Problem Booting Power Mac 8600

[Mardeec]

I’m trying to resurrect a Power Mac 8600/250 that’s showing the blinking question mark/floppy disk when trying to boot from the hard drive.  I have the "Mac OS 8.1 (Universal Install) Toast / ISO CD Image" from this site that I burned long ago, and it begins booting from the CD drive until it stops at this message:

“Sorry, the desktop folder on the startup disk could not be created. Try unlocking the disk”

The solution described here (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2624.msg15716.html#msg15716) is to not burn the CD in OS X (which I probably did) but to use Toast in OS9. So, I tried that, but ended up with an 8.1 CD that won’t boot and does not contain a blessed System folder.  So, I’m clearly doing something wrong.  Here’s what I did:

• Downloaded “Mac OS 8.1 (Universal Install) Toast / ISO CD Image” using TenFourFox 32.5 in OS 10.4.11
• Unstuffed the image file with Stuffit Expander 7.0.3 in OS9.2.2 (on a Mac 1.25 Mini)
• Burned the CD using Toast 5.2.3 in OS9.2.2

The Toast Help file describes a number of options for how to burn the CD – data, ISO9600, Mac Volume, etc.  I used the data option and ended up with a CD where all the folders and files of the image are present, but the System folder is not blessed.  When I try to boot from this CD, all I get is the blinking question mark. 

Should I use a different method in Toast for burning the CD?  Should I use the 9.1 install image instead of 8.1? I understand this computer can boot 7.6.1 – 9.1.  Should I use a different version of Toast?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[DrNo7]

Hi Mardeec,

If you are talking about the image from this download thread (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,3140.0.html), it is a toast image (extension .toast.bin).

Once downloaded, you should use stuffit expander to go from .toast.bin to a single .toast file. Then, in Toast, you go into the burn a disk image mode and you select the.toast file and you start the burn. This way, you will have a disk identical to the one that was used as reference.

Let us know if you have trouble booting when burning a disk this way

[Mardeec]

Hi DrNo7,

Thanks so much for your reply and guidance.  I burned the 8.1.toast file using the image mode in Toast 5.2.3.  That CD was able to boot the 8600, but I got the same error message (Sorry, the desktop folder on the startup disk could not be created...) during the boot process.

I then downloaded the 9.1 install image (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,807.0.html), unstuffed it, and burned the CD using the image mode in Toast.  That CD was able to boot the 8600 without the error message...success!

Maybe there's a problem with the 8.1 image?  I saw a suggestion on another forum that there needs to be a Desktop folder on the boot CD, but I didn't see one on the 9.1 disk and that booted fine.

Thank you for getting me on the right track in terms of understanding how Toast works.  Now I can burn useful CDs rather than making more drink coasters.