Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[indibil]

Hi, thanks for the help. I haven't actually tried booting from a CD; I haven't fallen for that. From OSx, I copy the system folder to the OS9 partition, and neither has worked.

I have two partitions: the first 50GB for OS9 with OS9 drivers, and the second up to 128GB for OSx, also with OS9 drivers.

Maybe I should use Target Disk and copy from another Mac running OS9?

The way I'm doing it, I did it with my iBook G4 1.33GHz, and it worked.

[Greystash]

Thanks!
If you're copying over the System folder, there's a chance it's not being "Blessed". If that's the case there's a terminal command you can run to bless the OS9 system folder from OSX.

As long as the Mac OS 9 disk drivers are installed the rest of your setup sounds good.

Can you please try these ROMs. If you place them in the OS9 System Folder it should eliminate the need to run those Open Firmware commands. I modified the iMic ROM to run the OFW command as part of the boot script.

Test ROM

Use this ROM if the above works:
Screamer ROM

If you don't get any crashes with those ROMS, then I would suspect it's something to do with the System Folder being unblessed or partitioning issues.
If your system does crash, reboot and hold the alt key and boot from OSX, then restore the original Mac OS ROM.

iMac G3s are a pain with multi-partition SSDs and I had a lot of trouble with this. The G4 may be similar. This page may also be helpful: iMac G3 Dual Bootable SSD Setup/

[indibil]

Thanks!
If you're copying over the System folder, there's a chance it's not being "Blessed". If that's the case there's a terminal command you can run to bless the OS9 system folder from OSX.

As long as the Mac OS 9 disk drivers are installed the rest of your setup sounds good.

Can you please try these ROMs. If you place them in the OS9 System Folder it should eliminate the need to run those Open Firmware commands. I modified the iMic ROM to run the OFW command as part of the boot script.

Test ROM

Use this ROM if the above works:
Screamer ROM

If you don't get any crashes with those ROMS, then I would suspect it's something to do with the System Folder being unblessed or partitioning issues.
If your system does crash, reboot and hold the alt key and boot from OSX, then restore the original Mac OS ROM.

iMac G3s are a pain with multi-partition SSDs and I had a lot of trouble with this. The G4 may be similar. This page may also be helpful: iMac G3 Dual Bootable SSD Setup/

Hello!!! Thank you so much for your instructions and help.

I downloaded your two ROMs, but they weren't working, so I booted the iMac in Target Disk mode and, from the Mac Mini running OS 9, ran First Aid on the iMac disk. This fixed it and caused the OS 9 disk image with your ROMs to appear when booting with ALT.

With the first ROM, the first thing it does is open the CD tray and then enter Open Firmware. With the second ROM, the CD doesn't open, but it also enters Open Firmware. I've attached a photo.

Since you were right, and that I had the wrong system folder because I had copied it from OSX (and that it had worked for me before), I tried another ROM file, which I think is the "Unsupported" one, and which I attached below.

It booted with this ROM, but I have two issues (I'd appreciate other things I need to check). First, I have no internal sound, and second, I only had 256 colors and no 3D acceleration.

I haven't gotten anywhere with the sound, but with the graphics, changing the NVidia drivers from version 2.3 to version 3.2 or 3.5 allows me to get millions of colors, but I still don't have 3D acceleration. Since it's a more modern GF4 chip and AGPx8, there may not be drivers for OS9.

Do you know if these problems can be solved?

[Greystash]

Good to hear!

The sound issue is still likely due to the "screamer" fix not being present, and if that doesn't work your next best bet would be to plug something into the headphone jack and see if that fixes it.

I would try the second ROM (with screamer fix) again, because it looks like you have an incorrect device path referenced in your NVRAM. Try the following:

1. Boot into Open Firmware
2. Type

Code: [Select]

nvedit3. You can press the up and down arrow keys to navigate any saved commands, and you should delete them all
4. Press ctrl + c
5. Run the following:

Code: [Select]

nvstore
setenv use-nvramrc? false
reset-all6. It should reboot and hopefully boot successfully with sound with the modified ROM.

If it doesn't boot try adding the following to the NVRAM:

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0
80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property
device-end

Then:

Code: [Select]

nvstore
setenv use-nvramrc? true
reset-all

The issue is that in your NVRAM it looks like you entered

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,60@1 instead of

Code: [Select]

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0, although maybe that is correct? I don't have that machine to test.

The video issues are a different problem, hardware acceleration is unlikely to be possible in this machine. I've tried with a lower model and was unsuccessful.

[indibil]

Good to hear!

Okay, I'll try all that, but... with those changes, I'm not going to lose the gigabyte patcher so I can use the 7447, right? Because if the patcher is "deleted," I won't be able to boot anymore. Remember I did a CPU swap.

I have tried all the ROMs without writing anything in OpenFirmware, just placing Mac OS ROM in system folder and booting.

As for the graphics, just like what was done with the 9200 to get it to work on the Mini, can't you add the ID of the "new" GF4 to the drivers so it'll recognize it? I have no idea how to do that.

[Greystash]

Ah right, I forgot about that. In that case, check the NVRAM editor to make sure there's no line containing `dev /cpus/PowerPC,60@1`. If that line isn't there, I'm not sure where it's being defined. Open Firmware is throwing an error related to it and stopping the boot process. However, you should still be able to type `mac-boot` at the prompt to continue booting.

I tried playing around with the hardware acceleration here, but was unsuccessful:
https://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=7054.msg54720#msg54720

[indibil]

Ah right, I forgot about that. In that case, check the NVRAM editor to make sure there's no line containing `dev /cpus/PowerPC,60@1`. If that line isn't there, I'm not sure where it's being defined. Open Firmware is throwing an error related to it and stopping the boot process. However, you should still be able to type `mac-boot` at the prompt to continue booting.

I tried playing around with the hardware acceleration here, but was unsuccessful:
https://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=7054.msg54720#msg54720

Hi, I've been doing some tests, but nothing new. Although I have discovered a few things.

It turns out I was able to boot with the "Unsupported" Mac OS ROM because I had the Gigadesigns Boot Patcher for OS9 installed. I'm attaching a photo.

Without it, NO Mac OS ROM will boot.

I removed the Gigadesigns patcher and tried all the ROMs. Some appeared when booting with ALT, but when I selected them, the screen went gray. Not even the "Unsupported" ROM works. Your two modified ROMs still have the same effect; they take me to Open Firmware, and I can't figure out the commands. I've tried several things, and none of them work.

Then I reinstalled the Gigadesigns Patcher, which is a patch that is deleted if you remove the battery or boot with Opt-Cmd-R-P. With it, I've been able to boot only with the "Unsupported" ROM, but without internal sound (yes, through the headphones) and without 3D acceleration.

Is it possible to add that Gigadesigns Patcher to the "Unsupported" ROM? Could you add the Screamer Patcher to it?

Regarding the GF4, it seems that only the v3.2 drivers allow millions of colors; the v3.5 drivers sometimes boot with 256 colors. As you may have noticed, I'm not very good with Open Firmware, and I might be going on about something crazy now, but could it be that the NVidia drivers don't have the ID for this new GF4? If I'm not mistaken, the 9200 ID was added to the 9000 drivers for the Mini, and that's how it worked. Could something similar be done? Maybe I misunderstood the GF4 thread you showed me.

[Greystash]

When you say "Unsupported" Mac OS ROM, are you meaning a stock Mac OS 9 ROM, or one of the Unsupported G4 ROMs from this forum/an installation from the Unsupported G4 ISO?

If you're running a stock ROM and it boots correctly with the Gigadesigns patcher I can try modifying that, instead of the Unsupported G4 ROMS.
Can you please also send me a your ROM after applying the patch? It sounds like the patcher applies modifications to the NVRAM given that it's removed after power loss, but if it also modifies the ROM I can check that.

It would also help if you could check whether the Gigadesigns patch is present in NVRAM. Without this I won't be able to add it to the ROM.

To do this:
- boot into OFW (command + option + O + F)
- Type "nvedit"
- Press the down arrow key several times, or the up arrow to check if there are lines of modified code in the NVRAM
- If so, then make note of them, and when you're finished press CTRL + C to exit the editor, and then type "mac-boot" to continue booting.

It's unlikely the ROMs you've been using are affecting the bit-depth. You'll find that if OS9 boots into 256 colours, you can restart and boot into OSX and then change the depth to millions, then reboot into OS9 and the depth will persist (so OS9 now has millions of colours). You can also change the colour depth manually in Open Firmware, and it's also possible to hardcode a default through scripts etc.
Getting video support where you can freely change resolutions and depth within OS9 requires driver support and without that you're stuck with this limited functionality.

Regarding the video drivers/acceleration, I will eventually look into this again sometime in the future, but my iMac is currently packed and I can't give any promises on doing this anytime soon. I tried modifying the NVIDIA chipset device via Open Firmware to be the lower model supported by the drivers, rather than the other way of allowing the drivers to support the later chipset. This didn't work, but if I tried it again I would adjust the video drivers if possible.

[indibil]

Thanks for continuing to help me.

I've attached the ROM I'm using in reply #162. I'm using the ROM from the Unsupported G4 ISO from OS9Lives; any other ROM won't work. And it won't work without the Gigadesigns patcher because of the CPU swap.

I'll run that command this afternoon and send it to you. Would a screenshot help? So I don't make any mistakes when transcribing.

It would be great if in the future you could recover your work with the GF4 drivers. We could make a .zip with everything you need for a 1GHz iMac and even for a SWAP CPU.

[indibil]

When you say "Unsupported" Mac OS ROM, are you meaning a stock Mac OS 9 ROM, or one of the Unsupported G4 ROMs from this forum/an installation from the Unsupported G4 ISO?

If you're running a stock ROM and it boots correctly with the Gigadesigns patcher I can try modifying that, instead of the Unsupported G4 ROMS.
Can you please also send me a your ROM after applying the patch? It sounds like the patcher applies modifications to the NVRAM given that it's removed after power loss, but if it also modifies the ROM I can check that.

It would also help if you could check whether the Gigadesigns patch is present in NVRAM. Without this I won't be able to add it to the ROM.

To do this:
- boot into OFW (command + option + O + F)
- Type "nvedit"
- Press the down arrow key several times, or the up arrow to check if there are lines of modified code in the NVRAM
- If so, then make note of them, and when you're finished press CTRL + C to exit the editor, and then type "mac-boot" to continue booting.

It's unlikely the ROMs you've been using are affecting the bit-depth. You'll find that if OS9 boots into 256 colours, you can restart and boot into OSX and then change the depth to millions, then reboot into OS9 and the depth will persist (so OS9 now has millions of colours). You can also change the colour depth manually in Open Firmware, and it's also possible to hardcode a default through scripts etc.
Getting video support where you can freely change resolutions and depth within OS9 requires driver support and without that you're stuck with this limited functionality.

Regarding the video drivers/acceleration, I will eventually look into this again sometime in the future, but my iMac is currently packed and I can't give any promises on doing this anytime soon. I tried modifying the NVIDIA chipset device via Open Firmware to be the lower model supported by the drivers, rather than the other way of allowing the drivers to support the later chipset. This didn't work, but if I tried it again I would adjust the video drivers if possible.

I followed your instructions, and in the photo I show you the result of the "nvedit" command.

"dev /cpus/PowerPC,60?@0 80000203 encode-int " cpu-version" property dev /cpus/PowerPC,60?@1 80000203 encode-int " cpu-version" property"



This includes the modification made by the "gigadesigns patcher." I've also attached the "Mac OS ROM" I'm using.

Since I wanted to dump the GF4 ROM (and it didn't work), I'm attaching screenshots of the ID and other information I was able to obtain. In case you want to try modifying the driver and have me test it. I don't know how much it might cost.

I wanted to dump the GF4 ROM because I have a GF4 AGPx8 that I can't flash for a Mac, and if I had been able to dump the iMac ROM, it might have worked, but it seems it's not stored in an EEPROM.

[Greystash]

Thanks for that indibil, I'll take a look when I get some time.

I didn't see the ROM attached in your last message, is the attached ROM in the messages above one you used after applying the patch and allowed OS9 to boot?

Could you also please confirm whether you are using a stock/standard Mac OS 9 installation when the Gigadesigns patcher allows OS9 to boot, or are you applying the patch to a MacOS9Lives installation/system folder?

One more question, when it is booting OS9 correctly with the Gigadesigns patch, do you still get taken to Open Firmware on boot and shown the error "can't find device /cpus/PowerPC,60?@1"? Or is this just when using one of my ROMs or the MacOS9Lives ones?

[joevt]

If you dump the Mac 1 MB ROM (not the ROM file), then the GeForce 4MX code can be extracted from that.
 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/question-how-powerful-of-a-graphics-card-will-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-33883037

However, it probably won't be in the form of a PCI Option ROM that you can flash to a PCI/AGP card. I don't know if the code can be converted but at least there are example 4MX ROMs at
 http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2
that we can compare the code with.

What Mac would you use the GF4 AGPx8 in? Only PCI Power Mac G5's have AGP 8x, according to
 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/question-how-powerful-of-a-graphics-card-will-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-30082400

Also in that first post are links to posts discussing instructions for connecting to Open Firmware using telnet, so you can capture the I/O as text instead of a photo. Then you can do a dump-device-tree command to get a list of all the devices and properties in Open Firmware (also discussed in that first post in the Troubleshooting section).

[indibil]

Thanks for that indibil, I'll take a look when I get some time.

I didn't see the ROM attached in your last message, is the attached ROM in the messages above one you used after applying the patch and allowed OS9 to boot?

Could you also please confirm whether you are using a stock/standard Mac OS 9 installation when the Gigadesigns patcher allows OS9 to boot, or are you applying the patch to a MacOS9Lives installation/system folder?

One more question, when it is booting OS9 correctly with the Gigadesigns patch, do you still get taken to Open Firmware on boot and shown the error "can't find device /cpus/PowerPC,60?@1"? Or is this just when using one of my ROMs or the MacOS9Lives ones?

Hi, I'm attaching the ROM file again; I must have forgotten it in the previous one.

I have a standard installation, in Spanish, and I only changed the "Mac OS ROM" file. I've only been able to boot with the "Gigadesigns OS9 Patcher" and the "Mac OS ROM" from the "unsupported G4 macos9lives" ISO.

Even though I have the patcher applied, your ROMs don't work, nor does a stock ROM, only the ROM I attached. And with the Gigadesigns Patcher, if I use your ROMs, it takes me to Open Firmware. If you look closely, the Gigadesigns Patcher seems to add PowerPC,60?@0 and PowerPC,60?@1 lines; it doesn't add PowerPC,G4@0 lines.

[indibil]

If you dump the Mac 1 MB ROM (not the ROM file), then the GeForce 4MX code can be extracted from that.
 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/question-how-powerful-of-a-graphics-card-will-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-33883037

However, it probably won't be in the form of a PCI Option ROM that you can flash to a PCI/AGP card. I don't know if the code can be converted but at least there are example 4MX ROMs at
 http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2
that we can compare the code with.

What Mac would you use the GF4 AGPx8 in? Only PCI Power Mac G5's have AGP 8x, according to
 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/question-how-powerful-of-a-graphics-card-will-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-30082400

Also in that first post are links to posts discussing instructions for connecting to Open Firmware using telnet, so you can capture the I/O as text instead of a photo. Then you can do a dump-device-tree command to get a list of all the devices and properties in Open Firmware (also discussed in that first post in the Troubleshooting section).

Hi, the graphic card I wanted to flash was this one:

https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/geforce4-mx440-64mb-flashable.49714/

From what I've read, no one has managed to get a flashed AGPx8 GF4 working, and I haven't been able to either (I think that besides x8 it also has x4, I wanted to use it in a G4). I thought it would be possible with the iMac GF4 ROM, but of course, I couldn't get it.

[indibil]

If you dump the Mac 1 MB ROM (not the ROM file), then the GeForce 4MX code can be extracted from that.
 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/question-how-powerful-of-a-graphics-card-will-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-33883037

I am attaching the iMac ROM, read with version 10.4 on Sorbet Leopard.