# Complicated iMac problem



## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

Ok, so I went to a garage sale over the summer and I saw an old apple G3 and was like whoa! Only $3! So I bought it. I got it up to 8.6 and it kind of broke. When ever I turn it on, it has the finder symbol and flashes to a ?. So I now have some iMac 9..2 and 10.0 installer disks to have my firmware updated and system and it says I can't update it because my volume is locked. I have to get into the regular system to unlock it but I can't because of the incompetence $3 computer. So what do I do?


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## dannyn (Nov 9, 2007)

hello and welcome to *tsg*
do you have the restore disks that came with it


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## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

no... all that it came with was the comp, keyboard, and mouse


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

MeijinSan said:


> So I now have some iMac 9..2 and 10.0 installer disks to have my firmware updated and system and it says I can't update it because my volume is locked.


This happens when you start the computer up from the 9.2 CD? (Press & hold "C" key when booting.)


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## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

no, when i boot from the CD, it works fine. when i try to install it, it says i need to update my firmware manually, and that the files are on CD, which I found. When i try to update it, it says I need to manually unlock the volume. But i can't access my original system utilities because of the lack of firmware updation.


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Can you tell me the error exact message (word for word)? Thanks.


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Also - when you boot from the CD, are you able to open the Utilities folder and locate Disk First Aid?


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## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

When i boot from CD, all i can get to is the CD icon and the trash bin. the error messege goes like this:

The iMac Firmware Updater cannot move neccessary files to the current system folder because the volume is locked. Your firmware will not be updated. Please restart from an unlocked volume.


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Hello again:

OK, let me back up a step. Have you tried resetting the PRAM and NVRAM?

1. Shut down the computer. 

2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. (You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.)

3. Turn on the computer.

4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

6. Release the keys.

Let me know what happens . . . 

Also - when you boot from the CD and get the CD icon & trash bin, do you have the Apple menu at the top?


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## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

Well its fixed now. I had a friend come over to reinstall what it had: 8.6. Then I upgraded it to 9.1 and now its fine. but i still need to update my java, which is out of date, which sucks because apple uses a higher java than I can support. any ideas?


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## MeijinSan (Jan 24, 2008)

ok, another guick question. how can i download and run dmg files like firefox for my mac?


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## dannyn (Nov 9, 2007)

what you have to do is download mac apps you can't just run the normal of ones


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

MeijinSan said:


> ok, another guick question. how can i download and run dmg files like firefox for my mac?


OS 9 does not support opening .dmg files. The .dmg file is an OS X disk copy image file. You could open the .dmg files on an OS X machine and copy the opened files to a CD.

Disk Copy has been known to open _some_ .dmg files in 9.2

Still looking for info for you on how to update Java . . . .


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