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Solid foundation

I bought a Power Mac G4 800MHz in 2002. At that time there were no music software available for OSX .

Therefore I bought one that required OS9. Apple at the time allowed the G4 to work with both OS9 and OSX.

My Mac has started to give me greif. So I got a PowerMac Silver Bullet single processor and tried to load on OS9

onto the hard drive. But it displays the OS9 logo with the two faces and a question sign beside it.

HELP . What should I do

Posted on Apr 4, 2016 9:57 AM

Reply
11 replies

Apr 12, 2016 8:51 AM in response to rowan17

What is a "Silver Bullet" Mac? I've been around here a long time and have not heard that term before. Do you mean a PowerMac G5?


We need to pin down your model exactly because some late G4 and all G5s cannot natively boot into OS9 or, like the 2003 Mirrored Drive Door G4 1.25Ghz Single processor, require a special version of OS9 that was only on the gray install disks that shipped with the computer. No other version will work.


Plug your serial number into this web page:


http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/


to get its model and sub-model, then tell us what you found. However, for security reasons do not post your serial number in your response.

Apr 12, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Allan Jones

Allan my friend the machine is a 2003 Mirrored Drive door G4 ,1.25Ghz Single processor.

Yes thanks to you, I now know that I need a special version of OS9 , that was only on the grey CD shipped with the machine.

But guess what I bought the machine as a used item, and did not get the grey CD along with it.

Could there be some site where I could download this content.

Apr 13, 2016 8:54 AM in response to rowan17

Could there be some site where I could download this content.


Sorry, but no. Apple have never posted any OS version for downloading newer than OS 7.5.5 and that was 20+ years ago. Anything out there today will be a pirated copy and those usually come preloaded with malware. You would have to find the specific disk that came with that model. I have the same Mac but I have to look for its disks. Won't be today as Wednesdays are my "crazy schedule" day. If I find them I'll post the Apple part number for the disk set (I recall there being two DVDs).


With a part number you may be able to better find them on an auction site. Don't forget to inquire of Mac Users Groups (MUGs) in you area. They are often a good resource for older software. Use this site to find a group:


http://appleusergroupresources.com/find-a-group/


Another thing: If your MDD has a hard drive with a capacity of 200GB or more, you must partition the drive. OS9 cannot boot frmo a partition greater than about 195-200GB. Make a partiton of about 190GB to be safe and install OS9 there.


I've kept my dual-boot G4 1.25 gHz SP in service because I stated a series of technical drawings in CAD on a pre-OSX Mac running OS9 years ago and continued it on the G4 MDD in OS9 because newer versions of the software could not match the hi-res output of the old software, making the drawings look different when printed by a commercial typesetter. Fingers crossed that my old war horse keeps working, as its demise would signal the end of that drawing series.

Apr 16, 2016 9:22 AM in response to Allan Jones

Did you manage to find those disks. I think with the Apple part number I stand a good chance getting it by way of (MUGs) .

You might want to try what I am doing .That is to search around for used computers of the same model. Buy them cheap,

and prepare for that grief day when my Mac fails. Then I just take out my hard disk , pop it into the spare machine and off

I go again.

P.S.

I followed your instructions, partitioned the hard disk, and quietly waiting for the day when I can get that special OS 9

disk.

Apr 16, 2016 11:23 AM in response to rowan17

Rowan, I just now found them. We had major home remodeling done last summer and everything got shifted about incuding our computer work areas, complicating the search. However, I finally remembered to look in an old spot where i used to put all system disks and there they were! What a relief!


It is a two disk set--the OS9 installer is bundled with the Applications installer on Disk 1. The disks have somewhat different part numbers; Disk 1 has 691-4873-A and Disk 2 has 2Z691-4873. You should try to get both because I can't tell from the directory if the Disk 1 OS9 installer needs to pull files from Disk 2.

You might want to try what I am doing. That is to search around for used computers of the same model.

I'm right there with you, my friend. My son had an identical G4 MDD to mine and, when he upgraded to an Intel iMac and had no extra room in his small apartment, he asked what he should do with the lightly-used G4. My response was a very emphatic. "Send it home!" So it's downstairs awaiting any call for service. It also has a new power supply, a known weak point in G4 MDDs originally fitted with the so-called "quieter and improved" 360W power supplies. The original 400W supplies sounded like Training Day at the bomber base but, in the long run, were more reliable.


If a scan of the disk faces would help, let me know.

Apr 22, 2016 10:58 PM in response to rowan17

rowan17 wrote:


I bought a Power Mac G4 800MHz in 2002. At that time there were no music software available for OSX .

Therefore I bought one that required OS9.

What music software are you running, does it even run that well on an 800MHz CPU? Can you use Garage Band in OS X 10.4?


I have a dual-boot MDD G4. The set of OS media is several discs, the sticker on the envelope says PowerMac G4 Media 603-1905. It comes with OS X 10.2 installation discs and a set of Software Restore discs. There is no bootable OS 9 media to boot and re-install OS 9 from a CD/DVD for the MDD, but you can restore the original OS 9 bootable System Folder that shipped with the computer by first installing the original 10.2 and then running /Applications/Utilities/Software Restore.app which will prompt you to insert the various Software Restore discs.

May 5, 2016 6:10 AM in response to Glen Doggett

Hi Glen, I have been very busy over the past few weeks, but during that time, I found a friend with propellerhead Reason 5.

So I got very exited. But after loading the software on my MDD, and tried to run it . It gave me this error message "You cannot

open the application Reason because it is not supported on this architecture".

What could this mean.

By the way I fixed my 800Mhz machine, and still running Cubase 3.5 on OS9.(it needed a mother board, and i was lucky

to get a used one.)

Solid foundation

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