upgrade 9.2 to Panther osx on Mac G3

[Margm]

My G3 has 448mb. With regards to os9 was just wondering what happens to the old programes not that I want to keep them but they seem to remain and I've never wanted to delete them incase I lose something.
I've just about given up hope of getting os x installed but I seem to have lost voice in simple text any ideas there?
Thanks for your help with this.
Margm

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

I'm sorry this is so drawn out for you Margm ... what is apparant is that your G3 has encountered a Kernel Panic, that's the message you saw before ... about not finding the Driver for your Mac etc ... I've been trawling the web looking for clues to this and it seems there's been plenty before you who've seen that kernel panic message too but no real answers as to a universal fix.

About OS 9:

Do you have a lot of software installed that you've purchased/downloaded? Whether or not you keep OS9 really depends on what sort of upgrade option you select. You can choose to keep OS 9 installed if you really don't want to see it go but you will need the OS 9 installation discs for future peace of mind. Believe me, I've been there and luckily I was able to pick up a cheap set from eBay.

If you look for Disc First Aid in:

YourMacsHardDrive ~> Applications (Mac OS 9) ~> Utilities ~> Disc First Aid

Launch it, select your Macs HD and click on Verify .. let it do its thing and let me know if it finds any errors .... you can then click on the Repair button.

 

[Margm]

It's frustrating all right but I really appreciate all the advice you've given me. I'm only sorry I didn't take up the 30days online help when I brought osx, but back then I didn't have the internet and only managed to connect my G3 today.

I've done a Disc First Aid and it said everything checked okay.

I don't have a lot of software, and use my computer mainly for writing so I will just have to file osx away in the too hard basket again and be satisfied with 9.2 although I'll miss simple text and it's read back facility.

Thanks again.
Cheers,
Margm

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

The read back facility continues through with all the OS upgrades you'll be pleased to know ... I run Mac OS 10.4.11 and have Text Edit which replaced Simple Text and you can still have text read back to you ....

One last word on the Panther upgrade ... if you have the OS 9 discs you could try to do a Clean Install ... then once that's done try again to upgrade to Panther ... I'm pretty sure you won't need to apply the Firmware Update as once that's done, it can't be undone.

My iBook gave me so many headaches when I tried to upgrade it to Panther ... sure the upgrade went great but then after a bad memory experience (user error) I couldn't boot it up for the life of me ... everyone told me to replace the LogicBoard, even the Mac Store Tech told me the LogicBoard was fried ... I couldn't even reinstall Panther ... I didn't know what was wrong with it.

Well I didn't believe any of them and bought the OS 9 discs from eBay as that was the OS version they were originally released with ... guess what happened when I tried to install OS 9 over the top of Panther .... Yep ... it accepted the installation and I have an iBook resurrected from the scrapheap! The only reason I haven't upgraded it to Panther again is that it doesn't have the minimum amount of RAM due to my clumsiness ....

So maybe it'll work for you too ...

I'm curious about where you bought your Mac from ... you said "the Store" upgraded it to OS 9.2.2 for you? .... I hope they sold you the Mac along with it's Installation discs ... and where did you get the Panther disc? Is it a full install or an upgrade one? The upgrade Disc would require you already have OS X installed ....

 

[Margm]

I don't have 9 os only an upgrade. Will installing 9os help if the computer was originally 8 if you believe so I'll head off to ebay and give it ago.
Thanks again.

 

[Margm]

Hi,

I reinstalled OS9 and now have my read text back and everything is working, tried OS X again but it just won’t install. Thanks for supplying the clean install link I’ll give it a try. Hope clean install doesn’t remove all files and pictures as well?

I purchased Panther from a small retailer in Melbourne, and he didn’t upgrade to OS 9.2.2 for me, he just gave me a copy of the upgrades on disc along with firmware updates and OS X updates. I originally bought Panther for my ibook and he told me I needed to upgrade it to OS 9.2 before I could install Panther.

I might even give the clean install a go on the ibook to see if it helps with my disk full warnings.
Thanks for all your help. I now know more about my Macs than ever.
Cheers,
Margm

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Hi Margm, glad to hear things are going a bit better ... that info you just provided about the retailer giving you the updates on a disc may be the key to the problem ...

Don't use that disc but just download the upgrade to 9.2.2 from Apple's website instead.

The same goes for the Firmware Upgrade .... use this link for that.

I'm presuming you were using the disc the retailer gave you to do these upgrades and hopefully if you use my links there may be a chance you can upgrade to panther after-all.

A Clean Install replaces the System Folder, which contains all the vital parts of the Mac OS, instead of updating or modifying it.

Typically, the old System Folder is renamed Previous System Folder. A clean system install is usually only necessary if parts of the system have become corrupt or damaged and cannot be repaired by utility programs such as Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities.

Here is some further reading:

System Installs etc.

Mac OS 9 Install Guide

Mac OS X 10.3: Upgrading from OS 9.x

The myth of clean installs/Installations Options and their Meaning

To be perfectly honest I'm not 100% sure that a Clean Install won't wipe your Hard Drive so please, please be sure to back up all of your important files/folders/data before you proceed.