Holy cow, it works! (Powerbook G4 1.33 12")

[Ed Redfern]

I can confirm officially that the model you specify, is like the Powerbook G4 17" 1.67ghz  I had in for a couple of days. I confirm that OS 9.2 does NOT work on this machine regardless of ROM change, firmware commands, etc. the reason behind this  is due to apple developing these models after OS9.2 was stopped as supprted OS's, so they made their firmware OS X only.

sorry, it won't work. only through classic and that's buggy because of the GPU.

ed

[supernova777]

cyberish..seeing as u have a completely diff model might be best for u to start your own thread rather then hijack this one!

[cyberish]

chris... sure! actually I thought having a model just one generation newer than the one in this post:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.67_15.html

but actually it's two generations newer:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.67_15_hr.html

end of hijacking. thx

[supernova777]

cyberish;
it just makes it easier for someone else googling or looking up the same model in the future
to find the relevant info thats all and avoids confusion of other people commenting on the thread

[ziggy29]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but it seems like I'm on the same model for a 12" 1.33 (PowerBook 6,4) with the Go5200 graphics so I opted to keep it in this thread rather than start a new one for the same model.  When I enter the OF commands listed above and use the CD I burned for the unsupported ISO, I just get the blank blue/grayish screen and nothing happens. 

I know the CD seems OK and bootable because I booted with it into a G4 Digital Audio which already does support native OS 9.

Am I missing something?  This model does have a 7447A which has been problematic in the past but it looks like this was successfully booted in this thread using that CD and the OF commands listed.

[Protools5LEGuy]

I know the CD seems OK and bootable because I booted with it into a G4 Digital Audio which already does support native OS 9.

All G4 DA boot 9 unless they have an OS X only graphics card.
 
Try to follow all http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/board,127.0.html post to find similarities with your machine.

Did you find another FX 5200 Go on OS9? Radeon 9800 works without 2D/3D accel.

People take out the airport card and the bluetooth module to have less OS X only hardware.

[ziggy29]

I know the CD seems OK and bootable because I booted with it into a G4 Digital Audio which already does support native OS 9.

All G4 DA boot 9 unless they have an OS X only graphics card.

Maybe I wasn't clear.  I only brought up the G4DA because I wanted to confirm that my inability to get past the initial gray screen on trying to book my PB6,4 wasn't because of a badly burned CD, not because it wasn't booting.  Because I was able to boot the CD on a Mac that I know supports OS 9, I more or less ruled out a bad  and unbootable CD as the problem.  And since I know I entered the OF commands above properly, I don't know where I'm getting stuck trying to boot my 12" PBG4 Al 1.33. 

[Protools5LEGuy]

People take out the airport card and the bluetooth module to have less OS X only hardware.

Did you do that?

[ziggy29]

Did you do that?

Just got back to trying it again.  Was playing with a new project souping up a 7600. 

I didn't do this but for some reason it worked this time.  I did have to remove the Multiprocessing folder after the "unsupported G4" CD restored all the files.  (I did it on an external FireWire drive, haven't replaced the content of the internal HD yet.)  Last time I tried it, I didn't get past a gray screen even after entering the OF commands, and I'm pretty sure I did it right (tried a few times and reset PRAM with each new try), so I have no idea. 

Yeah, the Airport in this doesn't work so I had to use a wireless Ethernet bridge I had.  The only other thing I've noticed so far at startup is a warning dialog about drivers not being installed for some "unknown" USB device -- which is odd since I had no USB devices installed.  But hey, I'm in! 

[MacOS Plus]

That unknown USB device will be the internal bluetooth because it is actually a USB device.  Had the same in my MDD FW800 and could eliminate the message by physically detaching the BT board.

[ziggy29]

That unknown USB device will be the internal bluetooth because it is actually a USB device.  Had the same in my MDD FW800 and could eliminate the message by physically detaching the BT board.

Ah, got it, thanks.  Was wondering about the significance of taking out the BT module.   Leaving in the Airport doesn't seem to matter, it just doesn't work.  (That said, if it is in a laptop, it's not usable and it takes power, why leave it?)  And since this model has no card slot like my TiBook, the only workaround for getting wifi seems to be a wireless Ethernet bridge.  I have one that connects to the USB port for power, assuming the USB port provides enough power on battery to keep it going (how much it hits battery life is a separate issue).

Didn't know the BT device would be treated as USB.  I guess it's like how adding a PCI IDE/ATA card to my 7600 leaves that connected ATA drive being reported as SCSI.  Anyway, for now I guess I'll just live with that message at startup unless I decide to kick OS X off this machine for good. 

[MacOS Plus]

  The only difference in your example is that the BT is a true USB device that is hardwired to the USB controller internally through a dedicated port, while the PCI ATA controller card identifies itself as SCSI only for addressing and boot sequence purposes.  This practice was common on PCs so that you could select boot device order - the bios only had presets for one ATA and one SCSI device usually, so an add-on ATA card would generally have to take the SCSI device address in order to be bootable.  The theory and purpose is loosely similar in Mac terms, but I suspect it's mostly carry-over industry practice than for any other reason.

  Anyway, you get the idea.