Mac OS 9 booting on: Mac mini G4 (Detailed Posts)

[noway]

The other day I installed from scratch Tiger and 9.2 each on its own partitions on a 1.25 GHz and a 1.5 GHz model.
Sound output from games is fine for the 1.25 GHz flavor in OS9, but the newer "stealth upgrade" Mac Mini is not working as desired concerning sound.
The headphone jacks output is so low, that its practically unusable.
Hardly noticed it at all at first - in a quiet room.

Is anybody experiencing this faeature too with a 1.5 GHz Mac Mini G4?
Is there anything that can be done for improving the hardly audible output?

[FBz]

Search for (M-Audio Transit) here, this thread.

[noway]

Thanks, FBz.
USB audio may be the last option for me.
I was hoping for a different solution, as there is "something" on the headphone jack, just not usable.

[FBz]

After all of the hard work that many contributed to the effort, that nagging little sound problem seems of no real consequence. (And I’m certain that some here are still working on it.) For now however the inexpensive M-Audio Transit solution ain’t no big deal, all things considered.

And I’ve an old Behringer U-Phono / UFO202 that I’ve yet to test as a workaround... that might work equally as well. (If you possibly might have one of those handy.) Maybe you’ll arrive at yet another different possible solution? If so, many would be interested. Thanks.

[Jubadub]

So, I bring news. It turns out the "silent upgrade" minis (PowerMac10,2 clocked stock @1.33GHz and @1.5GHz) and the original release minis (PowerMac10,1 clocked stock @1.25GHz and @1.42GHz) have non-trivial NewWorld ROM differences. For instance, the silent upgrade ones are solder-ready for the legendary 7448 processors (requiring just a small NVRAM-based patch, as with all 7448 upgrades for both Mac OS 9 and X), while the original release ones require custom ROM/Firmware/BootROM/NewWorld ROM patching first (VERY recently accomplished by dosdude1 here. And don't forget the NVRAM patch, too).

It does make me wonder if OS9 Firewire bootability could also be affected by this, as well as bootability from certain internal drives. I was certainly affected by the latter on my 1.5GHz mini as I had commented about at length in the past, and I also was not able to boot off FW like others were. (Have yet to test FW on an original release mini, though.)

So, yeah, by the way, put 7448s on your minis and clock them to at least 2.0GHz. And run OS 9, of course. Seek out CPU reballing/replacement services! Lots of them in the US, some of them in Europe, and hopefully some of them elsewhere in the world. My MDDs, PowerBooks and Mac minis eagerly await 7448 (and 7457) prowess.

Bless your OS 9 with a 7448 today! And have some love for 7457 and its L3 cache, too, especially on an MDD.

[noway]

One little thing about sound with OS9 and a 1.5 GHz Mac mini.
(Maybe anybody knew, except me. )
Simple USB "Soundcards" will be enough for playing stereo sound, when no advanced features are needed.
For instance a CMedia Headphone device 0X000C / 0X0D8C for round about $ 3 is good enough.

I´m using one of these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-External-7-1-Channel-3D-Virtual-Audio-Sound-Card-Mic-Adapter-Laptop-PC/193156653105?hash=item2cf908a031:g:5j8AAOSwxPRdo9UB

[mmcd87]

Hi, I've just bought a mac mini 1.5ghz to try this out. Download link is not working? Thanks,

[RossDarker]

Suppose you can use the g'drive links if main links aren't working currently:

V9 iso: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zg0Vm42Dt-xOwPm_A2Pn8OcA23SWHOKf/view?usp=drivesdk

And the other files if anyone needs:

Update to v9.sit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dbfZEfYgbhWLGK2JY_xbGjlxrvzzWdSX/view?usp=drivesdk

And from when I originally posted the v9 sit: “Note that this is not a combo update, and should only be used on v8 systems, if currently on v7 or below, update to v8 first, then v9.”

So in case you’re still on v7 or lower, here’s also the v8 update which you’ll need to run before updating to v9: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17n20BaT_bLgBtsGJwS0D-6sNWJ-Kuluh/view?usp=drivesdk

[DieHard]

Link is working and has prior versions also:

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4365.0.html

[drzeissler]

Received my M Audio Transit today. Found one online for $5. Installed the drivers, plugged it in, and boom. Works like a charm. Now all my system sounds and alerts function perfectly. Thanks DieHard for discovering this solution. Highly recommended if you can find one. Got a 1 GB stick of RAM on the way as well. Also will upgrade to an SSD soon.

What is the advantage of the "M-Audio Transit"?

[DracheMitch]

What is the advantage of the "M-Audio Transit"?

It's a USB Audio DAC which means you don't need a driver for the onboard audio.  Technically Mac OS 9 should work with any USB Audio device that conforms to the 1.1 specification.  That's how the G4 Cube speakers, iSub, and Harman/Kardon Soundsticks (v.1) worked.

[ToddH]

What is the advantage of the "M-Audio Transit"?

It's a USB Audio DAC which means you don't need a driver for the onboard audio.  Technically Mac OS 9 should work with any USB Audio device that conforms to the 1.1 specification.  That's how the G4 Cube speakers, iSub, and Harman/Kardon Soundsticks (v.1) worked.

That's it. I do have an issue with it not working after a shutdown but if I unplug it and plug it back in after it boots it starts working again.

I upgraded the monitor on my desk to a nice 32" LG 4K and now my G4 Mini will no longer even give me the option for 720P or 1080P any longer. Highest res I can choose is 1024x768. Trying to find a solution but no luck so far.

[Guspaz]

I upgraded the monitor on my desk to a nice 32" LG 4K and now my G4 Mini will no longer even give me the option for 720P or 1080P any longer. Highest res I can choose is 1024x768. Trying to find a solution but no luck so far.

Have you tried using SwitchRes 2? It's supposed to let you set any resolution the GPU supports, regardless of the monitor, or specify custom resolutions/timings:

https://www.madrau.com/SRXv3/html/SR2/About.html

If you click on the "Register" page, the author gives a free registration key for the OS 9 version.

[jmnewman]

Has anyone diagnosed the cause of the flashing ?-mark (and boot failure)? If you haven't seen it: On an option-down restart, the partition with 9.2.2 shows as a bootable drive, but when activated, the happy-Mac logo appears for a millisecond and is then replaced by the infamous floppy disk with flashing question mark. No boot.

Is there a fix? Alternatively, is there a way to force a re-install from Ross's iso file (the burned cd will mount and
can be opened but is not bootable). The mini itself must be ok because it will boot into 9.2.2 from  an external hd (LaCie portable).

Thanks in advance for any wise words.

[FBz]

I’d suggest burning another CD from the latest iso - http://macos9lives.com/smforum/boards/Mac%20OS%20System%20Images/Mac%20OS%209/Mac%20OS%209.2.2%20Mac%20mini/
AND then very closely following the instructions detailed in the ReadMe file, within that iso.


Do the contents of your current CD look like this, in whatever version of OS X or 9.2.2 you are viewing it under?


So then, maybe just one more time ehh?

•AND you might try reformatting and 2-partitioning the Mini’s HD with whatever version of OS X…
making certain to select “Install OS 9 drivers” before you attempt another OS 9.2.2 installation.

[IIO]

Has anyone diagnosed the cause of the flashing ?-mark (and boot failure)?

diagnosis always has to be done for the concrete in-patient, not in general.

the flashing mark simply means "i cant find a valid boot partition" and that can be caused by a bunch of things, starting from a wrong ROM version, a corrupt PRAM, issues with the IDE, SATA oder firewire bus, or issues with the physical drive.

[quantum8]

Finally got around to installing this on my 1.5GHz mini and seems to work great apart from sound.

Sound doesn't seem to work for me at all. I can select built-in from the control panel, but cannot adjust the main volume at all. If I move the slider to the right, the menu bar flashes and the volume returns to zero.

I've also tried plugging in a USB sound adapter which works with no drivers on my Cube, but I get the same thing as built-in option: I can select "USB Audio" but cannot adjust the volume at all. Is this a limitation to this install?

Update: well audio works in games such as Quake so I guess it's a limitation in finder?

[IIO]

the way how the system audio´s volume is controlled doesnt work with that hardware.

[bamdad]

Finally got around to installing this on my 1.5GHz mini and seems to work great apart from sound.

Sound doesn't seem to work for me at all. I can select built-in from the control panel, but cannot adjust the main volume at all. If I move the slider to the right, the menu bar flashes and the volume returns to zero.

I've also tried plugging in a USB sound adapter which works with no drivers on my Cube, but I get the same thing as built-in option: I can select "USB Audio" but cannot adjust the volume at all. Is this a limitation to this install?

Update: well audio works in games such as Quake so I guess it's a limitation in finder?

i know your pain. actually only the alert sounds don't work, but almost everything in the finder is considered that.

my solution was to get an 'm-audio transit USB' from ebay. drivers are available from this site. with that everythign works (just make sure to leave the 'optical' dummy plug in place). however, it's bulky, ugly, and needs its own USB power which is quite hard to achieve with only 2 USB ports on the mini.

i'm still hoping that someone will find a way to use the internal speaker for all sounds, but that is highly unlikely. as the previous poster said, there is no hardware mixer to control, and implementing a software one would need insane development efforts into reverse-engineering the complete sound hardware and writing an OS 9-specific system extension for it. : (

[ToddH]

I upgraded the monitor on my desk to a nice 32" LG 4K and now my G4 Mini will no longer even give me the option for 720P or 1080P any longer. Highest res I can choose is 1024x768. Trying to find a solution but no luck so far.

Have you tried using SwitchRes 2? It's supposed to let you set any resolution the GPU supports, regardless of the monitor, or specify custom resolutions/timings:

https://www.madrau.com/SRXv3/html/SR2/About.html

If you click on the "Register" page, the author gives a free registration key for the OS 9 version.

I did but no joy. Still only get 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024 as options even under Switchres 2. I'm just using 1280x1024 since it seems to scale pretty nicely to 4K. Do miss the widescreen modes though.

Edit: And now 1080P is showing and working. Very weird.

Edit 2: After running in 1080P for a couple of minutes the screen starts showing more and more sparkles. Dropping back down to 1280x1024 makes them go away. Starting to wonder if the video card in this mini has issues.