I'm having issues identifying what type of PowerMac G4 Quicksilver I have.
Looking at the stickers on the machine, I initially come to the conclusion that the machine is a Power Macintosh G4 800 DP (Quicksilver)800 MHz PowerPC 7450 (G4) x2 (that's taken from everymac.com) however when going to About This Mac the machine shows it only has one processor, making me think its a Power Macintosh G4 800 (QS 2002)800 MHz PowerPC 7455* (G4). The case itself has these two notes:
In the first of the two it is clear that the case is copyrighted 2001, but in the second it only seems to specify one processor. Since I got this machine second hand and don't know its history, I have considered the fact the logic board or the CPU board may have been replaced. Still I am not sure exactly what machine I have.
Why does all of this even matter? I want to be able to start the machine up with a universal OS9 install, however the 2002 Quicksilver apparently doesn't allow this, and has to be installed from original install discs. I have wheat I believe are the correct discs coincidentally, and OS9 installed fine, however hangs upon a successful boot, unless extensions are disabled.
I really don't know what this machine is, and how I can find out. I have not started up the Apple Hardware Test CD I also have, so if you'd like me to do so and maybe get some info from its report please do ask. I don't even know if it will start up. I'll update this once I have tested it.
Thank you for any replies.
Best Answer
The Mac in question is a Power Macintosh G4 800 (QuickSilver 2002) model built in June 2002. In your case, it has the 800 MHz PowerPC 7455 G4 processor (as opposed to the PowerPC 7450 variant). This processor had a single core, but also had what Apple called an AltiVec Velocity Engine.
The specific model details are: M8493 (EMC 1896) with model identifier PowerMac3,5.
In your question you mentioned Mac OS 9. This model is only officially capable of booting into Mac OS 9.2.2 (not an earlier version).
You can check your serial number!
Since posting this answer I remembered that everymac.com has a lookup function on their site that allows users to enter a serial number to identify their hardware. You can access this at: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/