Q: iMac G3 new hard drive
-
Mar 31, 2013 11:59 PMby rockstar-plus,Okay, so try the "boot mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@0:12,\\:tbxi" command??
I'm sorry, software so isn't my forte. I find it kinda hard understanding this. I can assemble a computer with my eyes closed, but do you think I can work in a command line interface? I couldn't to save my life!
-
Apr 1, 2013 11:50 AMby rccharles,Yes.
Do the devalias command. To see what you machine has set for boot-dev. See what you have. Then type it. Try changing the partition number.
then type:
boot mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@0:12,\\:tbxi
The 12 is the partition to boot. I doubt your will be 12. My first visible partition is 10. You can do the up arrow to get the previous command. back arrow and delete keys work.
I played around in open firmware today. didn't find out anything exciting.
I did get out a list of all the hardware devices:
dev /
ls
This does list out all the hardware devices attached to the machine. If you can read fast. It lists down the device but not to the partition. I was not able to find partition info.
-
Apr 4, 2013 12:52 AMby rockstar-plus,Okay, so I played around with your idea. I went from 9 through 15, and all of them gave me the answer "can't OPEN" and then printed what I'd just typed.
With the "ls" command, I get a list of everything in the machine. It included what I believe is the hard drive:
ff84dbd8: /ata-disk
It isn't the CD-ROM, as that is right below it, under "/atapi-disk", and I know enough to know that ATAPI is a removable media interface.
What could I try next? I'm kinda desperate for help.
-
Apr 4, 2013 9:53 AMby rccharles,I suggest trying:
boot hd,\\:tbxi
This should search all partitions on your hd for a bootable os. You should see it as the default when you do the devalias command. I read the meaning of this stuff:
hd is the device address. hd is in the device alias table -- devalias. \\ is search all partition for the blessed folder. :tbxi is the file type of the boot file. Mac OS 9 has hidden file type info. tbxi is the hidden file type.
I would try the lower numbers 1 to 8. I do not know how many partitions are on the hd. I wish there was come way of telling.
I was reading about open firmware. I say a passage that if you messed up the open firmware variables and reseting the machine did not work, you should take the battery out for 10 minutes.
I think I'll see if I can get someone else to look at these posts.
Robert
-
Apr 6, 2013 1:19 AMby rockstar-plus,That also came up with a can't OPEN command, however an annoyance came up.
I tried booting the machine without a hard drive installed at all, and I still got the ff84dbd8 ata-disk found, which makes me believe that open firmware simply finds the buses and interfaces to this device, rather than the device itself.
My friend, as he is collecting Macs, might be getting a 366MHz iBook FireWire clamshell, which is a bonus as, not only does it have FireWire, it has a 256MB stick of RAM (and both machines use the same kind of RAM), so I may be able try an OS X install.
Anything else to try?
-
Apr 6, 2013 1:05 PMby rccharles,Did you do the remove the battery thing?
You saw interesting results with the hd removed. How does the machine know it is dealing with a hd or cd-rom? How much is figured out? It has all the devices defined in devalias.
Perhaps you have done enough playing. I remember confusing a Windows once when I swayed a harddrive into a cd port. Everything worked fine until I put the cd-rom back. Windows never understood the cd-rom was back.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Could there be sometype of harddrive incompatiblity?
iMac g3 233 rev a had this hd quantum Fireball SE 4.0gb FBsea 655-011 It does have a mac icon on the hd.
This 80gib drive worked in the iMac g3 233 rev a ST380012A.
--------------------------------------------------------------
about memory. iMac g3 233 was spec'd by apple to take 256meg. Trail & error revealed the machine would take 384meg and some would take 512. models b 233, c 266 and d 333 would take 512meg.
Robert
-
Apr 6, 2013 3:33 PMby rockstar-plus,I haven't tried the remove battery idea, nor pushing the CUDA switch. I may try this.
It figures out what goes where by the simple fact of the CD-ROM uses ATAPI, whereas the HD uses standard ATA. They are physically a different size, and ATAPI carries power to the CD-ROM, whereas the HD has a Molex connector.
Open Firmware even calls the ATAPI port "CD-ROM" and the ATA port "HD", which I mistook for it actually seeing the HD. It simply sees the ATA port on the logic board.
Yes, Apple hard-drives have an Apple logo on the HD. My G4 has its original Apple-branded 120GB Seagate Barracuda. I would try copying it, but it is my main drive, and has alot of my data on it, along with a copy of Leopard that the G3 very obviously won't be able to boot from.
My machine is a Rev.B Bondi (can take 512MB), as the GPU says "ATI RAGE PRO TURBO PCI" rather than the Rage IIC of the Rev.A models. RAM restrictions aren't a huge issue, as I think the main bottleneck of this system is its terribly slow 16MB/s ATA bus, although enough RAM to try OS X would be nice. Unfortunately, because this isn't my machine, I really don't want to sink money into it. I'll try to get my friend to get me a 256MB DIMM.
-
Apr 7, 2013 4:00 PMby rccharles,I asked BDAqua to look over this thread.
He ask me some interesting questions in this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21724592#21724592
Robert
-
Apr 8, 2013 4:08 AMby a brody,Hate to burst your bubble, but Apple stopped Mac OS 9 booting in the shift to Firewire 800 as a standard component on G4 towers. eMacs were even more arbitrary, only certain 1 Ghz nonsuperdrive ATI eMacs could boot 9. An October release that year changed it so all couldn't see my FAQ http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html for all distinctions of 9 booting. I may get compensation from my links.
