Mac OS 9 booting on: iMac G4 Flat-panel (Detailed Posts)

[nanopico]

Though I need to be a little careful of that so I don't render the card useless.

Diehard has about 4 or 5 of those laying around so hack away

Good to know.  I've just been a little careful after bricking two iBook motherboards poking around at the firmware.

[torvan]

iMac 6,1  g4E 1Ghz, 1.25GB RAM. GeForceMx 64 MB  http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.0_17_fp.html

Installed the G4MDD version of OS 9, and it installed perfectly. There is no sound out of the iMac internal speaker once OS 9 boots, but plugging in a pair of speakers into the headphone jack, and we have sound.

I do not have a pair of Pro Speakers to test that particular jack, but I do not see why it wouldn't also.

Sure would be nice to have the internal speakers working, but hell, I am thrilled it just works!

Now though, it is time to install 59 GB of OS9 Apps. Sigh........

[nanopico]

iMac 6,1  g4E 1Ghz, 1.25GB RAM. GeForceMx 64 MB  http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.0_17_fp.html

Installed the G4MDD version of OS 9, and it installed perfectly. There is no sound out of the iMac internal speaker once OS 9 boots, but plugging in a pair of speakers into the headphone jack, and we have sound.

I do not have a pair of Pro Speakers to test that particular jack, but I do not see why it wouldn't also.

Sure would be nice to have the internal speakers working, but hell, I am thrilled it just works!

AWESOME!!!
I do recall this was roughly the same issue with audio on some of the later powerbooks (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this).  It seems that all the machines that demonstrate this issue are the ones that use the intrepid chip for the north/south bridges.  Those seem to be the ones that either sort of work or don't work at all.

[Metrophage]

Very nice! Is it running with graphics acceleration?

[torvan]

I am going to have to display my ignorance (as opposed to stupidity which is willful ignorance) and ask "How would I know?"

I can see that the NVIDIA Video Accelerator is loading in my Extensions folder and in ASP.

So I would appreciate learning how to tell!

[androda]

iMac 6,1  g4E 1Ghz, 1.25GB RAM. GeForceMx 64 MB  http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.0_17_fp.html

Installed the G4MDD version of OS 9, and it installed perfectly. There is no sound out of the iMac internal speaker once OS 9 boots, but plugging in a pair of speakers into the headphone jack, and we have sound.

I have a very similar mac, and it seems to be getting really close to booting OS 9.

My iMac is: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.25_17_fp.html
iMac 6,3
PowerPC G4 (3.3)
1.25 GHz processor
167 MHz bus speed
1GB RAM

I burned the image from here to a disk: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html

Booted the mac holding down Option, the disk appears as bootable.  Select it, start booting - happy mac!

...Then, before the 'welcome to mac os' screen appears, the screen goes solid black.  The disk drive continues to make sounds (like the mac is reading from the disk) for another minute or two, then silence.  Black screen remains.  Perhaps the display moved to the external port?  I don't have an adapter for that.

Doesn't seem to boot all the way to the desktop.  After waiting for the disk sounds to stop, I types 'macos9' on the keyboard and pressed command-i.  No disk reading sounds.  Pressed random keys and enter and command-o.  Still no sounds.  Power key, followed by enter?  Also nothing.

[nanopico]

...Then, before the 'welcome to mac os' screen appears, the screen goes solid black.  The disk drive continues to make sounds (like the mac is reading from the disk) for another minute or two, then silence.  Black screen remains.  Perhaps the display moved to the external port?  I don't have an adapter for that.

Doesn't seem to boot all the way to the desktop.  After waiting for the disk sounds to stop, I types 'macos9' on the keyboard and pressed command-i.  No disk reading sounds.  Pressed random keys and enter and command-o.  Still no sounds.  Power key, followed by enter?  Also nothing.

The most common issue with this is the cpu version check. Which is probably the case for this machine.

You can go into open firmware and type

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0

80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property
That should get it booting. Once booted you can use the ROM found here
http://www.gnerder.com/files/rom.sit
So you don't have to type the code in open firmware and you would not have to use an nvramrc script.

[androda]

You can go into open firmware and type

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0

80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property


Unfortunately, running these open firmware commands didn't get me any further in the boot process.  Still happy mac then black screen.

And by the way, is there an install disc with the updated rom?  That would make testing unsupported machines easier.

[nanopico]

You can go into open firmware and type

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0

80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property


Unfortunately, running these open firmware commands didn't get me any further in the boot process.  Still happy mac then black screen.

And by the way, is there an install disc with the updated rom?  That would make testing unsupported machines easier.

I haven't put much effort into the iMac yet, but I decided to fire mine up and I get the same issue as you, so I will see what I can come up with.
I have the same iMac except that min is the 20" model.

[nanopico]

You can go into open firmware and type

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0

80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property


Unfortunately, running these open firmware commands didn't get me any further in the boot process.  Still happy mac then black screen.

And by the way, is there an install disc with the updated rom?  That would make testing unsupported machines easier.

I haven't put much effort into the iMac yet, but I decided to fire mine up and I get the same issue as you, so I will see what I can come up with.
I have the same iMac except that min is the 20" model.

I got mine working.
I did a manual install (like I have been doing with all my machines) that has no extensions what-so-ever.
It booted to desktop with no issue.

It seems that out of the gate many of these unsupported machine has some issue with even the most basic extensions.

I think I'll make an cd image for the base test install I've been using.  This can at least be used as a sort of live cd to validate if a machine can boot to 9.  Then we can start adding extensions and see what breaks.

[torvan]

A quirk or two for mine (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.0_17_fp.html:

Sound does not work internally, works with speakers using the headphone port. Sometimes you have to unplug and plug them back in to the headphone port to get sound out of them No pattern to speak of either.

Sometimes the happy chimes sound, but nothing happens boot wise. So I unplug it, wait 30 or so seconds, then plug back in and it boots. Happens any time the OS locks, but reboots are all good.

It is making me pretty happy, although I wish it was as error free as my G4 MDD FW800.

[torvan]

Well I have had success having my 17"  iMac G4 1.25 Ghz running OS 9.2.2 WITH Sound (if I use the headphone jack). But I had to do it this way

• From OSX 10.4.11:  Partition hard drive using Disk Utility, make a new partition no more than 190 GB.
• Reboot using the G4 MDD OS9 CD, install to the same partition you have OSX on. Speaker did not work for me, so I used Headphone and it works.
• Now boot into OSX. Fire up Terminal, issue the following command: bless -folder9 "/System Folder" -use9 and then reboot
  
  

Sit back and watch OS 9 boot up, the trash the OSX folders and files, empty the Trash, and enjoy OS9 on the 17" iMac G4 1.25Ghz,  You might be able to not do the OSX install. But this so works for me!

[torvan]

Okay, I have to add one thing on the 17" iMac G4--for an unknown reason, video is limited to 256 colors when running the version of OS9 for the MDD. Does not matter how many times I run it, it seems like the NVidia MX4 drivers do not allow for running it any higher than that.

So:

• Video limited to 256 colors
• Sound does not work from Pro speakers, but will from speakers plugged into the headphone port

Guess it will be back to Tiger or Leopard for this iMac unless anyone has any idea.

[IIO]

Would this OS9General work on a _supported_ iLamp system without a modified ROM?

it should work on all supported systems.

[darthnVader]

Would this OS9General work on a _supported_ iLamp system without a modified ROM?

it should work on all supported systems.

I know I'm necro posting, but I had some luck getting the internal LCD of the iBook with Radeon 9550 to work in Millions of colors with OS 9, rather than 256 colors.

What you want to do is set some Open Firmware properties for your graphic card.

I don't have any nVidia cards handy, yet, I have one on the way, but you want to set the properties to a known supported nVidia card.

Manly the Device ID, and Subsystem ID, as well as the Name and Model of the parent( most cases dev agp/@10 )

Then on the children NDVA,Dispay@ you'll want to set the Name and the Compatible property.

Something like:

Code: [Select]

dev agp/@10
0000xxxx encode-int " device-id" property
0000xxxx encode-int " subsystem-id" property
" NVDA,Parent" encode-string " name" property
" NVDA,Geforce4MX" encode-string " model" property
dev agp/@10/@0
" NVDA,Dissplay_A" encode-string "name" property
" NVDA,NVMac" encode-string " compatible" property
dev agp/@10/@1
" NVDA,Dissplay_B" encode-string "name" property
" NVDA,NVMac" encode-string " compatible" property
  

That's not quite correct, we need the real values from a working OS 9 nVidia card, or better yet a few of them, or all of them, but that's the basic idea. replacing 0000xxxx with the device ID of a real nVidia card.

[torvan]

My iMac I posted about earlier died a capacitor blown death, and finding no one who could fix it without it costing 3.0 figure, I found this one for just $40.

iMac G4 1.25Ghz (3.3), PowerMac 6,1,  2 GB RAM, 250 GB Samsung EVO 860 500GB SSD (which I put in), and a newer DVD-RW which I put in.  Video is GeForce FX 5200 (ugh--that may be a problem with my goal).

But a Terminal session with the Machine command reports a 7450 and not a 7445.

So tried the G4 MDD CD , and sure enough the CD is seen via the Option boot,  but then a black screen once it is selected.

So I looked over the Think Classic article and was lost in a sea of iBook attempts as a solution.

I assume then part of the issue is the processor model number? I am open to ideas as I would rather run OS9 than Tiger or Leopard.. .....

[darthnVader]

The GF 5200 would likely be a no go, until someone figures out the 'NDRV' or native device driver.

I took a crack at it, with the Go5200 from a 12" PowerBook, but I didn't get anywhere with it.

At one time, many years ago I had luck using an 'NDRV' for a 5200 PCI card to get it to work with some versions of OS X that didn't support nVidia PCI cards.

However, I've been unable to find that 'NDRV' again, and I haven't much clue where I got it from in the first place, something from 10.2, I think.

Anyway, the 'NDRV' would only give basic screen resolution control and bit depth, there is never likely to be Graphics Acceleration for the 5200+ for OS 9. That would require someone to write drivers for not only the cards but also replace the entire graphics stack in OS 9, as Apple never made any public way to write drivers to conform with OS 9's Libraries.

FP iMacs with GF4MX should be doable, but I've not been able to get my hands on one to hack.

As far as the black screen, shine a very bright light on it, and I bet you would see the backlight is off, and the machine has crashed at some point in the boot process.

I know a little of the backlight control for ATI cards, hacking the Mac OS ROM may yield a working backlight.

Again, I'd have to get my hands on one to see what magic could be done. 

[ZenecadE]

I'm very new to all of this.  I'll open a new thread if told to.  This one was pinned.  I have tried for a week now, reading a lot which is way over my head. 

My iMac is manufactured in mid 2003,  It's iLamp 800Mhz USB 1 with geforce 4MX 32MB.  From what I've been able to find, it's an X only model.  From MacTrons post, it's should be OS 9 bootable but I cannot.  I have tried a ton of images but simply cannot get this machine to boot OS9.  Can somebody please help me with baby english instructions?  Almost goo goo gaga level.

[torvan]

Unfortunately, like me, you are stuck with X right now. We have no way yet to install OS9 with the GeForce video chips, just the ATI ones.

I'm very new to all of this.  I'll open a new thread if told to.  This one was pinned.  I have tried for a week now, reading a lot which is way over my head. 

My iMac is manufactured in mid 2003,  It's iLamp 800Mhz USB 1 with geforce 4MX 32MB.  From what I've been able to find, it's an X only model.  From MacTrons post, it's should be OS 9 bootable but I cannot.  I have tried a ton of images but simply cannot get this machine to boot OS9.  Can somebody please help me with baby english instructions?  Almost goo goo gaga level.

[darthnVader]

Unfortunately, like me, you are stuck with X right now. We have no way yet to install OS9 with the GeForce video chips, just the ATI ones.

I'm very new to all of this.  I'll open a new thread if told to.  This one was pinned.  I have tried for a week now, reading a lot which is way over my head. 

My iMac is manufactured in mid 2003,  It's iLamp 800Mhz USB 1 with geforce 4MX 32MB.  From what I've been able to find, it's an X only model.  From MacTrons post, it's should be OS 9 bootable but I cannot.  I have tried a ton of images but simply cannot get this machine to boot OS9.  Can somebody please help me with baby english instructions?  Almost goo goo gaga level.

There is not reason it can't work, the Geforce chips in these Mac's should be fully supported under OS 9, it just likely takes some hackery to get things going.

Really, your iMac 800 doesn't differ very much at all from the iMac 800 that fully supported OS 9 booting.

Start with the basics, install OS 9 in the Classic Env on a disk with OS 9 drivers on the Hard Disk( Easy way to do this is to boot the iMac in Firewire target disk mode and format the drive from a supported Mac, if you can't do it that way, I'll tell you how to do it from the OS X install CD/DVD, just ask(( WARNING YOU WILL LOSE ALL THE DATA ON YOUR HD SO BACK UP FIRST)), then boot Open Firmware and enter debugging mode:

Code: [Select]

dev / 3013FFF encode-int " AAPL,debug" property
Boot the Mac OS  ROM, if it helps put an unmodified copy in a folder named ppc at the root of your OS 9 partition, then.

Code: [Select]

boot hd:9,:\ppc\:tbxi
In this example hd:9 is the ninth partition of your drive. To make sure your ppc folder is on the ninth partition do:

Code: [Select]

dir hd:9,\
That will list all files and folders on the ninth partition. If you have OS X installed, in the terminal do:

Code: [Select]

diskutil list
That will list all your partitions, find the name and partition number of the drive you put the Mac OS ROM in the ppc folder.

So if you have a drive named MacHD, and it is HFS+ on the tenth partition, and that is the drive you put the ROM in the ppc folder( you create this folder ).

Then you nee to boot the 10th partition:

Code: [Select]

boot hd:10,\ppc\:tbxi
:tbxi is just sort form for Mac OS ROM.

You'l get a bunch of debugging info, the last line will be "Off to Mac OS". Then your screen may turn it's backlight off, let me know if that happens, or doesn't.

If the backlight stays on, you'll enter the Nanokernel log while the system is trying to boot.

Let us know what happens, and we'll tell you how to proceed