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Emac and OS 9

We bought an emac from our local school. We turned it on and it booted to os 9. Then I clicked on osx and it booted to osx and asked me to register it. I don't want to register it and would like to get back to os 9. The emac has os 9 and osx (10.1?). I also held down the option key as soon as i hear the fans at startup and the only Operating System it shows available is osx. What do I do?
Thanks

Imac G5 Aluminum, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Imac G3 OS (9.1.1) Emac G4 700MHz Ipod Touch 8 GB

Posted on Sep 17, 2009 6:15 PM

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44 replies

Sep 20, 2009 8:52 AM in response to Don Archibald

No I didn't get any disks. I also have a white imac that is behaving the same way. It loads (osx 10.2) and then when it shows the gray apple and the loading icon it stops, freezes, and up in the top, left hand corner it says "no admin password" and stays frozen. Also, when I hold down option at startup, it goes to the screen with the blue background and only shows the disk last booted into.
Thanks

Sep 20, 2009 12:20 PM in response to corrytonapple

Hi, corrytonapple -

Also, when I hold down option at startup, it goes to the screen with the blue background and only shows the disk last booted into.


That's correct. One of the flaws in the design of Startup Manager (which is what opens when you boot or restart with Option held down) is that for a volume with multiple OS's on it (such as both OS 9 and OSX), it will display as a choice for that volume only the OS last used for normal booting.
Article #HT1310 - Startup Manager: How to Select a Startup Volume

There is a work-around type solution for those who want to be able to choose which OS to use at startup. Set Startup Disk in both OSX and OS 9 to use OS 9; this sets OS 9 in PRAM as the OS to be used for booting. Then whenever you boot normally, the machine will boot into OS 9; when you want to boot into OSX, simply press the X key at or just before the startup chimes sound and keep it held down - this will force the machine to boot using OSX - but it is a one-off event; it will not change the preset for OS 9 in PRAM.

Of course, this is viable only when both OS's are addressable and usable.

***

....then when it shows the gray apple and the loading icon it stops, freezes, and up in the top, left hand corner it says "no admin password" and stays frozen.


Someone else will need to address that issue. I don't use OSX (yet), so do not have sufficient knowledge of its workings to attempt to trouble shoot that.

***

Re the eMac and getting back to OS 9, the only two ways to do that in your situation (OSX set as boot OS but unusable) are the technique Niel mentioned (which is the only keyboard command available to switch OS's) and the one I suggested (which requires a bootable optical disk).

Re what Niel suggested, be sure you hold down all four of those keys (Command-Option-Shift-Delete) simultaneously at or just before the startup chimes sound, and keep them held down until the machine has started to boot to an OS. This is an instruction to the Mac to ignore the OS preset in PRAM and to boot to the next available OS it finds. Note that the "Delete" key to be used is the large one two rows above "Return", not the smaller one in the array above the arrow keys.

If it still doesn't work, repeat, but use the Command, Option, and Shift keys on the left side of the keyboard (takes two hands for this) - sometimes one set will work when the other does not. And, Capslock is not a substitute for holding down Shift when it comes to keyboard commands.

Sep 20, 2009 3:04 PM in response to Don Archibald

I tried that and it booted to os 9 with the Finder face and the flashing question mark on the folder. I then let go of the keys and I waited a minute. Then it went to osx. I will try again and this time not let go of the keys until I know it booted to os 9. I didn't know though I needed to hold down the bigger delete key. I also have never had a problem with os 9 on this computer. Also, I noticed it was kind of sluggish compared to some imac G3s. Is this because of having two OSs?
Thanks

Sep 20, 2009 10:06 PM in response to corrytonapple

Hi, corrytonapple -

Also, I noticed it was kind of sluggish compared to some imac G3s. Is this because of having two OSs?


Probably not.

Since the machine can boot to only one OS at a time, when it is booted to OS 9 then all files related to OSX (including the OS itself) are nothing but inert data files - they occupy space on the hard drive, but do not increase the burden on OS 9, hence do not slow it down.

Things that can cause sluggishness in OS 9 include -

User Tip - Sluggish Finder

• Too many extensions and control panels enabled. Unnecessary extensions and control panels can load up the OS, slowing down its responsiveness. Extensions and control panels for services never used should be disabled in Extensions Manager. If you click the bluish toggle-arrow at the bottom of the Extensions Manager window, "Show Item Information, then when you click on the name of an item in the list some info about it will usually be displayed in the new pane at the bottom; this info can help you determine whether you need an item or not. Take notes so that you can revert if you turn off something actually needed.

• Too many fonts in the Fonts folder. All fonts in that folder a loaded when the OS loads, so the more fonts, the greater the burden on the OS. Relatedly, a damaged font can consume excessive OS memory.

• A bloated desktop file. Rebuilding the desktop file can fix that -
Article #HT2344 - Rebuilding Desktop File and Icon Recovery

• Insufficient RAM. Although OS 9 can run in as little as 64MB of RAM on some machines, I would not expect OS 9, especially OS 9.1 and later, to be able to get its best subjective speed if the physical RAM is less than 384MB; more is better. Virtual Memory is a poor substitute for physical RAM. Once you get the RAM up to about 512MB or more, disabling Virtual Memory will often yield faster subjective times.

Sep 21, 2009 9:20 PM in response to corrytonapple

Hi, corrytonapple -

Also, since it's blinking the finder face and a question mark, do I need an OS 9 cd?


You may, if you feel that re-installing OS 9 is a solution.

Being able to boot to an OS 9 install CD can also help determine whether the OS 9 System Folder on the hard drive is still blessed (shows the OS glyph superimposed on a normal folder icon), and can aid in other ways of trouble-shooting an issue.

The blinking Finder face and question mark indicates that the machine can not find a bootable OS. This situation can be caused by many things - the System Folder has, for some reason, become unblessed (easy to fix, if you have a bootble CD using OS 9); one or more of the critical files in the System Folder have become damaged, or have been relocated from where they belong (for example, moving the Extensions folder out of the System Folder will kill the ability to use that System Folder for booting; ditto certain other files); or something else.

If you get an appropriate version OS 9 Install CD, after booting to it first verify visually that the System Folder is blessed, then run Disk First Aid from the Utilities folder on the CD. Let DFA examine the drive and fix whatever it finds wrong, if it can.

Sep 22, 2009 10:12 PM in response to corrytonapple

Hi, corrytonapple -

Why would my system folder become unblessed?


I don;t know. Sometimes it just happens - that's rare, but it does occur. Or, perhaps one of the files critical to it, such as Finder or System, got moved outside the System Folder or into an internal folder - if either (or both) of those files are not exactly where they belong (loose in the System Folder), the System Folder will not be recognized as such.

Or it could be something else.

Sep 24, 2009 1:50 PM in response to corrytonapple

Hi, corrytonapple -

Certainly.

When running OS 9, there is no need to have any OSX system files present; they are completely useless to and unusable by OS 9.

The simple way to get rid of it is to just throw it away - drag OSX's folders to the Trash and empty it. This won't get rid of all of it (OSX has a bunch of invisible things), but it will get rid of most of the space-absorbing stuff.

I would be a little more cautious about trashing OSX programs. One or more may be what is referred to as an Application Program Package. This is actually a specialized folder even though it looks (and behaves) like a program; when you doble-click its icon the program runs. This specialized package folder typically contains both OSX and OS 9 forms of the program; each OS knows which form to use when you double-click the package's icon. It could be that you have such without knowing it - a common one of this class-type is AppleWorks 6. Often the Application Program Package's name will have the suffixe ".app". Any programs of this kind should be retained, since they are usable in OS 9.

Emac and OS 9

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