[G4] firmware: update needed?

[John Baltutis]

On 03/11/08, Karen H <piddlepot at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello. I have a Powermac G4 Gigabit Ethernet (dual, 450) that is running
>OS10.3.9. To my knowledge its firmware has never been updated. In system
>profiler it indicates Boot ROM Version is 3.3.4f1
>
> Question:
> 1) I believe this means the firmware is not up to date. True?
> 2) Since all seems to be running smoothly, do I need to update the firmwareto
>the 4.2.8 version?
>
> I'm reading threads indicating I should update firmware, but my hard drive is
>not partitioned and it appears I need to run the firmware update from an
>installed version of OS 9.2 (which I do have an install disc for). I'm not
>sure how to do this since I'm already running 10.3.9 now (i.e.: do i need to
>wipe thehard drive in order to create a second partition, and start fresh, to
>get this firmware?).
>
> Is it easier than I think and I'm missing something? Is the firmware update
>beneficial if I'm not experiencing snags?

The latest for that machine (same as mine) is  Boot ROM Version:	4.2.8f1.
Definitely update the firmware. Get an external HD or anempty partition of one
of your multiple internal HDs, install OS 9, update to 9.2.2
(<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75288>), and then boot with
that volume and install the firmware.

You may be happy with running Panther, but Tiger's significantly better
andfaster. If you use one of the available hacks listed below, you can also
install Leopard, which is significantly better and faster. I've been running
Leopard on mine for over eighteen months (beta-tester). I do have two 128 GB
HDsinternally and 1.5 GB RAM.

<http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071214143723301>
<http://www.tidbits.com/webx?14@@.3cb6ddd5/5>
<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=371302>