If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by
I just want to get it restored to where everything works correctly so I can start playing with it.
Click to expand...
 
Well, for instance there's a folder on the desktop that says 'Desktop Mac OS 9' and when I click on it I get a message that says 'the alias could not be opened because the original item could not be found'. Also, it came with programs like Worldbook and Mac Office, but when I put in the discs it says it's already installed. Yet, when I try to launch the application from the icon on the message when I put in the disc, I get a message about how it couldn't find the program so it must not be installed. I cannot find it anywhere in the computer, either, so there's something not correct.
 
Thank you very much for the assistance by the way. It's nice that people are willing to give time to help.
 
DoubleHelix said:
Well, for instance there's a folder on the desktop that says 'Desktop Mac OS 9' and when I click on it I get a message that says 'the alias could not be opened because the original item could not be found'. Also, it came with programs like Worldbook and Mac Office, but when I put in the discs it says it's already installed. Yet, when I try to launch the application from the icon on the message when I put in the disc, I get a message about how it couldn't find the program so it must not be installed. I cannot find it anywhere in the computer, either, so there's something not correct.
Click to expand...

Ah I see now. Yeah, if I remember correctly, install OS 9 then OS X and that should help out. If you run into any problems, let us know! :)
 
So, put in the OS9 disc, then the OSX disc, then the upgrade disc last, correct? Should I not need those 6 discs unless I run into some other sort of problem?

Also, the Jaguar disc says 'disc 1' on it, but there is no disc 2. It doesn't say disc 1 of 2, though, so I'm unsure if there is a disc 2. Any idea?
 
DoubleHelix said:
So, put in the OS9 disc, then the OSX disc, then the upgrade disc last, correct? Should I not need those 6 discs unless I run into some other sort of problem?

Also, the Jaguar disc says 'disc 1' on it, but there is no disc 2. It doesn't say disc 1 of 2, though, so I'm unsure if there is a disc 2. Any idea?
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure. I think the OS 9 Installation disc should be bootable so that you can install it. I think the 6 discs are if you want to install OS 9 alone or if it's on CDs and not DVDs. I don't know, but you can check this Apple support article out and see if it helps.

As for Jaguar, if it says Disc 1 then I think there should be a Disc 2. It should be part of the OS or it could be the hardware testing disc. I'm not 100% sure, but it doesn't hurt to try. When you begin to upgrade it should tell you to have both discs ready if it needs them. If not, just reinstall 10.1.5.

Hope this helps!
 
I'll give it a whirl. If I have problems, I'll repost. Thanks again for all of your assistance, I really appreciate it. Hopefully, I'll be able to assist on here after I put in some time and learn something.
 
DoubleHelix said:
Okay. I'm brand new to the Mac world. I've been using PCs my whole life, can build them and am proficient with them.

I recently bought a second hand iMac. It's older, M8812LL/A, Power PC G4 version. I plan on updating the Memory and using this system to get acquainted. If I like it, I'll buy a really nice one.

...
Click to expand...
I know this post is 10 years old... but I desperately need the OS 9 disks for that iMac, it turns out these disks are pretty rare... If your iMac is really M8812LLA and you still have the CDs, is there a way for you to post them online... I would love to run natively OS 9 on my iMac but I can't because I can't find the CDs anywhere...
 
dajuberthelot said:
I know this post is 10 years old... but I desperately need the OS 9 disks for that iMac, it turns out these disks are pretty rare... If your iMac is really M8812LLA and you still have the CDs, is there a way for you to post them online... I would love to run natively OS 9 on my iMac but I can't because I can't find the CDs anywhere...
Click to expand...

Let me see what I can dig up. Might have something somewhere...
 
dajuberthelot said:
I know this post is 10 years old... but I desperately need the OS 9 disks for that iMac, it turns out these disks are pretty rare... If your iMac is really M8812LLA and you still have the CDs, is there a way for you to post them online... I would love to run natively OS 9 on my iMac but I can't because I can't find the CDs anywhere...
Click to expand...
I see the OS 9 disks for sale on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nk...12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&rmvSB=true
 
You probably already know this but I thought it's worth mentioning anyway... The G4 is a PowerPC (pre Intel) machine. Software at this time was transitioning from PPC chips to Intel chips. I'm pretty sure OSX support for PPC ended with 10.4 so anything higher won't help you. Also, while OSX installation disks purchased from Apple during this time would support both PPC and Intel machines, disks shipped with new Intel machines would only support those machines and were not backward compatible with older PPC machines. If you buy from eBay make sure you know what you're getting.
 
Longkeg said:
You probably already know this but I thought it's worth mentioning anyway... The G4 is a PowerPC (pre Intel) machine. Software at this time was transitioning from PPC chips to Intel chips. I'm pretty sure OSX support for PPC ended with 10.4 so anything higher won't help you. Also, while OSX installation disks purchased from Apple during this time would support both PPC and Intel machines, disks shipped with new Intel machines would only support those machines and were not backward compatible with older PPC machines. If you buy from eBay make sure you know what you're getting.
Click to expand...


Close...10.5 is the most recent OS built for PPC Macs.

No idea if these are legit downloads, but there is an impressive set here.

And: They seem to have OS 9 for G3 imacs. Tons of stuff there!
 
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