I can install all mac program files from CD, but can't get my G4 to boot from OS CD. I have a Samsung SM-348B CD/DVD drive and holding the 'C' key does nothing and I don't get an active option in alt. On there web site found platform PC, no mention of mac at all. So I decided to order an external firewire NEC DVD-R that is win and mac OSX up to tiger compatible.. I hope this will solve my problem, How do I proceed to make it active as master?

If you have an AGP Sawtooth G4, I'm pretty sure that all you need to do is put the cd in the drive and reboot , pressing 'c'. External drives don't use master/slave, nor do firewire. If you have a 'Yikes', or PCI bus G4 (the earlier ones), you cannot at all boot from firewire. You should have been asked when you bought the drive which version of G4 you have, if you mentioned it needed to be able to boot from firewire. HTH

Rich, The Samsung should be compatible as-is, though something newer and faster wouldn't hurt. Did you try clearing the firmware? This has worked for me on some ornery G3s (And it's free). In progressive order of extremity, that would mean: 1. reset from keyboard: While powering up the computer, hold down the Command+Option+O+F keys. At the command line prompt, type these commands (press Return after each): reset-nvram set-defaults reset-all The machine will reboot. Some machines don't require the first line. or 2. Push the CUDA switch with the machine off, for at least 30 seconds, let up and reboot. or 3. Pull the power cord and then the mainboard battery, noting its direction (important!). Leave it overnight. Afterward, Put everything back and start up. Pulling the battery for less time sometimes works, but I've really had to go this far before! After the more drastic steps, check and reset the clock. These procedures have cleaned the garbage out of the way so the Mac could find its boot CD on several occasions. I don't know if this is one of them but the symptoms are very familiar. The NEC should go right in in place of the Samsung as an IDE drive once out of its Firewire housing, if the Firewire boot doesn't work. I've had an easier time replacing drives rather than using external burners, consistently. If you do replace, or change any hardware anytime, clear the firmware immediately after and save problems. The most compatible CD/DVD drives are the Pioneer DVR-10x/A0x series, 'cause Apple used them. Not that it's fun to hear that now. Jim