3DMonkey

Q: How can I reinstall OS9 on Graphite iMac DV SE 400?

Hello All

 

I have an iMac DV Special Edition 400Mhz PowerPC G3 (Graphite) with upgraded 640MB RAM from 2000. It shipped with OS9. I later installed OSX (10.2.8) around 2003 etc.

 

I had both OS9 and OSX all running perfectly. However, because my HD became full over the years with various software packages and versions affecting performance, I erased the entire HD and formatted it (Extended/HFS+ with OS9 drivers) to do a clean install of both OS9 and OSX. (Now before the criticism starts flooding in, yes, I know now that this was stupid and wreckless.)

 

Now I can only install OSX. The iMac does not recognise the original (orange cds)software restore or install discs that came with the machine. I even have the OS9.2 update disc (orange '9' on white cd) and the iMac does not recognise that either. I have repeatedly erased and formatted the HD to install OS9 in various ways but so far no luck.

 

Now before some of you start saying I should invest in new equipment, this is not my only mac, I also have a 2010 Macbook Pro. But I need to install OS9 on my iMac as well because I have some software packages that only run on OS9 eg SoundEdit 16. 

 

So, is there a way to restore the original iMac software or set the machine back to factory default? You would think Apple would have covered this situation with a simple straight forward way to fix this. And I'm not the only one facing this problem as can be seen from postings on various forums. I am not familiar with Xtools or whatever it is called but I read somewhere there are 'packages' that restore the original factory settings.  I also have the OSX Developer Tools cd that came with OSX. Is there any way I can use this perhaps to install OS9? Or is there is another way to install OS9?

 

Please help me.  Any and all advice appreciated. Thank you.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.2.x) , Graphite iMac DV SE (400)

Posted on Jan 19, 2012 10:24 AM

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Q: How can I reinstall OS9 on Graphite iMac DV SE 400?

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  • by 3DMonkey,

    3DMonkey 3DMonkey Feb 8, 2012 12:43 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2012 12:43 PM in response to John Galt

    Thank you John Galt. Actually, when you get the time it would be useful if you could let me know where the OS9 systems folder resides in the  OSX directory. And then possibly, having a copy of the said file zipped and emailed, only if and when it is convenient for you ofcourse.  Thanks.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Feb 8, 2012 1:48 PM in response to 3DMonkey
    Level 8 (49,059 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 8, 2012 1:48 PM in response to 3DMonkey

    I'm more than willing to help 3DMonkey, but I'm quite certain Apple does not consider OS 9 public domain. So emailing it would infringe upon their copyright and they can afford to pay their attorneys more than I could mine. Besides, I don't believe it would be as simple as copying it to your HD anyway. The installer probably does more than copy files, though I'm not sure what. Probably modifies the boot blocks or something.

     

    I will check where the folder resides but I'm reasonably sure it's at the root level. Knowing its location probably won't help though.

     

    OS 9 retail install discs show up from time to time on eBay, though I can't find any at the moment. Amazon Marketplace has them at absurd prices. So does this vendor: http://hardcoremac.stores.yahoo.net/

     

    I'll let you know what I find out with my iMac.

  • by kurt188,

    kurt188 kurt188 Feb 8, 2012 1:53 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Feb 8, 2012 1:53 PM in response to John Galt

    If you're looking just for a retail OS 9 disc, you can also usually find them via Craigslist, depending on which city you live in. Another possible source is to join Freecycle.org and post a Wanted request for a retail OS 9 disc. Everything on Freecycle must be free, per the member requirements.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Feb 8, 2012 11:22 PM in response to 3DMonkey
    Level 8 (49,059 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 8, 2012 11:22 PM in response to 3DMonkey

    OK 3DMonkey, here is what I determined:

     

    You can boot the DV SE with the OS 9 retail disk by holding the "c" key at startup. Apparently, the technique of using the option key (which is normal for OS X) won't recognize the optical drive as a startup device. Apparently my recollection of an inability to boot an OS 9 formatted CD with updated iMac firmware is not correct.

     

    As I wrote earlier, I do not know if the "c" key technique will work if the optical drive has been replaced - mine is original so it works.

     

    Once you install OS X and the drivers for Classic/OS 9 you can use the Option key which enables you to choose the OS 9 System Folder on the HD. Installing OS 9 is painfully slow as it wants to check the entire hard disk for integrity at every step. The iMac originally came with a 30 or 40 GB HD but I upgraded it to the largest one possible 128 GB. The OS 9 programmers probably never thought they would have to integrity-check such an enormous disk.

     

    Here is the root level directory on mine

     

     

    Last login: Wed Feb  8 20:25:34 on console

    Welcome to Darwin!

    Johns-iMac:~ john$ cd /

    Johns-iMac:/ john$ ls -l

    total 1611746

    -rwxr-xr-x    1 root   john      925696 Feb  8 18:31 AppleShare PDS

    drwxrwxr-x   87 root   admin       2958 Feb  8 20:14 Applications

    drwxr-xr-x   15 root   john         510 May 31  2010 Applications (Mac OS 9)

    drwxr-xr-x    2 john   john          68 Feb  8 19:30 Cleanup At Startup

    drwx------    8 john   admin        272 Jul 18  2011 Desktop

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 john   john          15 Nov  6  2008 Desktop (Mac OS 9) -> /Desktop Folder

    drwxrwxrwx   13 root   staff        442 May 31  2010 Desktop Folder

    -rwxr-xr-x    1 root   john           0 Aug 28  2000 DesktopPrinters DB

    drwxr-xr-x   12 root   john         408 Dec  4  2005 Documents

    drwxrwxr-t   42 root   admin       1428 Feb  8 19:16 Library

    drwxr-xr-x    1 root   wheel        512 Feb  8 20:25 Network

    drwxr-xr-x    4 root   wheel        136 Feb  8 20:23 System

    drwxrwxrwx   51 root   admin       1734 Feb  8 18:31 System Folder

    drwxrwxr-t    8 root   admin        272 Feb  8 19:14 Users

    -rwxr-xr-x    1 john   john   815792128 Feb  8 19:30 VM Storage

    drwxrwxrwt    6 root   admin        204 Feb  8 20:24 Volumes

    drwxrwxrwt    2 root   wheel         68 Apr 22  2001 Volumes (Mac OS 9)

    drwxr-xr-x    4 root   john         136 Apr  3  2005 automount

    drwxr-xr-x   40 root   wheel       1360 Feb  8 20:12 bin

    drwxrwxr-t    2 root   admin         68 Apr  3  2005 cores

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 john   john          13 Nov  6  2008 cores (Mac OS 9) -> private/cores

    dr-xr-xr-x    2 root   wheel        512 Feb  8 20:23 dev

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   admin         11 Feb  8 18:49 etc -> private/etc

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 john   john          11 Nov  6  2008 etc (Mac OS 9) -> private/etc

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   admin          9 Feb  8 20:23 mach -> /mach.sym

    -r--r--r--    1 root   admin     604360 Feb  8 20:23 mach.sym

    -rw-r--r--    1 root   wheel    4352200 Oct 10  2007 mach_kernel

    drwxr-xr-x    6 root   wheel        204 Feb  8 20:23 private

    drwxr-xr-x   63 root   wheel       2142 Feb  8 20:13 sbin

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   admin         11 Feb  8 18:52 tmp -> private/tmp

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 john   john          11 Nov  6  2008 tmp (Mac OS 9) -> private/tmp

    drwxr-xr-x    8 root   wheel        272 Mar 28  2005 usr

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root   admin         11 Feb  8 18:52 var -> private/var

    lrwxr-xr-x    1 john   john          11 Nov  6  2008 var (Mac OS 9) -> private/var

    Johns-iMac:/ john$

     

    The OS 9 System Folder is called just, that whereas the OS X System folder is called "System". Most of the other files are OS X specific.

     

    As you can see there are a lot of other files that relate to OS 9, not just the "System Folder" contents. So it's not as simple as just copying the folder - that alone would not be sufficient to boot OS 9. Furthermore, the HD boot blocks are not determinable from the above, and I think that is what you need to boot OS 9. I believe that can only be accomplished with the retail distribution CD-ROM.

     

    Let me know if this helps, or if there is anything else you want me to do with the DV SE before I put it back into storage.

     

    Here is a screenshot of the machine booted in OS 9:

     

    Picture 01.jpg

     

    and another of a circa 1987 program that I originally bought for my SE/30, running on the iMac:

     

    WK.jpg

     

     

    Yes it still works, even if Compuserve isn't around any more

  • by 3DMonkey,

    3DMonkey 3DMonkey Feb 9, 2012 3:57 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2012 3:57 AM in response to John Galt

    Thanks John for your time and trouble. I will study the screenshots you have posted and try to replicate the directory once I find a copy of the systems folder from a Mac with OS9 working on it from somewhere. Unfortunately, according to what I have gathered from various forums, a normal (CD) install of OS9 has been locked out by the OSX firmware. So it seems the only way to put any version of OS9 (Classic included) back on to the iMac is through disc target mode from another Mac with OS9 installed, as others have already.

  • by 3DMonkey,

    3DMonkey 3DMonkey Feb 9, 2012 4:54 AM in response to kurt188
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2012 4:54 AM in response to kurt188

    Kurt, just to let you know, (as mentioned in my original post) I already have the original (OS 9.0.4) install and restore discs that came with the iMac, as well as the OS9.1 retail disc which came with the OSX (Jaguar) retail discs from Apple. But thank you all the same.

  • by archidob,

    archidob archidob Jan 22, 2013 7:07 AM in response to 3DMonkey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 22, 2013 7:07 AM in response to 3DMonkey

    Hi everybody,

    I got exactly the same trouble, after ten or more installations I finally solved it whith the following process :

    Step 0 : formating the HD using disk tools on mac OS X v10.2 install disk, be sure to check os 9 support

    Step 1 : mac os x v10.2 installed from original retrail disc

    Step 2 : then I had exactly the same issue whith classic "can't start form a copy"

    Step 3 : reboot on os x 10.2

    Step 4 :  then updated the os 9 support from an original grey mac os 9 install disk which came with a mac mini (before step 1, the iMac was not able to boot on this disk)

     

    The os 9 is now version 9.2.2 and the rom version is vFU1-10.2.1, the iMac fires up on OS 9 !!

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