Author Topic: I am so lost. I need to install os 9 on powerbook g4 titanium...please advise  (Read 6491 times)

Offline morerecords

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I am so lost. I need to install os 9 on powerbook g4 titanium...please advise
sorry to be so blue, I have no idea what I am doing.
I purchased a titanium powerbook 867mhz G4 second hand...
need to rescue some songs I wrote 10 years ago that I have stored on an external drive...
but I can't successfully install os9 to this laptop...
help!  thanks.

Offline ovalking

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You don't say what is on the machine currently, or even if it's working correctly. Did it come with the install discs? It would originally have come with 10.2.1 and 9.2.2 pre-installed (anything older is unlikely to work).
It will be easier to advise if we know more about the starting point.

What is the interface on your external drive? A change of OS may not be sufficient to get it to work.

Offline morerecords

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Thank you for your reply.
There is nothing but a wiped hard drive at this time.
I have the original install discs, which include os x,
but I do not want any os x on the machine,
I simply want to install os9.
I can boot the powerbook using an os9 installer ISO I downloaded from the web and burned to disc,
however I can only boot from the disc, I get the error message from the powerbook that it cannot run this OS on it's on drive.
I am basically starting from scratch with a blank drive.
Thank you,
MR

Offline GaryN

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I'm guessing that the Pbook HDD is missing the required OS9 drivers.
That would not be unusual if it had only OSX installed.
The fix is easy.

• Boot the machine from the ISO CD.
• Launch "Drive setup" in /System Folder/Utilities
• Select the internal drive and initialize it

The installer should work now.

macStuff

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I am so lost. I need to install os 9 on powerbook g4 titanium...please advise
sorry to be so blue, I have no idea what I am doing.
I purchased a titanium powerbook 867mhz G4 second hand...
need to rescue some songs I wrote 10 years ago that I have stored on an external drive...
but I can't successfully install os9 to this laptop...
help!  thanks.

you may think you are lost.. but yet u are in the best place to be asking the questions you are asking! so you are not really lost at all ;)

the powerbook 867mhz model
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_867.html
according to the info posted on everymac.com your powerbook came with os9.22 installed aswell as 10.2.1 (Jaguar)
i think the cds that came with the laptop should have had 2 install methods
at least the mdd restore cds did... two methods, one is an INSTALL and the other is a RESTORE... on apple macs from 2002 onward , i think they came with both a RESTORE cd and an os INSTALLER cd.. on the macs that came out after 2002, both the quicksilver G4 + MDD G4 + it would seem, the powerbook G4 aswell. (the installer / restore could be on seperate cds, or in some cases, on the same disc)

anyway, the installer works as most installers do, installs a working version of the os onto a blank hard disk.. the RESTORE method accomplishes the same task in a slightly different manner, using the ASR (apple software restore) to restore the original contents of the hard drive to what was intended to be on the mac when first turned on, from a "hard drive image file" which was a snapshot of the original shipped hard drive contents at time of purchase. most "techs" would probably choose the latter of the two, because its quicker, and requires less human interaction with the computer to achieve the end task.

having briefly checked this page on another site with users discussing this topic:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/powerbook-g4-ti-867mhz-looking-for-the-original-restore-dvd.1562241/
you will see some people responding saying that their install of os9 was unstable + buggy, well its most likely to me, that this would be the result of using the incorrect installer cd for your machine. as we all know apple usually made significant hardware changes "under the hood" between models that visually look similar or identical..yet, inside have major differences in hardware.. i think this is also true for the powerbook g4 series in that some of them have different hardware from the other models that most would assume are similar.. so its very important that you use an install that properly supports this hardware. (ie: was produced either specifically for that specific model, or produced after the fact, containing all the right components.)

if it was my machine i would be trying to find out the exact part number of the restore cd that originally shipped with the machine, and attempt to locate that specific installer.. 

re: your comment "i do not want osx on this machine, only osx"
well the original contents of the hard drive when purchased included BOTH.
and theres no real need to erase one or the other... you can just boot to os9 and ignore the jaguar install untill needed or indefinately. in my experience its easier to just leave it alone, that way, if you need it, its already there, if u dont need it, so what, then just dont use it, its only 5gb of space or something like that?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4040369?tstart=0
at this address you can see that someone has taken the information from the "macTracker" application and pasted it here for the original posters reference.
according to this persons response they determined that there was no less than three different specific hardware model versions of the powerbook g4.. and included dates, which probably are telling us the time period this model was produced...

1) Powerbook G4 Oct/2001 - Apr/2002
2) Powerbook G4 Apr/2002 - Nov/2002
3) Powerbook G4 Nov/2002 - Dec/2003

im not sure how or why this guys broke it down into 3 different models..
because this page lists alot more models than just 3:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/index-powerbook-g4.html
this page lists *24* different powerbook g4 models! the last *10* of which are of the "Aluminum" 7447a variety (which were intended to be OSX only machines) followed by another *5* of which are the "aluminum" 7447 cpu type variety.. followed by the remaining *8* powerbook g4's which are the "titanium" variety which are further divided into further types: original / gigabit / DVI / Ti..
looking at the production dates for those models we can cross reference those further types

Original : Jan 2001- Oct 2001
Gigabit : Oct 2001 - Apr 2002
DVI : Apr 2002 - Nov 2002
final TI : Nov 2002 - Sep 2003

so it would seem theres 4 different production phases for the Powerbook G4 "Titanium"
you need to make sure that you are installing the correct restore/install cds that correlate with the final Titanium models. if you have the 867 mhz model then that seems to be part of the final production phase for the powerbook g4 laptop.

https://winworldpc.com/product/mac-os-9/92
on this page there is an iso posted of a powerbook g4 restore/install image (either or? possibly both?)

you need to find the correct cd installer that correlates to your machine.
it should be the same disc used for both the 867 + the 1.0ghz Titanium model i think.
keep in mind those production dates outlined above, whatever u do, DO NOT USE AN *EARLIER* INSTALL/RESTORE CD, ON A *LATER* MODEL that is the recipe for buggyness. so make sure whatever disc you use, that its coming from Nov 2002 or later; (the actual files on the disc if inspected may be from 2-3 months prior to the Nov 2002 release date)
 good luck! finding the right installer, and having a stable + quick powerbook g4!

for example, heres a large image of a powerbook g4 restore cd that comes from 2002... (which, because its not specifically saying its from november? is most likely from the 2nd wave (gigabit) or 3rd wave (dvi) models which overlapped into the year 2002.. just because it says 2002 doesnt mean its from november 2002 or later...
https://ia800606.us.archive.org/34/items/PowerBook_G4_Software_Restore_1_of_3_691-3562-A_Apple_Computer_2002/PowerBook%20G4%20Software%20Restore%201%20of%203%20(691-3562-A)%20(Apple%20Computer)%20(2002).jpg
this cd indicates: cd version 1.0 691-3562-A
the last number is the part number of the actual cd.. all cds should have UNIQUE part numbers, while many of them could be "cd version 1.0" of their individual part numbers.. which is how they are referred to, to be ordered or replaced
« Last Edit: December 08, 2017, 12:45:58 PM by macStuff »

Offline ovalking

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>Boot the machine from the ISO CD.
>Launch "Drive setup" in /System Folder/Utilities
>Select the internal drive and initialize it

I would recommend you partition the drive into two when you initialize it. You could put X on one and 9 on the other for example.
Either way, it's always good to have different boot options for whatever troubleshooting scenarios arise in the future.


>this cd indicates: cd version 1.0 691-3562-A

For info, this is what came with a 800Mhz PB G4 (the variant before the 867 one).

macStuff

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yes ovalking: good catch

that specific part number cd is NOT CORRECT for the original poster..
i was just using that as an example, to show what is a part number, what does it look like? and  that the part number is an important detail to pay attention to
but i do not know the exact part number that OP needs at this time.

the everymac site clearly lists that the 867 Ti book shipped with 10.2.1 osx version,
so its clear that this cd precedes the one the OP needs to find.

macStuff

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I would recommend you partition the drive into two when you initialize it. You could put X on one and 9 on the other for example.
Either way, it's always good to have different boot options for whatever troubleshooting scenarios arise in the future.

would be interesting to make note of whether or not the original install/restore disks put os9 + osx on seperate partition.. i dont believe they did? but i could be wrong?

Offline devils_advisor

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No goes all on one drive

Offline morerecords

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This is a lot to take in.
I have the original installer disc that came with the laptop.
It installs OSX.
 I am looking to install os9 without an OSX whatsoever.
If I remember back that far, once I installed OSX alongside the "hybrid" version of OS9 that came out at the same time, a lot of my music apps did not cooperate any longer.
So I am looking to install OS9 natively...
I purchased one os9 install disc from ebay, which does not help...
I am looking online but unable to find the corresponding os9 disc image from any site.
Someone linked me to a toast image of an install disc, which looks promising, however I do not have toast, so I am not able to burn the image.
thank you all for responding and for your kindness and advice.
all the best,
MR