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[macdrum]

In a nutshell. I made a copy of mac os9 and placed it on my osx desktop. I wanted to try something different with the second  drive for my mac os9. Now my problem...

When I chose my startup disk, I accidentally chose the backup mac os9 system folder on my HDD. When I booted, it booted to the system folder on my osx desktop. Now it just hanges with that "?" inside of a floppy drive. When I boot holding option the only choice I am given is the bad os9. It does not show osx??
Things I've tried..

1.Flashing the pram. I also flashed it through the open firmware
2. Deleting the os9 by connecting my drive to my other computer. I do not have permission:)
3. Cant enter single user mode either (stuck in OS 9)

I do not have the system disk either. I am currently downloading a bootleg from a torrent site of osx 10.4.3. I have no Idea if the disk will work either as I dont know the model it is for.

I have a MDD, m8570, 2003 model G4.

Do I have any other options besides using the Mac osx tiger disk that originally came with the G4??

[IIO]

get an OS9 CD, for example from here. (how you can´t have one?)

[macdrum]

The problem is that I want to save osx. If I have to leave my computer 0s9 only, that really isn't a huge deal, but I do prefer to have both.

[chokobo]

The way I generally deal with this is to have multiple drives with different systems on them. That way if I totally hose one of them I can boot off of the other.

Another similar method is if you have another Mac, you can boot the disabled machine in Target mode, connect it to the working machine, and then fix the drive that way.

Booting from CD kind of works, but usually those systems are limited versions that may not allow you to wrench on the things you'd like to change.

If you are totally hosed and without another machine you could take a drive to a friend's place and have them get you up to speed.

This page is helpful too:

Mac Start up key commands
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

[IIO]

The problem is that I want to save osx. If I have to leave my computer 0s9 only, that really isn't a huge deal, but I do prefer to have both.

if you boot from an OS9 CD, you should be able to delete or move that OS9 folder.

though i must say that i dont undestarnd why you can no longer boot into OSX, and why you get the ? when you have 2 active systems.

the OS9 on the desktop with fucked up admin rights cannot be the only reason.

[IIO]

normally when you have OSX and OS9 on the same partition, the OS9 boot should be inaccessible. it always goes by version number.
have you tried booting with alt key yet?

[macdrum]

It wasnt on a separate partition. It was just a backup of my os9 setup that was on a different disk.

Basically, I chose a copy of my system folder that was on my osx desktop instead of choosing my os9 HDD. Not the smartest move on my part.

I did try "alt" and all that it shown was the unbootable system folder that was on my osx desktop.

Right now I just reinstall os9 on my second HDD using Diehards iso on this site (I'm using it now:).
I'm hoping that if I reboot right now and hold "alt", my osx boot option will return. I think maybe by choosing that wrong system folder, the booting got skrewed up and I hope this reinstall of os9 reset that somehow.

[macdrum]

Well, I just rebooted into os9. When I booted with "alt/option" the bootscreen list both drive. I can boot into os9 again which is nice, but I think my other drive is skrewed up. It still is listed as os9??? I think the only way to fix it is with a restore disk or somehow change it to boot the way it should. Once I can find a good tiger disk it should be ok, until then I got os9 which isn't a big deal for now. Thanks II0 for the help.

[supernova777]

i would use mactrons 'rescue cd' thats posted here
as it has all the tools u could want to use to process your hard disk while being booted to the cd (to allow disk utils/tools to use the drive)

i think what u need to do is boot from an osx cd and then simply use the 'startup disk' panel while booted frm the cd, and choose to restart, and select the partition..
this happens to me alot.. it means that its having problem matching its stored parameter for the drive partition / start up folder to the actual files on the drive.

are u using the built in ide controller or are u using some type of disk controller (pci) ?

[macdrum]

I'm using the original IDE drive.

I found an osx 10.4.3 disk on line, I just can't get it to boot. I imagine there must be a certain way to burn the disk. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

normally when you have OSX and OS9 on the same partition, the OS9 boot should be inaccessible. it always goes by version number.
have you tried booting with alt key yet?

Sorry ll0, reading this now, I can tell that I missread your message.....Yes, it is on the same partition

[Knezzen]

normally when you have OSX and OS9 on the same partition, the OS9 boot should be inaccessible. it always goes by version number.
have you tried booting with alt key yet?

Never ever had any issues with this. Mac OS 9.2.2 and OS X have coexisted on the same partition on all of my machines for years.

[macdrum]

normally when you have OSX and OS9 on the same partition, the OS9 boot should be inaccessible. it always goes by version number.
have you tried booting with alt key yet?

Never ever had any issues with this. Mac OS 9.2.2 and OS X have coexisted on the same partition on all of my machines for years.

Yeah kinda weird. Tell you what, thats the last time I choose my system folder backup to boot from

[IIO]

Sorry ll0, reading this now, I can tell that I missread your message.....Yes, it is on the same partition

this is the mysterious part, because there is no reason why the OSX would no longer be found as bootable system only because there is a classic system too on the same partition. IF one of them can not be found when booting, then it is classic.

[supernova777]

I'm using the original IDE drive.

I found an osx 10.4.3 disk on line, I just can't get it to boot. I imagine there must be a certain way to burn the disk. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

guaranteed u burned it on a DVD+R disc instead of DVD-R disc.
buy some DVD-R discs and always use them to burn when u are burning to use it on a g4 mac....  i had this problem just the other day, when i burned it using a DVD-R, it worked first try.

also, burn it at 8x speed or lower just to be sure... this is what i did and it booted immediately.. after many failed attempt with a DVD+R disc.

[macdrum]

The problem is more in my crappy usb LG drive, even my Yuden CD-R's fail every now in then in that thing. Gonna try to burn the image in my quicksilver when I get more DVD-R disks. The drive in that can burn at slower speeds too, which comes in handy for finicky stuff like this.