Flashing Folder at bootup after OSX Install

Havok,

If you do not have a charged, working main battery, and you disconnect the power adapter and/or turn off power to the power adapter, the internal rechargeable backup battery will run flat...this may be corrupting the power manager.

Here is how the internal backup battery works:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30580

If the above is the case, leave the 'book powered. If you leave it powered but still have the problem, try resetting the power manager, then starting.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Havok,

You should not have to reinstall the OS if the powerbook is shut down properly and then the power adapter is disconnected or powered off. You should be able to perform a power manager reset (powerbook off) to straighten things out.

If you start to the flashing '?', first try a 'command(Apple)-ctrl-power button' to force restart the powerbook. If no success, shut down the powerbook, then try the power manager reset. If you have a flashing '?', you should be able to shut down by pressing the power button - a dialogue box should come up with the option to shut down - press the 'return' key to do so.

Havok,

It is unusual that leaving the power adapter connected at all times still presents a flashing '?'.

- Once running, can you perform a restart without problems?

- Can you sleep/wake the 'book without problems?

- If you shut down, then restart, do you always get the flashing '?' ?

- If you wish, test your internal backup battery by following these instructions:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30017

- Did the 'book come with any Classic MacOS 8.1 > 9.x CDs? If so, boot to the CD > Utilities folder > launch Drive Setup > run Test Disk. This can reveal if you possibly have a problem with bad blocks or other issues. When Drive Setup is running, you can open Drive Setup Help from the menu bar. There is also a way to force an IDE HD to reallocate/spare bad blocks...go to Initialization Options > select 'write all zeroes' or 'zero all data' > select HFS/MacOS Extended Format > run, then Test Disk again.

Havok,

I am running out of ideas, but two suggestions...

- Try resetting Open Firmware:

Boot into Open Firmware by holding down the 'Command-Option-O-F' keys from a cold start while the chime is being played. You will see a command-line screen...enter these commands:

1. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
2. Press Return.
3. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
4. Press Return.
Example:
0 > reset-nvram
Press Return
0 > reset-all
Press Return

The reset-all command should cause the computer to restart. If this occurs, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings.

- The other suggestion is more of a comment on how the Wallstreet and only the Wallstreet, at least in the powerbook line, can have a problem with any version of OSX affecting the power manager. Some Wallstreets will start to a black display and/or wake to a black display; PRAM or power manager resets will not correct the problem. The only fix is a startup to a pre-OSX System (OS 8.1-9.2.2) if installed on the HD or to a CD...this corrects the problem with the power manager. I have never seen an explanation of what is disturbed by OSX nor how booting to "Classic" fixes it.

Of course, you are not starting to a black display but I just thought this might be helpful in the future.

If your powerbook runs properly after installing OSX plus will continue to start up to OSX as long as a hot power adapter is always connected, you may have to buy a working main battery so you can disconnect the power adapter and become mobile...the main battery will provide the same protection as does the power adapter.

Havok,

That was a good test on your part and am glad you had the MacOS 8.6 CD with which to test.

I can only answer your question in this way...OSX can be a problem on the Wallstreet in the way I spoke of earlier, nor does it appear that you have a hardware problem (except the dead backup battery) since Classic seems to run fine. I don't know if Apple made any changes to later versions of OSX which might mitigate this issue but 10.1.x was still an early release.

I also have a Wallstreet running 10.4.4 (via XPostFacto) and 9.2.2 and it seems to run just fine. However, I just tried booting into Open Firmware and booting to my OSX 10.1 CD...I was unsuccessful with both although I have been successful in the past. I did not pursue this by resetting PRAM and power manager but I will in the future. Also, when installing Jaguar 10.2 from CD, I was never ever to reboot to the just-installed 10.2 on the HD...it always started back up to the CD. My only solution was to pop open the CD tray after shutting down or during restart. So the Wallstreet is the least supported powerbook and this is partly or mostly due to Apple not wanting to optimize OSX on this "Old World ROM" machine. The following powerbook called the Lombard introduced New World ROM (ROM-in-RAM) where a lot of the hard code in the ROM chip was moved to software which loads at startup in a file called MacOS ROM and found in the System Folder.

You may wish to do this:

- Reformat your HD as one volume booting to your MacOS 8.6 CD and using the Drive Setup utility; by default, the MacOS 8.6 HD Driver is installed. Now install OS 8.6 (just the basic System Folder if you are not going to run any Classic apps) and then test performance.

- Download and replace your OS 8.6 Startup Disk control panel with the Startup Disk control panel from OS 9.2.1:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106225

Just go to your System Folder > Control Panels and drag the old Startup Disk c.p. to the Trash, then drag the new one into the Control Panels folder, close all windows and restart. It should work just fine with OS 8.6 although Apple is discussing using 9.x and OSX.

- Now install your OSX on the same volume and test.

By having both OS 8.6 and 10.1.5 on the same volume, you maximize your HD space for OSX; if the Wallstreet will only cold-start to OS 8.6, you should be able to select 10.1.5 in the Startup Disk control panel and restart to OSX...this should make life easier.

If you wish, you can format with OSX's Disk Utility instead of 8.6's Drive Setup...they both will do the same job. However, I do not recall if the 10.1 CD has the option of installing the MacOS HD Driver when reformatting; if not, use Drive Setup.

Having both Classic and OSX on the same volume (no partition) is perfectly acceptable; installing OSX first, then Classic, or vice versa is perfectly acceptable. But I would do 8.6 first, install the new control panel, then install OSX.

You could also partition with the first 7GB for OSX and the remainder for OS 8.6; this would allow you to always have a bootable partition in the event OSX went down. You can install a basic 8.6 System Folder (no apps) using approx. 150MB.

Havok,

I am sorry this did not work out nor can I explain why.

If you knew any Mac users that might have a Jaguar/10.2 CD, you could "test drive" it and see if newer software helps.

Havok,

If you still have the Wallstreet, I have been doing some reading and ran across a post where a user had the same problem as you...it turned out to be marginal RAM in his case; OSX is more sensitive to RAM than Classic.

If you wished to spend a few dollars, buy a new 256MB module to replace your 128 and 64; you can either buy a low-profile for the bottom slot or a standard height for the top slot. The 256 for this model does require RAM made for it due to the Wallstreet's memory controller; here is an example:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iBooks-PowerBooks/G3-Lombard/