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Author Topic: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot  (Read 6541 times)

aeong

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Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« on: April 13, 2022, 09:44:29 AM »

I got a mystery condition Powermac G4 from the Facebook Marketplace. Apparently this thing came from a warehouse missing a hard drive. When I put one in and installed 9.2 universal (provided by this website), I have noticed that the screen completely freezes not too long after the OS is completely booted.

I am not very familiar with Macs and have next to zero experience with anything pre-OSX, what are the steps to possibly figure out the problem? What memtest tools are Powerpc Compatible?
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FBz

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2022, 10:09:03 AM »

Provide more information on your actual machine… MDD, QS, AGP, etc. (Should be noted on label located on back of machine OR better yet, take a picture of that label and provide it here.) With that info it might be possible to advise which version of Apple Hardware Test (AHT) you could possibly use. Without that info, well…

Take out all of your RAM except one stick. Boot to see if it still freezes. If not, add back RAM one-by-one / boot testing each as you do and you might find a bad stick of RAM. (?)

BUT FIRST,  boot it with all extensions off by holding down the shift key when you boot it (waiting for it to tell you that all extensions are off before releasing that shift key). You may have an extension conflict.

OR, when it freezes… do the Command+Option+Esc key sequence to Force Quit / disable / escape any possible video or Airport (or other) setup lock-ups or hangs.

Might not even be RAM… but we need more info. Thanks.
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DieHard

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2022, 10:32:59 AM »

Quote
What memtest tools are Powerpc Compatible?

We have the Hardware Diagnostic CD Images here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/board,33.0.html

Unfortunately, it should also be noted that some diagnostics do NOT have a cursor and mouse control unless you have a genuine apple keyboard and plug the mouse into the USB port on the keyboard
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aeong

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2022, 01:35:16 PM »

Provide more information on your actual machine… MDD, QS, AGP, etc. (Should be noted on label located on back of machine OR better yet, take a picture of that label and provide it here.) With that info it might be possible to advise which version of Apple Hardware Test (AHT) you could possibly use. Without that info, well…

Take out all of your RAM except one stick. Boot to see if it still freezes. If not, add back RAM one-by-one / boot testing each as you do and you might find a bad stick of RAM. (?)

BUT FIRST,  boot it with all extensions off by holding down the shift key when you boot it (waiting for it to tell you that all extensions are off before releasing that shift key). You may have an extension conflict.

OR, when it freezes… do the Command+Option+Esc key sequence to Force Quit / disable / escape any possible video or Airport (or other) setup lock-ups or hangs.

Might not even be RAM… but we need more info. Thanks.

Tried all of your suggestions! Nothing worked lol. Heres the sticker on the back of my machine.
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FBz

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2022, 02:08:48 PM »

If you boot from the Universal Installer disc (by itself) does it stay running for long period of time / with no freezes, etc.?

If it does, run Disk First Aid from the Applications / Utilities folder and see if that finds probs with your HD and get back to us.
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aeong

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2022, 02:53:37 PM »

Yes, actually, it seems to work without freezing. I booted from cd with extensions off, went into the Hard Drive and ran disk repair from there since I couldn't find it on the CD. It said everything was fine on the hard disk. I have no other IDE drives currently, but if needed I'll pull a CF to IDE converter card out of one of my Windows PC's and install Mac OS 9 onto a cf card. I'd prefer to use this hard drive though if possible, because I bought it separately just for this computer.
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FBz

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2022, 03:13:26 PM »

If it runs stable without any freezes, booted from the installer CD, then the problem is evidently internal. (Call me Sherlock.) ;)

I’d check all wiring and connections between the HD and the mobo AND between the mobo and the PSU. Might be a scraped wire or short somewhere in those pathways. In essence, make certain everything is tight and solidly connected. (Including video and any other cards present.) But shouldn't be any other cards until you get it to boot dependably and repeatedly.

Then there’s always the cleaning of RAM connections on the sticks themselves / as there have been lots of problems attributed to tarnished... oxidized, or otherwise "dirty" connections there lately.

Also, what other PCI cards might you have inside / installed within that machine? Disconnect and or remove everything not immediately necessary for basic operating function including external drives, USB sticks or other items /devices. Bare necessities only.

Normally, when experiencing a freeze right after boot (here) there’s usually something (like an ATI extension) that’ll cause a freeze that can be worked around via the Command+Option-ESC key sequence. BUT, you were able to startup with all extensions off (and you got that notification) and it still froze?

And finally… using an Apple mouse and keyboard? Or what?

AND... any jumpers on that HD?
« Last Edit: April 13, 2022, 07:09:53 PM by FBz »
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GaryN

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2022, 10:25:47 PM »

I too, had questions but FBz already asked them.
I did run the S/N though - a little information can go a long way sometimes…
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FBz

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Re: Mac OS 9 Freezing
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2022, 04:03:50 AM »

Damn you Gary! (Actually thanks a lot.) ;)

Always wanted a Sawtooth and now it seems that I have one (instead of what I thought was merely an AGP). Now seems that mine is one of the more rare, initial Sawtooth models with the 450 MHz processor that Apple supposedly had to later substitute with the 400 MHz processors due to short supply of the 450 chips. Yay! [One week = -50 MHz?]



"Due to a shortage of 450 MHz PowerPC 7400 (G4) processors,
on October 13, 1999, Apple infamously "speed dumped" this model --
introducing the Power Macintosh G4/400 (AGP Graphics)..."
- EveryMac.com

And nothing else (yet) from aeong. So maybe the problem has been solved??
« Last Edit: April 15, 2022, 06:53:14 AM by FBz »
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peeperpc

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2022, 12:50:06 PM »

Hangs after about a minute? That's about time for File Sharing to start working.

Sometime I've to turn off File Sharing because of this problem.
Some files on some partitions/drives cause it. Deleting or replacing those files (if you can identify them) can fix it.

Sometime unmounting the partitions/drives* before File Sharing finishes starting up and remounting them after File Sharing successfully starts can fix it, sometime not.

It's a mystery for me.

*Of course, if the problem is on the start-up drive/partition, you can't use this method.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2022, 01:03:12 PM by peeperpc »
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chrisNova777

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2023, 12:42:12 PM »

if you want my suggestions to fix this..
the "universal install" from this site is actually a mix mash of differnt files sourced from different mac setups done by mactron + other peoples here in an attempt to have the "highest/latest versions of files". but any mac person should know that updating files to new versions can introduce incompatibilities + bugs, and "break" things that were not broken before.

i have posted many times on this site the original os8.6 + os 9.02 cd installers for the SAWTOOTH mac - i have the exact same machine and i experiecned the same problems with using the "universal" install - which is why i always spoke against using it.  its not what that machine shipped with when it was sold by apple.. the universal install is technically only for the mdd, which is why the files are dated from 2002, that machine u are using is from 1999, each powermac g4 had its own original os disc that it shipped with if you want it to work 100% properly use the right restore disc for your mac. all kinds of wierd problems happen when people use the wrong install for the wrong machine because Apple tweaked the files specifically for each machine to make it perform nice + fast + reliably as intended.

after i used the original os9.02 install on my sawtooth + i had no more freezing problems like this. and its 100% SOLID AS A ROCK and basically rarely crashes if at all. its not a memory problem its an extensions versions problem but replacing the ram to be all of the same type + make is always a good idea aswell. you would have to download these 3 images and burn them to 700mb cdrom. https://www.mediafire.com/folder/calxk3ticozkv/AGP_sawtooth_G4_restore these are the original cds that were shipped with the machine and are specifically ONLY for the sawtooth AGP G4. its the only mac that can run OS8.6 with an ATI RAGE 128 pro AGP video card. if you need os9.22 i reccommend installing 9.02 and using update files to get up to 9.22 rather then installing a 9.22 image from the MDD.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2023, 01:01:20 PM by chrisNova777 »
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Greystash

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Re: Mac OS 9 Keeps Freezing 1 minute after boot
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2023, 03:05:14 PM »

I used to get this a lot on one of my machines but can't remember what one. Like you it was ~1 minute post booting, and after a lot of mucking around I found it was an ATI extension (probably due to the reasons chrisNova777 mentions). After disabling all/the problem ATI extension(s) the freezing stopped occurring for me.
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