Imac behaving badly - and getting worse!

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi,



I have an imac 333 slot loader (256MB/6GB - no firewire) which had 9.1 on it and running fine. I decided to take the plunge despite its age and put jaguar on it as well. when I put Jaguar on all seemed fine except when I booted back into 9. all of the sudden the mac would boot to the dektop and keep giving me "the application finder has a problem" messages like every 5 minutes or so which then quits the finder and immediately elaunches it. I tried fixing permissions in X but no dice. I did a Norton check on it which showed no errors. In exasperation I decided to format the HD and just go back to 9.



I put in the software restore disk and did a complete reformat of the HD.



Now things have gotten worse!



If I boot from the cd which came with the imac when it gets to the desktop I get the strange finder message and quitting problem. the desktop sits there but keeps quitting every 10 minutes now! I tried to reinstall 9 but it gets to about 90% and then hangs. I've tried this several times. The machine will not boot from an ibook, G4 sawtooth cd at all but curiously always boots fine from a Norton System works CD!



I've zapped the PRAM etc but cannot install system 9 onto the machine at all. Luckily, a colleague's wife has the same model so I borrowed her startup cd - same problem!! Since most of the software is classic I really need 9 as opposed to X.



does anyone have any ideas?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    This may not help much, but you do not have a 333mhz slot loading iMac. You have a 350mhz slot loading or 333mhz tray loading. One or the other... there never was a 333mhz slotloading model.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    Quote:

    Originally posted by \\/\\/ickes

    This may not help much, but you do not have a 333mhz slot loading iMac. You have a 350mhz slot loading or 333mhz tray loading. One or the other... there never was a 333mhz slotloading model.



    Duh, they use the Metric System over in the UK for measuring processor speed! So it's a 333 in the UK!
  • Reply 3 of 8
    Quote:

    Originally posted by LoCash

    Duh, they use the Metric System over in the UK for measuring processor speed! So it's a 333 in the UK!







    ...but wait, I use the metric system too! Damn I gotta go find out the -real- speed of my computers...
  • Reply 4 of 8
    Spooky, does this have the original Hard Drive in it? If not, I think I know what the problem is. Get back to us.



    Also, did you do a low level format and zero? (if not... why not?)
  • Reply 5 of 8
    spookyspooky Posts: 504member
    Hi Guys,



    thanx for the replies!



    The hard drive is the original one that the imac came with. I used apple's disk utility and chose chose Format with a single partition.



    does this help?



    thanx
  • Reply 6 of 8
    This technote may help:



    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58179



    As I believe you needed to do this firmware update before installing OS X on the older iMacs. Do you recall if any firmware updates have ever been done to this iMac?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    spookyspooky Posts: 504member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JimDreamworx

    This technote may help:



    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58179



    As I believe you needed to do this firmware update before installing OS X on the older iMacs. Do you recall if any firmware updates have ever been done to this iMac?




    Thanx for the url. I have tried to download a firmware update but am confused. If I click on the link it takes me to software update on apple's web site but the update isn't mentioned. If I click on the imac link it takes me to countless docs but not a direct link. I can find imac firmware update 2.4 and imac update 1.2 but nor firmare update 1.1!



    Would 2.4 be ok? (i guess I mean is it like the combo osX updates - only for firmware?)



    thanx
  • Reply 8 of 8
    THIS WILL EXPLAIN WHAT FIRMWARE IS NEEDED

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117



    SINCE YOU HAVE A SLOT LOADER USE THE FOLLOWING DOWNLOAD LINK

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130



    Remember you will need to be running 9 to get the update to do happy happy stuff.
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