G4 Dual 1ghz startup problems. HELP!!

dolphyjazzdolphyjazz
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Okay so here's the situation. A friend of mine said he was having problems with his computer so I said I'd help. In the past, I've been very sucessful in trouble shooting Macintosh computer problems but this one has got me stumped. Upon starting up the computer I would get the flashing world. Tried starting up from CD to no avail. Then I connected it to my G4 via Firewire and started it up in Target Disk mode. Alas, his hard drive mounted on my desktop. I backed up his entire HD on the my computer and reformated and reinstalled OS 9 and OS X. I created 3 partitions, one for OS 9, one for OS X, and another for documents. Now when I try and restart I don't get the flashing "World" but I get the flashing disk with the question mark. I can boot into OS X if I hold down the option key but it won't let me boot into OS 9. I've tried zapping the PRAM and rebuilding the desktop. All with unsatisfactory results. Also ran the hardware test. Ok genuises, I'm counting on you.

Regards,

Will

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    billybobskybillybobsky Posts: 1,914member
    is the mac boot rom in the os 9 system folder?
  • Reply 2 of 6
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    when you're in X, and you go to the preference panel to select the startup disk, does it see OS9 as an option?
  • Reply 3 of 6
    dolphyjazzdolphyjazz Posts: 61member
    I chose OS 9 in the startup control panel and still doesn't work. I just realized that it only has 9.2 so I'm updating to 9.2.2 now. Let you know what happens after that.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    dolphyjazzdolphyjazz Posts: 61member
    BTW, It boots fine in target disk mode when connected to my G4.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    dolphyjazzdolphyjazz Posts: 61member
    Updated to 9.2.2 still has the same problem. For some reason it just won't recognize a startup disk unless I hold down the option key to select it. Even if I choose 9 as the startup disk I get the flashing question mark. But, if I choose OS X it will load X. Very weird.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    dolphyjazzdolphyjazz Posts: 61member
    Ok, I figured it out. I had to install OS 9 through OS X. But now the problem is how do I install OS 9 on a seperate partition? Anyone know the answer? I will search the forums.
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