Mac OS 9 Lives

Mac OS 9 Discussion => Hardware => Topic started by: kimurae on June 15, 2023, 01:30:52 PM

Title: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: kimurae on June 15, 2023, 01:30:52 PM: - The ATAPI CD Drive does not work.
- It had no Hard Drive

- I managed to trick it via dd and open firmware to boot the MacOSLives Installer from a usb drive.
- It can install, I can move extensions to (disabled) on the target drive... it works.
- Anytime I booted onto the SSD it locks up after a few minutes.

I have tried:
- Resetting the PMU
- Zapping PRAM
- Replacing the VRM
- Swapping out the video card
- Installing onto another usb drive
- Adding a fan, adding thermal paste.
- I watched it with a thermal gun, and it only got up to 47 C

Nothing seems to work :(

The SSD I used is the OWC 128GB that comes with the Sata to IDE converted that makes the space in the cube oh so snug.

Any ideas?
Title: Re: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: kimurae on June 19, 2023, 06:31:15 PM: So... after lots of failed fiddling and attempts.... it seems to only work when the SSD is outside the machine.

I first tried some firewire enclosures, but they did not boot.

What did work however is:
Bought an IDE ribbon cable
And a SATA extension cable.
Routed the cables so the Sartech adapter is in the drive Bay Area, and the sata cable squeezes out between the VGA and ADC connectors, and thus I have "E-Sata"
Title: Re: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: ssp3 on June 20, 2023, 02:47:56 AM: Quote from: kimurae on June 15, 2023, 01:30:52 PM
Nothing seems to work :(

The SSD I used is the OWC 128GB that comes with the Sata to IDE converted that makes the space in the cube oh so snug.

Any ideas?

If I understood you correctly in what you were trying to say, then:

1. Bad (as in badly designed) SATA to IDE adapter. Various were available, some were marginal. Search for posts by (S)ATAman regarding this matter.
2. Master/Slave/Cable select issue.
3. Incompatible SSD drive.

Worth trying, as alternative.
Delock (red PCB) mSATA to 44 pin IDE adapter with mSATA SSD (+44 pin to regular IDE adapter) in place of it.
Chinese green PCB JMicron chip based adapters are said to be problematic with older machines.
https://www.delock.com/produkt/62495/merkmale.html

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssd-installation-in-my-cube.1846726/

If you have space problems
1. Small PCB mSATA to SATA adapter + SATA to IDE adapter.
2. Remove OWC drive's PCB from enclosure.
Title: Re: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: kimurae on June 20, 2023, 06:53:14 PM: ... I just found out, it's actually a sonnet G4 1.2ghz, this was not in the eBay description.

Yay, a new can of worms :)

So, looking through the forum posts, if I'm using the 9.2.2 universal installer, can I rule out it being some firmware issue? It does boot, and I can actually have it run all night from the CD, but it locks up on any hard drive that has the OS installed, even when extensions are disabled, I thought it was a heating issue, but even with the HD outside the cube, it still locks up.

:(

So, just to make sure, if the firmware was not installed, the Mac wouldn't boot at all right?
Title: Re: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: kimurae on June 21, 2023, 10:14:40 AM: Figured it out. I found a thread here that mentioned the Multiprocessor folder. I went and just moved all extensions to disabled, and then added back the ones needed. Has not froze since :)

I suspect it was the multiprocessor folder. I didn't realize "Extensions Off" still allowed some Extensions to remain on.
Title: Re: G4 Cube 450mhz can boot into MacOS9Lives, booting onto the SSD... freezes.
Post by: chrisNova777 on June 21, 2023, 10:34:49 AM: Ha! was gonna post that info just now reading your thread that it's probably to do with the processor or temp sensor?