iMac G4 800 CD/DVD Problem

[Mardeec]

I’m trying to resurrect an iMac G4 800Mhz 17” and running into some odd issues with the “Superdrive.”

I installed 10.4 from the retail DVD and created two partitions, one for Tiger and one for OS 9.  No problem reading the 10.4 DVD.  But, when I tried to boot from the Mac OS 9.2.2 Universal Install - ISO CD Image, it saw the CD as a blank disc.  Further investigation revealed this behavior:

It reads Maxell CD-R 650Mb discs (mounts disc and shows contents)
It does NOT read Maxell CD-R 80 min. 700 Mb discs (mounts as a blank disc)
It does NOT read Memorex CD-R 80 min 700 Mb discs (mounts as a blank disc)

Everymac shows this computer has a Superdrive, and it shows up on System Profiler as a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-104.

Is there a physical difference between the 650 and 700 discs that this drive can’t accommodate?  I ran out of 650Mb discs, so I couldn’t test any further.

As an alternative, I burned the Mac OS 9.2.2 Universal Install - ISO CD Image to DVD, and it wouldn’t boot from that disc.  It mounts the DVD and will show its contents, but it won’t boot when I hold down the “C” key and power on. 

Is the CD image strictly for CDs?  I was thinking, CD, DVD, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s optical.

A serial no. search on Everymac confirms this is an iMac G4 800 that can boot OS9. 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Marty

[FdB]

Have you tried shutting down the machine with the CD (or DVD) already in the drive… and then startup, holding down the Option key… to see if it will then allow booting from it? (Sometimes the machines will eject them before boot when attempting this, so you must be ready to quickly push the disc back in before the machine completely "Option" boots.) If the disc then "shows" as an available boot source, select it and then hit enter (or the displayed on-screen arrow).

OR… also, with the CD/DVD in the drive and machine shut down, boot into Open Firmware (holding down Option and Command and the “o” and “f” keys at startup, until the Open Firmware “text screen” shows. Then (with the CD/DVD already in the machine, before Open Firmware startup)… type:  "boot cd:,\\:tbxi" (exactly as shown, without the quotation marks) at the prompt and then hit enter.

If none of the above works for you, I would begin questioning just how the Mac OS 9.2.2 Universal Install CD - or DVD was created. (Also assuming that OS 9 drivers were installed on your OS 9-targeted second partition, at the time of format/partition.)

AND, if you’ve another Mac… try reading (and maybe even booting from) your OS 9.2.2 Universal Install CD on that other Mac, to check the “write” of the CD or DVD.

Good luck to ya.

[Andre Solomko]

Hello Very familiar problem back in a days. Yes  there is a big difference between 650 and 700 mb media. I remember old cdrom wouldnt reed it but it should not be a problem with pioneer.Try a boot thing like in previous post but my bet is that  drive is dying. Reflashing of firmware may help. Its just a bet . Easier to try any other dvd  burner.

[Mardeec]

Fury, Andre, thanks so much for you help with this.  The command  "boot cd:,\\:tbxi" in Open Firmware did the trick, but only with the DVD.  I was able to boot from the MacOS9Lives Universal.iso and get 9.2.2 installed.  I wanted to post some pics of the iMac running 9.2.2 and Classilla, but I can't figure out how to get the photos out of my iPad   

The CDs I have of the Universal.iso are proven good.  I burned one in TransMac on Windows and one in 10.5.8 on an eMac.  I've used both CDs to install 9.2.2. on G3 iMacs and G4 PowerPCs.  My next projects are (1) post some pics of how good this iMac looks wearing OS9 (2) order some 650Mb CDs, which this iMac seems to like (3) figure out what's behind the command "boot cd:,\\tbxi."

Thanks again guys!