Freeze on blank gray screen at startup in OS 9.2.2!?

Question

Freeze on blank gray screen at startup in OS 9.2.2!?

Hi,
I've been a happy OS 9.2.2 user for many years on my G4/933. I have OSX.3 on a 2nd internal drive. But I do mainly audio recording, and I find OSX to be extremely sluggish, so I work primarily in OS9.
Everything had been working fine, but then last night as I restarted from OSX with my OS 9.2.2 partition selected as the startup disk, the computer rebooted then completely froze on a blank gray screen. No icon, question mark, sad Mac. Nothing. Since then I have restarted many time by holding down the Option key to go back to OSX. While in OSX I ran Disk Repair on the internal drive with OS 9 on it. And I then ran Disk Warrior 2.1 for OS9 on the drive. They both found some errors, but nothing critical and they were fixed. But I still get the gray screen of nothingness when restarting under OS 9.2.2.
With some hesitation I tried "zapping the PRAM", which i've never done before. As I held down the Command/Option/P/R keys the screen just stayed black, which was scary. When I finally let the keys go it changed the Gray Screen of Nothingness and I was able to reboot and get back to OSX. I have no idea if I actually zapped my PRAM or not, or if that is the right thing to do.
I can function in OSX, but I'm really hobbled without being able to work in my good old OS 9 environment. I would really appreciate any tips...!
Thanks - Steve

G4 (circa July '02) Mac OS 9.2.x

G4 (circa July '02) Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on May 20, 2006 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

May 20, 2006 1:30 PM in response to Stephen Rossiter

p.s. I boot just fine into OS 9.1 from the Disk Warrior CD...

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Answer 2

May 21, 2006 2:05 PM in response to Stephen Rossiter

Hello...? Anyone...?

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Answer 3

AMercado

Level 1

15 points

May 23, 2006 9:20 AM in response to Stephen Rossiter

Being that you can boot Mac OS 9 off of your Disk Warrior CD, it sounds like your Mac’s Startup Disk settings have gone wonky. Boot your Mac into Mac OS X by holding the Option key and once you are up and running try the following:

Drag the file Startup Disk Preferences to the Trash (it is located at your hard drive>System Folder>Preferences>Startup Disk Preferences).

Now open System Preferences and select Startup Disk. Pick the Mac OS X folder to be the system you want to start up from and then reboot.

Immediately after hearing the startup chime, press and hold the Command, Option, P & R keys until you hear another chime. This zaps the PRAM. PRAM is where the system — both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X — stores system & device settings. Your Mac should boot into Mac OS X with out having any keys pressed.

Open System Preferences again and select the Mac OS 9 folder to be the system you want to start up from and reboot again. Your Mac should boot into Mac OS 9 without having any keys pressed.

Now that you’ve booted into 9, open the Apple Menu and select Startup Disk from the Preferences sub-menu. The Mac OS 9 folder you want your Mac to start up from should already be highlighted. If it is not, then select it now. Quit Startup Disk.

From here on your Mac should boot into Mac OS 9 with no troubles. Since you don’t use it as much, when you do need to boot into Mac OS X just hold the Option key while the Mac starts up.

PowerMac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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Answer 4

May 26, 2006 8:04 AM in response to AMercado

Well, blow me down... Thank you SOOOO much! That worked like a charm. In fact, it was even easier than expected. After I zapped the PRAM it booted right up into OS9 (although maybe it wasn't supposed to...?) I had tried zapping PRAM about 5 days ago, but those instructions neglected to mention waiting for the chime to press the keys.
Anyway, thanks for your help. Barring any unforseen weirdness I seem to be back in action in OS 9...!
Thanks - Steve

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Answer 5

Jun 1, 2006 8:50 AM in response to Stephen Rossiter

So, it seems the problem has returned, after only a week of use in OS9. This time the solution of deleting the startup disk preferences and zapping the PRAM didn't work. I just get the blank gray screen, and I need to shut down and do (option) startup in order to get all my startup disk options, then pick OSX. The thing that is interesting, is that even last time when the solution worked, after I had picked OSX as the startup disk, after I zapped the PRAM, I went immediately into OS9, like it defaults to it somehow. Is it the first OS it sees when it looks? It's on my primary drive, and OSX is on my secondary one. So anyway, why would this recur so quickly? I've been working fine for the last week. Could it be a battery issue? Is there anything else I can try...?

So, I'm dead in the water again, and would really appreciate some more help! Thanks - Steve

(p.s. the email on this account is dead, so I can only be reache through posting to the message boards...)

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Answer 6

Jun 1, 2006 9:51 AM in response to Stephen Rossiter

I'm thinking that it may be your internal memory battery, that holds the PRAM (& other settings), is weak. You could also try resetting the PMU. See Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial

Cheers, Tom

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Answer 7

AMercado

Level 1

15 points

Jun 1, 2006 1:58 PM in response to Stephen Rossiter

I agree with Texas Mac Man. It sounds as if your internal battery is dying. That may explain the boot issues you are experiencing.

To verify if the battery is dead, unplug your Mac (when it is already off of coarse) for 5 minutes and plug it back in. If the battery is dead then when you reboot your Mac, and presumably it boots into 9, you should get a dialog box noting that your date & time are not properly set. you can get a new battery here: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

As for booting into 9 even though you chose X, when the PRAM looses its info, the Mac's boot ROM will attempt to boot from the system found in the first partition of a partitioned drive. In your case that is Mac OS 9.

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Answer 8

Jun 2, 2006 7:23 AM in response to AMercado

Thanks for the feedback. The computer is 4 years old, so I suppose it could be dying. It gets used all day, five days a week.

However, the date and time continue to be fine, in both OS9 and OSX. Does that make sense...? If it's the battery, why would it just have a problem - blank gray screen - when booting into OS9? Shouldn't OSX be having issues as well, date/time or others...? I'll try the unplug for five minutes test... although it's power strip gets turned off every night. Wouldn't that be the same thing? And date/time are fine, and it reboots into OSX fine, and saves the startup disk settings...

I continue to be perplexed...

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Answer 9

AMercado

Level 1

15 points

Jun 2, 2006 9:43 AM in response to Stephen Rossiter

You are correct, turning off the power strip would be the same as unplugging the Mac.

I am perplexed by this also.

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Answer 10

AMercado

Level 1

15 points

Jun 2, 2006 11:06 AM in response to Stephen Rossiter

Okay. I discovered these two post from a guy who appeared to have a similar issue as you do:

OS 9 Gray Screen, Help - MacWorld Forums & Os 9 Gray Screen - MacOSX.com

He even used Mac OS 9 primarily for audio work. From what I gathered his Mac was suffering from corrupt preference files.

Try doing the following:

Boot into Mac OS X and open the Preference folder in you Mac OS 9 System Folder.

Move these files into the Trash: Finder preferences, Mac OS preferences & System preferences. Also trash the preferences files for your audio card if you have any.

Open your Mac OS X System Preferences and select your Mac OS 9 folder as your start up volume, then quit System Preferences.

Shut down your Mac and unplug it.

Open the Mac, remove all of your PCI cards, and press the PMU button for 10 seconds. (The PMU button is a tiny black button on a small silver block mounted somewhere on the motherboard. It should look similar to this.)

Reinstall you cards, close your Mac and plug it back in.

Press the power button. If all is well the Mac should be able to into Mac OS 9 with out any problems.

If it still hags on the gray screen then your Mac OS 9 partition might be heavily fragmented or nearly full.

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Answer 11

Jun 2, 2006 2:29 PM in response to AMercado

AMercado,
Thanks again. This is good stuff, and I will try it. The plot thickens even further as of today. (I tried the suggestions from your last post several times in the last couple of days to no avail...) So, having dug up my original system disks I called Apple Support again, and plunked down the $49. The last time this problem happened (two weeks ago), I had no problem booting into OS9 from a Disk Warrior CD. But today, having paid my $49, I had no luck at all booting into OS9 from any OS9 CD at all. It just won't boot from CD. I get the same blank gray screen. OSX continues to work perfectly. The Apple tech on the phone said that without being able to boot to OS9 from CD, they couldn't do anything else. And did suggest as next steps, either taking out my three PCI cards, or taking the computer in. Since I do audio, the computer is a bit packed up and not easily accessible, so taking out the Digidesign PCI cards is a big pain. But maybe it is something to do with the PCI cards? So, I should try it...

Or just bite the bullet and upgrade to a G5? OSX is just so **** sluggish and clunky on a G4, even a 933...

Stay tuned. And thanks for the additional tips! - Steve

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Answer 12

Jun 2, 2006 9:57 PM in response to Stephen Rossiter

Hi, Stephen -

...although it's power strip gets turned off every night.

Doing that will shorten the life of the internal battery quite a bit.

The expected life of the battery is about 4-5 years, predicated on the Mac always being plugged in to live power (it need not be turned on). As long as the Mac is plugged into a source of live power, even when it is off it will draw a bit of current to maintain PRAM and the clock chip. When power is not available, it will use the battery instead - and the battery is never recharged.

Replacing the battery is inexpensvie and easy to do.

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Answer 13

Jun 3, 2006 8:40 AM in response to Don Archibald

Thanks, Don. I will change it. Seems I'm going to have to schlepp it out from it's soundproof box in order to removed the PCI cards.

Do you think there is any chance that a dying battery would be responsible for these problems? Apple tech support was insistent that it was not.

I also discovered yesterday that my particular Pro Tools hardware is not compatible with G5's, so upgrading is not an option. (Not that I wanted to anyway...)

I think my next step will be deleting preferences, then resetting the PCI slots. Although -- even if my OS9 preferences are corrupted, shouldn't the computer still be able to boot from a CD? The latest turn of events is that I cannot even boot from a CD, whether I'm holding the "C" key, or selected the CD as a startup disk after booting while holding the Option key.

All very disconcerting.

Thanks - Steve

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Answer 14

Jun 3, 2006 1:01 PM in response to Stephen Rossiter

Hi, Steve -

Do you think there is any chance that a dying battery would be responsible for these problems?

Could be - odd things happen in some machines when the battery is weak, yet not so weak that the date/time resets itself.

Although -- even if my OS9 preferences are corrupted, shouldn't the computer still be able to boot from a CD?

Yes. Provided there is nothing wrong with an optical drive, starting the machine to one is a way to confirm that the Mac's hardware is okay.

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Answer 15

Jun 3, 2006 1:09 PM in response to Don Archibald

One further tidbit -- the internal CD drive itself seems to work fine when I've booted into OSX. I just can't boot into OS9 from a CD. (I suppose I should try booting up from an OSX CD...)

Would it make sense that there is some hardware-related issue (weak battery, messed up PCI slots, bad RAM, etc.?) that would cause problems booting into OS9, but not into OSX...?

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