Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported Hardware Help

[Jubadub]

If I recall correctly, I used Drive Setup on the Mini CD to split and initialize the two partitions, then copied the OS 9 files from the CD to one of them. The other partition, I installed (maybe even reformatted?) with Tiger's CD version, Client. For whatever reason, installation hanged near the end of installing disc 4, so I was forced to shut it down, which then caused it to prompt me to insert discs 2/3/4 upon a reboot and attempt to reinstall all those, which worked this time. (I suspect it may be a bad HDD that I got, as it occasionally gives me I/O errors.) But after installing, I had no more problems like that: I updated Tiger to 10.4.11, then the security update, Java etc..

Not related to the internal HDD, but I DID have to use OS X's Disk Utility to be able to format an external 1TB FireWire-compatible HDD that I recently got. Whatever Driver Setup I had with OS 9 simply couldn't do anything with it. (Not until I formatted it from its non-HFS stock settings, at the very least. It is a somewhat recent LaCie drive.)

Also! Did you try choosing OS X from OS 9's own StartUp Disk menu, as well? Perhaps it could make a difference compared to the "multi-boot" option at startup?

[Jubadub]

Just took notice this post got split into its own separate thread, so for context, since somehow I can't edit the post above, here's what it replied to, in regards to the Mac mini G4:

Not sure if it counts, but I kept both OS 9 and OS X 10.4.11 Tiger Client on the same internal, physical HDD, but each in a different logical partition. When in OS 9 or when booting with Option (AKA Alt) pressed, I can pick either OS 9 or OS X without any problem whatsoever, but when in OS X, it won't allow me to pick OS 9. (In that case, I just reboot holding Option, so no biggie.)

I tried that too. What did you use to initialize the disk, Drive Setup on the Mac mini CD? When I tried Drive Setup, both partitions would show up with openfirmware "multi-boot" (option key at startup), 9 would boot but X would hang.

[IIO]

using the startup panel should not make a difference. the startup volume is just an entry in the PRAM. but it seems there are more and more suprises, the more we dive into it.

i mean, it is weird that having volumes give different results, as the OS HD driver is not releated to volumes.