OS X on the B/W is a little flaky at the best of times. Some machines work beautifully and others, like yours, don't want to play.
I note you did not mention what version of OS X you are trying to install. There are limitation on which version it will run.
You now have the machine totally confused and it is time to interrupt its train of, misguided, thought.
First, insert the OS 9 system install disk. This is to boot the machine from later.
Shut the machine down
Remove the power cord and open the side door. Locate the battery. It sits inside a little black coffin like thing. Remove it. Locate the CUDA button. It is a little round rubber thing, like a pencil eraser only much smaller, sitting in a tiny metal square. Press it ONCE. If you see another button similar to that, press it ONCE also. Press the power button on the front of the machine. (I know it is not plugged in, work with me
)
Now go away for at least 20 minutes. This procedure resets the logic board by letting ALL traces of power leak from the board and forcing it, on power-up to reload all it's firmware.
Come back, insert the battery, noting polarity. Shut the door. Plug in the power cord. Press the power button on the front. At the chime, press and hold the C key. If the wind is in your favor, it should start from the CD. First job, set the startup disk to the correct one.
You can remove ALL the OS X files that you put on the drive, they will never be any good. You probably missed a couple of thousand from the CD anyway, they are invisible. Unlike OS 9, you cannot drag and drop OS X anywhere.
Let us know how this worked, or not, for you
P
Hi!
I have a power mac g3 that I've been trying to install OS X on. Every once in a while I just get a wild hair and do something wacky - well - I've tried installing from cd about 10 times and it never works - always goes to a screen that says the mac will restart and begin installation, but then it never starts installation. I can't get this particular mac for some reason to start from cd either by holding the c key down at start up.
SO - idiot that I am, I copied the files for the OS X onto my computer and then changed the start up disk to that OS - and now nothing. I just get blank screen. Obviously because nothing is there to start up from.
Beings I can't get the computer to recognize the keyboard command of C and starting off the cd in the computer - (a previous system cd) - I can't get it to do anything.
So - what can I do to get the computer back to the way it was before I messed it up and why won't it recognize keyboard commands? Is there anyway around this? I've tried 2 different keyboards - one usb and the serial that I usually use.
I need this computer in a major way - I work with it and have things on it that I need.
PLease help.
thanks

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