Mac OS 9 booting on: PowerBook G4 17" Aluminum 5,1 (Detailed Posts)

[jeremywork]

When booting from the os9 unsupported CD for the first time on my FW800 1.42 DP I got the same message you did about there being a problem with the cache, followed by no longer having any L3 cache under OS X. It definitely did work before, and I'm extremely hesitant to try on my second FW800 1.42 DP. On my single 1.0 FW400 model (which is supported) the unsupported disk does not produce this error. The second USB device error seems to be in regards to the bluetooth controller, and can be ignored safely. Have you had any luck reviving your L3 Cache? PRAM reset hasn't done the trick. Plenty more to try... Hopefully OS9 compatibility doesn't require a permanent sacrifice of L3 Cache...

The Absolute Best Laptop that will Boot natively to Mac OS 9.2.2
Apple PowerBook G4 1.0 Ghz 17" Aluminum
Model M8793LL/A - PowerBook5,1 - A1013

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OK ready to Boot !  I am so excited I can barely take it... WTF, what is this crap.... is this error real or an anomaly from booting to OS 9 ?

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So, We now boot to an external FW hard drive that has OS X and see about the cache memory, remember this is NOT the main system memory, but memory on the logic board that cannot be changed by the user.





Hmmm.... no error pop up, but we notice NO L3 Cache is listed (even in OS X)

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So ebay strikes again... we run a diags and indeed the cache fails diagnostics and we remove the SSD and put it in Unit 2.  Unit 1 boots to OS9, but the bad cache will slow down the DAW speed tests I want to do later

[/size]

[lartch]

FYI there's lots of machines faster than that PB 1.0 but they just require hacks to boot (PBG4 1.5, prolly 1.67, dual 1.42 MDD, 1.42 mac mini)

[IIO]

what do you mean by "just hacks"? the mini requires almost the same modificiations as the alu powerbooks. and the 1.5 and 1.67 are on the to-do list.

[mietek]

What about the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 in the G4/1.5 12"?

[labbdos]

Hi, I have a 17" 1Ghz PB G4 and a 15" 1.67Ghz PB G4 that I would like to run OS 9 on, but I can´t download the fixed ISOs. Not allowed because of capacity/no premium account. Are these ISOs available anywhere else?

[DieHard]

Hi, I have a 17" 1Ghz PB G4 and a 15" 1.67Ghz PB G4 that I would like to run OS 9 on, but I can´t download the fixed ISOs. Not allowed because of capacity/no premium account. Are these ISOs available anywhere else?

This has been an issue only as of lately, just make a "free" account on Adrive, we are working on this

[Protools5LEGuy]

A few weeks ago I took an offer of this machine with 1 Gig of RAM for 70 bucks and I took it.

Tested the machine with the original 60Gb 4200rpm drive and worked really slow on Tiger+Leopard, but fast on Panther.

I ordered 2 Gigs of RAM and the feeling were the same, only a little faster on Panther, but the drive were starting to give troubles.

So I decided to get the best 44 pins to mSATA adapter + a 240 mSATA drive. Total 33 Euros for the adaptor + 57 for the mSATA.

[Protools5LEGuy]

I have inserted a cardbus USB 2.0 card with NEC Chipset. I will report back if it works or not.

2 Things:

Where can I find iMic ROM file?

Should there be an order in the partitioning of a drive for a system to be the first chosen after a Apple+Alt+P+R

I am going to multiboot Mac OS 9 + Panther + Tiger and Leopard and enjoy it with a original M-Box with Protools and Logic in Mind.

[FdB]

Ninester and I were just checking this mSATA + adapter scenario out today and considering same for a Mac mini. After viewing this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35isLn-OhQ and noting the “doesn’t work” report in the comments, coupled with the fact that there was no follow-up video of the thing actually working… well, kinda-sorta nixxed the idea. BUT, do please report your success as the OWC, I assume 44 pin IDE SSDs - - (yes Mr. Happy, I remember) are a bit more expensive… and quite possibly… slower.

[IIO]

would there be DOM / flash drives which fit into the HD slot of am mini? the kingspec stuff for example is not higher than a 40 pin IDE plug is.

[FdB]

Interesting, 110.
Moved comments/response to General Hardware
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4435.msg31470/topicseen.html#new

[Protools5LEGuy]

Back to Powerbook 5.1 17", everymac have removed the wayback machine links for disassembling the machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20100413102532/http://www.ifixit.com:80/Guide/Repair/Installing-PowerBook-G4-Aluminum-17-Inch-1-1-67-GHz-Hard-Drive-Replacement/246/1

[DieHard]

Ninester and I were just checking this mSATA + adapter scenario out today and considering same for a Mac mini. After viewing this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35isLn-OhQ and noting the “doesn’t work” report in the comments, coupled with the fact that there was no follow-up video of the thing actually working… well, kinda-sorta nixxed the idea. BUT, do please report your success as the OWC, I assume 44 pin IDE SSDs - - (yes Mr. Happy, I remember) are a bit more expensive… and quite possibly… slower.

As I have mentioned, the OWC Legacy IDE Drives are simply an mSata with an adapter in a pretty package, I am not sure what chipset is used... I imagine the adapter and mSata that PT5 is testing should work 100%... if not, we will have to hunt down the chipset used in the OWC or if they have made some modification

[Protools5LEGuy]

So I decided to get the best 44 pins to mSATA adapter + a 240 mSATA drive. Total 33 Euros for the adaptor + 57 for the mSATA.

It is more like the best adaptor plus the cheapest >128G drive. I hope it to be working. Most drive should saturate the ATA 100 bus.

[IIO]

Interesting, 110.
Moved comments/response to General Hardware
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4435.msg31470/topicseen.html#new

unfortunately it mighzt be that i am wrong. both models i could find on ebay have a power connector which is some 2 mm higher than the rest of the thing. it might still fit into a G4 mini with some trickery.

[Protools5LEGuy]

The adapter is working, but it came as cable-select as default and in that way TDM was not working, even from the Mac OS X control panel / Target Disk Mode option. Without that pin connected, it acts as master and works flawless.

My mSATA disk specs in Amperes are even better than suspect.  DC +3.3 450 mA

[IIO]

damn, i didnt even notice that this is the unsupported powerbook thread. we should really come back to topic here.

[Protools5LEGuy]

When booting from the os9 unsupported CD for the first time on my FW800 1.42 DP I got the same message you did about there being a problem with the cache, followed by no longer having any L3 cache under OS X. It definitely did work before, and I'm extremely hesitant to try on my second FW800 1.42 DP. On my single 1.0 FW400 model (which is supported) the unsupported disk does not produce this error. The second USB device error seems to be in regards to the bluetooth controller, and can be ignored safely. Have you had any luck reviving your L3 Cache? PRAM reset hasn't done the trick. Plenty more to try... Hopefully OS9 compatibility doesn't require a permanent sacrifice of L3 Cache...

First time I rebooted the machine after opening it, my L3 cache went. "DieHard Syndrome"? I opened it again to make the Cable select to Master SSD drive converter change and I noticed the 2 memory chips of the L3 cache are heatsinked thru the keyboard!!

Then I put more presure to the keyboard screws, and Voila! , the L3 cache came back.

[Protools5LEGuy]

Performance/Hardware Test (Updates 08/11/2017)

3) QuickBench Test Results

QuickBench 1.5?

Pictures 1 to 7 MacBench 3 results

Picture 8 and 10 (no 9) MacBench 5

[Protools5LEGuy]

Is My math right?

MBytes are KBytes/1024

Then, if I compare MB 3 and 5 results with QB 1.5 results the chinese 240GBytes drive is lightly faster than the 120 GB OWC Golden solution.