So i decided to update to Panther. It booted off the CD, and everything went ok, until close to the end when the installation screwed up. I rebooted. It didn't do anything. Also scrweed up my OS 9 installation. I backed up all my crap, reformatted, and reinstalled OS 9. OS 9 works fine. Tried booting off the Jag CD to install Jag: Every time i try to boot off the Jag CD it either KPs, or comes up with the following OpenFirmware error:

DEFAULT CATCH!, code=700 at %SRR0: 00000000, SRR1: 00083030

I've tried resetting NVRAM, and the cuda. Here's a rundown of what OS's work and what don't:

8.5: Works fine
8.6: Works fine
9.0: Works fine
9.1: Works fine
9.2: Works fine
Mac OS X Public Beta: Don't have
Mac OS X 10.0: Don't have
Mac OS X 10.1: Works fine
Mac OS X 10.2: Read above
Mac OS X 10.3: Does the same

Anyone got any ideas? I miss my working iMac, and 10.1 is so sloooowwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one of my cube's wouldn't boot/install OSX panther, but jaguar still worked fine. I thought it might have been a graphics card error - because it'd stuff up as OSX reached the blue background with login screen.

I found no solution for this short of replacing the video card (which i didn't do). I sent the cube back and got a refund....

what speed imac is it.
have u installed the firmware update required for jag and panther?
wont work without it.

It's a Revision D Tray Load iMac 333. I actually had Jag on it for nearly 2 years, and for all that time it was as solid as a rock. Unstoppable. Hardly ever crashed. Now it won't boot jag at all.

hmm so youve got a hardware issue then.
video may be a problem?
or ram?

how far through the boot process does it get before you hit a KP?

Updated the firmware? BTW, the switch you call a CUDA is not that, it's a PMU reset, pressing of which can wreck the motherboard (something anyone reading this thread should be cautious of).

1. If my video or RAM was stuffed, then none of the other OS's i tried would work very well. According to TTP my system has no probs.

2. It KPs at the startup screen (Apple logo) in Jag and Panther. KP's hard. Like that screenshot of pipsqeeks' iBook.

3. Firmware was the first thing i checked, i'm running the latest version. As for the CUDA/PMU button, i know on newer Macs it is called the PMU reset, but on my motherboard, at least, it is labled "CUDA RESET". Btw, how can it wreck the motherboard? I've done it on many Macs before, and it's never caused any problems.

Have you run Disk Utility over the HD? Was the HD journalled in the first place? I"d say, get all the data off the machine and do an erase install.

That was one of the first things i tried even before i posted here. Anyway, here's the latest update: I opened it up, pulled the PRAM batt, disconnected everything from the mobo, and left it for 24 hours. It's now installing Jag, and all seems to be fine. Hopefully the next update i give you will be from the iMac.

And all is well in the world once again. The third attempt to install Jag worked fine, and it's now sitting next to me, waiting for me to start installing all my crap again. Hopefully my next post will be from the iMac!

actually it works fine without it until you switch it off for the first time (reseting all cache) at which point you turn it on and get nothing but a black screen.

Just so you know, all is still well with the iMac. Matter of fact, i am typing this very post on it.

So, did you stick with 10.2 or do you have 10.3 on the iMac now?

I only ask, b/c I bought my folks an iMac and installed 10.2 onto it, but I had to do it via Target Disk mode. It would not boot off disk. I'm thinking of installing 10.3 onto it during the Christmas holidays - but I'm not sure whether it will work having read this thread now.

Did you find out what the problem was when trying to install 10.3?

I'm back on 10.2. God knows what happened with 10.3, but either way, i ain't game enough to try again. As for your parents' iMac, by the sound of it, its a slot load iMac. I'm not sure about the track record of Panther on them, but i have a CRT tray load iMac (May 1999, 333 Mhz G3)