iMac G3 Snow doesn't like OS 9 anymore

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iMac G3 Snow doesn't like OS 9 anymore

I have a problem with my iMac G3. It used to have OS 9.1 and Panther on different partitions installed in its HD. I don't use Classic within Panther since I spent most of the time using OS 9 (I boot directly the OS 9 system.)
Anyways, I installed the DivX and Xvid codecs for QuickTime under Panther, and it messed up the OS. I had to reinstall it, and since I was gonna do a clean install, I got Tiger cause my friends told me that it's better than Panther so I followed their advise. Bad choice.
After installing Tiger and getting the latest updates, the iMac doesn't boot OS 9. Not from the original installation CD, not from the retail CD, not from the HD.
I zapped the PRAM, forced the Open Firmware to boot from the OS 9 CDs, erased and partitioned again the hard drive using HFS+ volume format with Tiger's disk utility, then with Panther's Disk utility AND THEN with Jaguar's disk utility, always telling the program to install OS 9 disk drivers to no avail.
My iMac just doesn't boot any kind of OS 9 volume, I can't re install it from any CD... I looked everywhere for this problem but I haven't found an answer. I installed Panther again but I need OS 9. Any ideas on how to get my iMac to like OS 9 again?

iMac G3 Snow (Summer 2001), Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jul 17, 2007 3:06 PM

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Answer 1

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Jul 17, 2007 7:28 PM in response to JGDeschamps

Mac OS 9.x doesn't support HFS+J ( HFS extended Journal ) filesytem when you are booting 9.x. You can run classic applications on a HFS+J partition when you are in classic emulation ( classic virtual machine ). Tiger and I assume Panther default to HFS+J when you format a partition. I forget the details, but I found it best to make the 9.x partition the first on the disk.

When you boot from 9.x you will not see a disk icon if the partition is formated for HFS+J. You will need to format the disk. I forget where the 9.x disk formatter is located on the cd, but it is there. Look around.

So:
1) Format the 9.x partition for HFS+
2) Make 9.x the first partition on the disk as reported by disk utility.

Robert

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Answer 2

JGDeschamps Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 18, 2007 5:56 AM in response to rccharles

I know about the HFS+ Journaled incompatability, so I've never used it (only use HFS+.)
I did try the advise about MacOS 9 being the first partition, but it didn't do anything so I tried it with only one partition using Jaguar's disk utility and installing the OS 9 drivers. Still no good.
Something I did try now that I have Panther again is copying the contents of the OS 9 installation CD directly to the partition destined for OS 9 (this I do it within Panther.)
It boots since the HD has the OS 9 system file, finder, etc., but it stops booting before it loads the extensions and I get a warning window that says that I must use the installer and shouldn't copy the files from the CD to the drive, and booting freezes right there. I try booting again from the OS 9 installation CD but it still doesn't work.
No functional OS 9 yet...

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Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Jul 18, 2007 8:18 PM in response to JGDeschamps

After installing Tiger and getting the latest updates, the iMac doesn't boot OS 9. Not from the original installation CD, not from the retail CD, not from the HD.

Your saying that when you put in the cd and hold down the c key when you poweron that your machine will not boot into Mac OS 9.x?

Have you tried holding down the option key when you poweron? This will give you a list of bootable partitions and cds.

I have the iMac g3 600. I think it is the same model as yours. I booted into Mac OS 9.x tonight by putting in the cd then holding down the c key when doing a poweron.
Imac Mac OS 9 Install
9.2.2
cd version 1.1
691-3638-a

You can use the pdisk command to see the real partitions on the disk. This shows the hidden partitions.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
sudo pdisk -l
# enter your logon password
# Whether this works will depend on what version of X you
# are using. There is a slightly different syntax for 10.2.

Here's my setup:
mac $ sudo pdisk -l
Password:

Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/rdisk0'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple partitionmap Apple 63 @ 1
2: Apple_Driver43*Macintosh 56 @ 64
3: Apple_Driver43*Macintosh 56 @ 120
4: Apple DriverATA*Macintosh 56 @ 176
5: Apple DriverATA*Macintosh 56 @ 232
6: Apple_FWDriver Macintosh 512 @ 288
7: Apple DriverIOKit Macintosh 512 @ 800
8: Apple_Patches Patch Partition 512 @ 1312
9: Apple_HFS classic 3881696 @ 1824 ( 1.9G)
10: Apple_HFS Macintosh-HD 69571888 @ 3883520 ( 33.2G)
11: Apple_Bootstrap boot-ubuntu 1954 @ 73455408
12: Apple UNIXSVR2 ubuntu 6158204 @ 73457362 ( 2.9G)
13: Apple UNIXSVR2 swap 407034 @ 79615566 (198.7M)

Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=80022600 (38.2G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
Drivers-
1: 23 @ 64, type=0x1
2: 36 @ 120, type=0xffff
3: 21 @ 176, type=0x701
4: 34 @ 232, type=0xf8ff

Robert

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Answer 4

Jul 19, 2007 4:10 AM in response to JGDeschamps

Is the OS9 CD the one that shipped with the machine?

I ask this because there is an unpleasant little issue with some of the 500 and 600 and all of the 700 MHZ iMacs and OS9. They need 9.2.1 "Restore" or "Universal" or above. They will not boot to 9.1.

'Sounds like that may be your problem, or at least a good stab at it.

David

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Answer 5

JGDeschamps Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 19, 2007 8:32 PM in response to rccharles

Yes, I boot using the "C" key when I turn on the iMac to boot from the CD and it doesn't work. I've also tried the "alt/option" key so the machine checks all the bootable systems available. I've also used at startup the "alt command+shiftdelete" to force the iMac to boot from any alternate OS than the main startup disk (to check if this way it can boot from the CD) and I've also tried "alt command+OF" to use an open firmware command I found to force the computer to boot from the CD drive. None of that has worked.
I tried checking the partition map like Robert said, but I'm not good at using the terminal and I couldn't check what's going on there.
A friend told me over Messenger that he has an OS 9.2 installation CD and he's gonna lend it to me. The OS 9 versions I've tried have been the original installation CD that came with the iMac (9.1.1) that worked perfectly before installing Tiger and a 9.2.1 disc from a friend's Quicksilver PowerMac, which has worked with other Macs (an iceBook G3 and a Special Edition Graphite iMac DV at work.)
I think I'm gonna give up on OS 9...

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