Mac Daniel's Advice

How to Recover from a Beige G3 Startup Error

Dan Knight - 2012.07.19 - Tip Jar

Popularity:

Short link: http://bit.ly/NVAmDd

Low End Mac reader David M. was unsuccessful in his attempt to install OS X 10.2.8 Jaguar on his Beige Power Mac G3. The attempt caused the computer to boot into Open Firmware, and he found several similar results on the Web.

Beige Power Mac G3

In a nutshell, the computer boots to a white screen with a strange error message - $d, unknown word - and will not respond to standard remedies such as booting from the OS CD or responding to most keyboard commands.

The Symptoms

Error message: $d, unknown word or $d, unknown word DEFAULT CATCH!, code=FF808000 at %SRR0: DEFAULT CATCH! code=FFF00700 at %SRR0 or something similar.

Apple's support forums indicate that this may be due to a dead or failing PRAM battery, and it can sometimes be resolved by zapping the PRAM (holding down Cmd-Opt-p-r during startup) and letting it chime three times.

It could also be due to having outdated firmware. If the Apple Ultra Wide SCSI PCI card is installed, you must to have Mac OS X 10.0 SCSI Card Update installed, and it can only be installed when booted into Mac OS 9.

The Fix

Boot into open Firmware: Hold down Cmd-Opt-o-f and then press the power key.
At the prompt on the white screen, type: init-nvram

Once you have it running, replace the PRAM battery, press the CUDA switch on the logic board, and then reset the date and time.

The CUDA reset switch is next to the PCI expansion slots.

Based on his experiences, David warns: "Never try to install OS X on a Power Macintosh Beige G3, despite the tech data indicating the OS will install."

I wouldn't make such a blanket pronouncement. I have run OS X 10.2.8 on a Beige G3 successfully, and it does require that you follow all instructions carefully:

Be sure you have a fresh PRAM battery. A used one that tests good may not have enough power.
Although you can run it with less, you should have at least 128 MB of RAM installed. More is better, and you can go as high as 768 MB.
Remove any third-party PCI cards before installing OS X 10.2. You can put them back afterwards, and many will be recognized automatically.
Your boot drive must be 8 GB or smaller. If not, you must partition the drive so the first partition is less than 8 GB in size (we suggest 7 GB to play it safe), and that is the only partition you can boot OS X from.
Install Mac OS 9 and all updates.
If you have Apple's SCSI card installed, be sure to install Mac OS X 10.0 SCSI Card Update while booted into OS 9.
Install Mac OS X 10.2 and all updates.
Reinstall any pulled PCI cards and find drivers for those that are not already supported by OS X.

I'm certainly not suggesting that you install Jaguar and plan to use it as your everyday operating system, but it you want to run OS X on a Beige G3, this is the last supported version. It's very outdated, there's very little software available for it, but it can be done.

When Is Your PowerPC Mac Too Old?, Dan Knight, Low End Mac, 2011. "If I had a Mac that could only run OS X through 10.2.8, I would probably stick with the Classic Mac OS."
OS X Notes for Beige G3 Systems, Operator Headgap, 2009. "...stay on Jaguar (10.2.8) if you are on a Beige System."
Power Mac G3 Desktop (Gossamer), Mac Gurus. Good hardware overview.
Installing Mac OS X on Beige G3, Richard Akerman, 2003. Recommends avoiding versions 10.2.3 through 10.2.6 due to problems mounting disk images and with graphics drivers. No comments on 10.2.7 or 10.2.8.
The Beige G3 Question, MacCetera, circa 2007. Lots of information. Recommends installing an ATI Rage 128 pulled from a Blue & White Power Mac G3 for improved graphics.
Installing OS X on Beige G3, Mac OS X Hints, 2001. Deals with the 8 GB limit on the boot partition.

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Port Wars: Thunderbolt vs. USB 3, PCIe Cable, and FireWire, Dan Knight, 2012.06.14. Thunderbolt is very fast, USB 3 half as fast, FireWire is on the ropes, and PCIe Cable could blow away Thunderbolt.
OWC Legacy SSD Tested in Mystic Power Mac G4, Dan Knight, 2011.07.15. G4 Power Macs don't have built-in SATA support, and most SSDs are SATA devices. OWC's legacy SSDs work on the older Mac's IDE bus.
OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD Legacy Edition Tested in Blue & White Power Mac G3, Dan Knight, 2011.06.24. The Blue & White G3 has a slow ATA/33 data bus. Will OWC's Legacy SSD outperform a fast hard drive with that bottleneck?
More in the Mac Daniel index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: PowerBook 145, introduced 1992.08.03. About 70% faster than the 140, the 25 MHz 145 was quite a value.
May 21 in LEM history: 99: Not censorship - 01: USB and FireWire drives - 02: Hooked by a PowerBook - Printer sharing for Mac OS X - 04: Less frequent OS X uprades: Good or bad? - 07: I won't get an iPhone this year - Can 262,144 colors be considered 'millions'? - Most durable 'Book - 3 GB in a Mac mini? - 08: Quadra a great server for vintage Mac network
Support Low End Mac

Recent Content on Low End Mac

World Book Encyclopedia 2012 DVD, Tommy Thomas, Reviews, 2013.03.05. "You may be asking yourself, in an age of Wikipedia and instant information, is World Book still relevant?"
Vintage Computer Festival SouthEast, April 20-21, 2013, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 2013.02.25. Old Apple gear and old PCs.
iMessage: The Ultimate Messaging Service?, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 2013.02.21. In most ways, Apple's iMessage is far superior to BlackBerry Messenger.
More links in our archive.

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2013 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.