eMac OS9 install blues

I have an eMac 700 MHz I got specifically to run Mac OS 9 natively. (I have another machine for OS X.) The eMac came with Tiger and a lot of junk on it but was in good shape physically. I replaced the battery. The eMac is the earliest model and should boot in OS 9 according to Apple and EveryMac.

1. Quick & dirty start: I erased the disk and copied my OS9 stuff across from my G3 iMac over firewire -- made sure the system folder was blessed etc. -- no luck, the eMac wouldn't start (gray screen, ? in floppy disk icon). Zapped the PRAM to no avail.

2. Read this forum, found it might need a special eMac install disk, got one from my friendly local computer store 🙂 ("eMac Mac OS 9 Install", it says on the gray disk; installs 9.2.2.)

3. Started the eMac from the install CD -- and it couldn't find a hard disk to install on. Tried again, no dice. Was confused.

4. Did an erase/ install using the install CD from my G3 iMac over firewire -- the eMac hard drive was obviously still there. No luck again, the eMac wouldn't start (gray screen, ? in floppy disk icon).

Does anyone have a clue why the eMac hard disk is playing hard to get? Could there have been a firmware update in Tiger or whatever that rendered the eMac immune to OS 9? Am I missing something? Suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers--

Malcolm