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Question about iBook G3

Submitted by Mrsstjohnx on June 3, 2008 - 5:56pm. PowerPC Macs

I just recently got a G3 iBook clamshell model. I think it is Blueberry but looks more like Teal...anyway. It is 300 Mhz but the hard drive is only 6GB. So, I want to replace the hard drive. No problem there, I have taken it apart so many times I cant count. My problem is, the last hard drive I bought, I could not get os x installed on it to save my life. I finally gave up and send the hard drive back (got it on ebay) and got a refund, chalking it up to a faulty hard drive. I just bought another one that actually came from a clamshell g3 (previous one came from a powerbook). I have OS 10.4 install discs. I saw on a apple website that you had to have firewire to run 10.4. Is this true? Will 10.4 not work with the computer I have?

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themike's picture

I don't know whether you can

Submitted by themike on June 3, 2008 - 10:24pm.

I don't know whether you can run Tiger on that machine, but trust me, you don't want to. Stick with Panther (10.3) and you will be a much happier camper.

» .peace.love.harmony.

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cwsmith's picture

Tiger system requirements

Submitted by cwsmith on June 4, 2008 - 12:31am.

• G3, G4 or G5 based Mac running 400 MHz or faster (I've convinced it to run on a 300 MHz Tangerine iBook G3, but it wasn't really very happy about it)
• Built-in FireWire (installer performs a system check for FW before it decides whether you can install -- there are workarounds)
• 256 MB RAM minimum (that same Tangerine iBook ran it on just 96MB, but again not recommended)

About the only way you're going to get Tiger to run on this machine is to (1) netboot into it, as I did -- but not a permanent solution, or (2) install it on your hard drive while it's connected to a machine that meets the requirements, then install it into the iBook.

As the previous poster stated, you're better off to stick with Panther (10.3). The iBook will be much happier, and so will you.

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seth_381's picture

Well ...

Submitted by seth_381 on June 17, 2008 - 10:35am.

First off you should always buy a brand new hardrive old ones are abused and possibly damaged. Two is that make cannot run 10.4 (Tiger) it doesn't have a Firewire port or DVD-Rom drive. Although it can run 10.3 and below, and based on what I've read I wouldn't run anything more than 10.3 on a clamshell they just don't have the resources.

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