How to unlock hard disk?

Hi, dcunningham -

Welcome to Apple's Discussions.

The only Cd's I have is the startup disk. The only items on the screen is the Mac OS 9 icon in the upper right....

It sounds like you are using the OS 9 Install CD as the boot disk, rather than booting from the hard drive.

I tried clicking the lock but nothing happens.

Correct. A CD is, in effect, a locked disk - and it can not be unlocked. Nothing on a CD can be changed - that's one of the advantages of a CD: barring physical damage, all data on a CD is secure.

It also sounds like you can not 'see' the hard drive - that it has not mounted on the desktop.

I need to find permissions so I can change settings but no luck.

OS 9 does not use permissions.

If you are booted to the CD, and no hard drive is available, you can not, nor should try to, change any settings.

You should be able to install OS 9 on the drive, unless it is not mounting, as seems to be the case.

Try this: while booted to the CD, run Drive Setup - you'll find it in the Utilities folder on the CD. In the first window that opens is a list; in that list should be your hard drive, it may be shown as 'untitled' or 'not initialized'.

Take a look at that and tell us what that says.

Also, if this machine is new to you, do you want to preserve the contents of the hard drive, if any? And, do you want to install OS 9 so you can begin using it?

Hi, dcunningham -

Mac OS 9 (type)EXPBAY (Bus)1 (ID)0 (Lun)0

That would be the CD in the CD drive ("EXPBAY = Expansion Bay, where the CD drive is located).

...when clicked it says cannot initialize read only disk.

Since a CD can not be altered, it will return a 'read only' status in Drive Setup.

If Drive Setup does not recognize the presence of a hard drive, one of three things is at play -

(1) A hard drive is present, but has failed.

(2) A hard drive is present, but its cables have become disconnected.

(3) There is no hard drive present.

If you're comfortable in opening the PowerBook up to see if a hard drive is there, and if so whether its cables are well-connected, do so. Otherwise I'd suggest taking it to an AASP (Authorised Apple Service Provider) to have it looked at. The solution may be something as relatively minor as replacing a missing hard drive.