X on early G3 iMac

[Jon Warms]

On Thursday, June 19, 2003, at 09:00 AM, Mac OS X Newbies wrote:

> That's all true, but it wasn't the cause of all the majority of
> failures that were occurring with the OS X installations in early G3's.
>

Well, not exactly. The marginal memory was simply not recognized by the 
firmware. It didn't directly result in a failure; it just meant the OS 
X installer had less memory to work with -- which generally wasn't good.

> In the vast majority of cases, however, the memory was
> just fine. What people were doing is removing all upgrades (including
> hard drive and CPU upgrades) and re-installing the original hardware.
> Then they'd install OS X, followed by re-installing the same memory and
> other hardware they had before. No problems after that.

This should solve most problems. Though removing-reinstalling memory is 
playing with fire. If memory is broken, you'll find out right away.  
When good memory goes bad later, you'll know it, if only because the 
startup memory test will fail, but this has happened to me or my 
clients only once since 1984. OTOH, I've installed memory boards 
loosely, and had to go back in and push them in better. If the memory 
test doesn't fail, leave the boards alone!

> That's all true, but it wasn't the cause of all the majority of
> failures that were occurring with the OS X installations in early G3's.
> The installations fail at different points during the installation
> process, not during a memory check and not because of marginal or bad

(1) Some of the OS X installers have failed once or twice before 
eventually completing the install successfully. Disconcerting and 
annoying, but no apparent ill effects.

(2) It's important to stress that the read-me files be followed 
carefully, that pre-requisite installations have been completed, and 
that the latest version of the software is being used.

> So I still stand by my original recommendation. Before you do the
> hardware shuffle, try doing the installation one step at a time instead
> of all at once. IMO you really have nothing to lose by trying it.
>
> -Mike

Do your own thing. Which is the Mac way. It'll usually work.

But when someone has a problem, (which is what the issue is here), I 
suggest reading the manual (the read-me files in this case), and 
following them carefully. This will avoid a lot of problems. 1) Read 
the read-me files. 2) Do the pre-requisite installs. 3) Check the 
system config (hardware, memory, and software), 4) Make sure the 
software, the read-me file, and the upgrade are up-to-date. 5)Then 
follow the read-me file like a road map.

Jon