Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

I can't get OS X to show up as an option for a start up disk in OS 9.

When I'm in OS X and I go to start up disk I get OS X and OS 9 as boot disk options. When I boot into OS 9 and go to startup disk I only see OS 9, there is no other disks to select. This is a new problem. OS X used to show up and I could go back and forth between OS X and OS 9 easily. Not anymore.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jul 22, 2013 8:49 PM

Reply
13 replies

Jul 24, 2013 6:11 PM in response to ThaFunkBuddha

Do you have OS X on the same volume as OS 9?


Hopefully, you have them onto separate hard drives.


Worst-case scenario: Shut down the computer. Open the computer and unplug the power going to the hard drive with OS 9 installed. When you restart, the computer has only one choice to boot. On startup, if the computer indicates it cannot find a startup disk you may have to reset the PRAM.


When you're booted into OS X, go to "System Preferences", "Startup Disk" and choose your OS X volume. After that, shut the computer down plug the OS 9 hard drive back in and restart your computer in OS X.


I don't see how added hardware would defeat holding down the alt key at startup. But, if that is so you're going to have real problems switching from one OS to the other.


Can you explain your B&W G3 configuration?

Jul 24, 2013 7:11 PM in response to Vernon Alexander

What you have described is how I have to switch back to OS X from OS 9 every time I wish to do so. I switch between the two often. I think the option for OS X as a start up disk listed in OS 9 disks appeared after I upgraded to OS 9.2.2. I do have OS X and OS 9 on two separate hdd's. The the hdd with OS 9 is the original 6gb Maxtor IDE. The hard drive with OS X is a 120gb Seagate Momentus connected via a SATA PCI card. The computer is a B&W G3 upgraded to a Powerlogix 600MHz G4. It has a SuperDrive, a GeForce FX5200 graphics card which enables Quartz Extreme and Core Image in OS X 10.4.11. I have a Cisco Aironet350 wireless PCI card a USB 2.0 PCI card, and a MIDI in sound card. I switch these cards in and out a lot.


It's not that the computer has been upgraded that keeps the option key from showing boot drive options upon start up. It's just that this trick does not work on this model.

Jul 24, 2013 10:11 PM in response to ThaFunkBuddha

If that is the case, your options are extremely limited.


The simplest way that I can think of would be to remove the OS 9 drive and encase it in a external FireWire drive.


Just a caution, the original 6 gig hard drive is very old. I'm surprised it hasn't failed by now. Have you backed it up?


With the OS 9 drive encased outside the computer, just turn on the machine 1st and the FireWire drive after that. After the machine boots up in OS X choose OS 9 and reboot.


If you have the OS 9 hard drive as a FireWire disk, even if the FireWire drive (with the six gig IDE drive installed) is left on, the computer will boot from the internal drive first. Also, when you shut down the computer, the FireWire hard drive should spin down… Maybe


I am a fanatic about backing up drives and I probably have six or seven obsolete IDE FireWire drive cases laying in pieces in a box somewhere. I put one together not too long ago so I could use an old 200 gig IDE as a backup boot drive for one of my old G4 computers.


I don't know if any of that helped, but there it is.

Jul 25, 2013 9:54 AM in response to ThaFunkBuddha

I'm thinking (maybe) while typing here.


The find starup disk does a scan for valid OS's. You scan didn't find OS X. What does the scan look for when identifiying an OS? I do not know.


Can your read from the OS X disk when in OS 9?


It would be an interesting experiment to copy over OS 9 to the OS X disk. I think you need to copy over just the system folder. Does the scan find OS 9 on the OS X disk. [ When I do the system level scan, I find all sorts of OSs. I find OS 8 for some reason. ]



This is the option key startup manager. Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime.


Then, before the screen lights up, hold down Command-Option-O-F until the Open Firmware screen appears. Then enter these lines, pressing Return after each one:


reset-nvram

set-defaults

reset-all


"The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings."

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1812?viewlocale=en_US

I can't get OS X to show up as an option for a start up disk in OS 9.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.