OSX install on a scsi, AGP G4

wizdomwizdom
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I am a new mac user (windows convert), please be gentle with me... ;-) I recently acquired a Power mac G4 (500Mhz, 256meg) and I want to install OSX. It is currently running OS9. It has an AGP video card and a PCI scsi card. When I boot from the OSX cd, it will not find the scsi disk for the install. There are no IDE drives in this system but it does have the IDE CDROM and ZIP drive. Any help would be appreciated...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    My recollection is that I have installed X on a SCSI drive. Can you tell us what version of the installer/MacOS X you have, and what SCSI PCI card you have?



    If you go to the Apple Menu in 9.x you will probably see "Apple System Profiler" listed (if not search your HD for it). Start it up, click on the "Devices and Volumes" tab, and you sould see the PCI bus cards installed, click the reveal triangle and you'll see some details about the card.



    What you may need to do is mount the installer CD when in 9.x, click the launch the installer, and let it shut down 9 and reboot onto the CD, rather than selecting the CD as a startup disk.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    Wizdom, I just checked, my 10.0 installer sees my SCSI drives fine (the 10.1 updater won't run for other reasons - there's nothing to update!).



    However, I think I just realised what your problem is. X has some issues with SCSI, particularly termination. First thing to do is disconnect all SCSI periferals and cables (ie scanners/external hard disks) if you have any, and try the X installer again.



    If this doesn't work, you may need to get a terminator for your SCSI card - this is the most common problem with X and SCSI, which doesn't effect 9.x.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    wizdomwizdom Posts: 3member
    my X is version 10.1. Under the Profiler, my scsi card says pci0cd,2500. It is an AdvanSys scsi card. There are no other scsi devices attached, just the hard drive. The internal cable then continues and is terminated.



    If I put the cd in while running os9, it brings up the install window and when I click on the "Install" icon, it goes right to a windows that says "Restart the computer begin the installation process".



    Once rebooted, it starts the installer but does not find any disk to install on to.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    Wizdom, this sounds like a typical termination problem, although you have no external devices and the internal connection is apparently terminated. If I were you I'd put a terminator on the external connection to the card.



    Which may or may not have any effect.



    X is very particular about SCSI, some devices just don't show up, or will cause the system not to boot at all. I'll have a look to see if I can find any reference for your SCSI card.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    wizdomwizdom Posts: 3member
    Clive, I've attached an external scsi terminator to the card. This does not help either. It still can not find the scsi disk during the install.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    wwworkwwwork Posts: 140member
    You could install a cheap ide drive to boot OS X. Those computers came with a pre-installed ide drive.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    Wizdom, it looks like AdvanSys is part of Initio, I couldn't find anything about a "2500" card, you may want to contact them, or take a look at the download area on their site:



    \t<a href="http://www.initio.com/support/download.htm"; target="_blank">http://www.initio.com/support/download.htm</a>;



    They have MacOS X drivers.



    I searched Apple's support docs for "AdvanSys", no hits.



    You may have to get an IDE drive or another SCSI card. The G4 has an IDE bus, so you probably only need to buy a ribbon and power cable to get it to work.



    However, even if you get an IDE drive it seems unlikely to me that you'll see the SCSI drive/card you have now under MacOS X - my guess it that it's an issue with the card.



    See if you can get any feedback from Initio.



    There's some firmware updates (for the cards) listed here:



    \t<a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/new_search.m?s=2&s=2&productDB=mac&mode=Category&O S_Filter=MacOS&category=Drivers&order_d=N&order=Co deLetter&currentPage=3&firstPage=1" target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/new_search.m?s=2&s=2&productDB=mac&mode=Category&O S_Filter=MacOS&category=Drivers&order_d=N&order=Co deLetter&currentPage=3&firstPage=1</a>
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