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[CaptainCorndog]

Hi! I have a Powerbook that won't recognize any HDD or CD and therefore won't boot.
I purchased it "working condition" but they removed the HDD. I am getting a "?" icon regardless of what I try.

My machine:
   • Apple PowerBook G4 1.0 (Ti)
   • 1 GHz - M8859LL/A - Powerbook 3,5 - A1025
   • Broken optical drive. I've tried both CD and DVD discs and it almost immediately spits them back out.

Tools I've got:
   • New drives (all verified to work via other machines):
      ○ 20GB IDE mechanical HDD from an IBM
      ○ 128GB msata ssd, converted to IDE via converter board
      ○ 128GB SD card, converted to IDE via converter board
   • iBook G3, running MacOS 9.2 (with broken optical drive)
   • Powerbook G4 Aluminum, running OSX 10.5.8 Leopard (optical drive OK!)
   • Firewire HDD enclosure, IDE
   • Many installer discs including the "Universal 9.2.2 installer" from here which worked on the iBook I have.
   • + Other modern Mac and Windows machines

What I've tried:
   • Installed OS9 directly onto the drives
      ○ I used the firewire enclosure and "Installer for unsupported G4" disc to boot my Aluminum Powerbook into OS9.
      ○ This method successfully initialized and installed onto the 20GB mechanical HDD and the 128GB SD card, but for some reason the msata ssd wasn't detected when in the firewire enclosure.
      ○ Still get a "?" when the fresh-installed OS9 drives are put into the Titanium Powerbook.
      
   • Target disk mode doesn’t work. I hold T, I hear the startup sound, and the machine eventually just turns back off after maybe 15 seconds. This happens regardless of which drive I use. And regardless of if the drive is blank (formatted MacOS Extended Journaled) or if it has OS9 installed on it.

   • Tried to boot from the OS9 drives in the firewire enclosure
      ○ held "option" during startup to use the boot selector menu, but the firewire enclosure didn't show up.


The easy answer here is "HDD ribbon cable is broken" or "logic board issue" but if that were the case, wouldn't the firewire HDD solution work?

Any ideas where should I go from here?

[Greystash]

I've had issues with most mSATA adapters, and some IDE adapters - this is typical behavior when they aren't recognised. iMac G3s are particularly picky and this is exaclty what they will do if the HDD adapter isn't compatible. Have you got any other adapters to try, and which one are you using?

The optical drive in my Ti has stopped working/needs calibration so yours may be the same. This is common for older drives.

Try booting into Open Firmware and checking the device tree to see whether any drives are being registered.

Code: [Select]

dev /
ls

I can't remember whether Open Firmware defaults to something else if It can't find the specified boot device, but you could check to see whether there's a hardcoded bootdevice/path that it's not finding.

If the drives are being recognised by OFW you could try the following commands:
Booting from the internal drive:

Code: [Select]

boot hd:,\\:tbxi
Booting from a USB drive:

Code: [Select]

boot usb0/disk:2,\\:tbxi (Use

Code: [Select]

devalias to figure out the correct device/path)

Otherwise try resetting Open Firmware:

Code: [Select]

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all


If you've tried formatting and installing OS9 onto a good IDE/PATA HDD within another working machine (OS9) and it's still not working, then I would start looking at the ribbon cables + logic board.

[refinery]

tell us more about the adapters you are using. is it the one top left in the picture you posted?

[CaptainCorndog]

Update: It was the ribbon cable!
I took the nuclear option and just started buying more parts. A new ribbon cable, a new optical drive. After replacing the ribbon cable, the Powerbook started in target disk mode on the first try! I was able to then install OS9 via the other powerbook.

Thank you for the replies! Here are my notes, maybe they will be helpful to someone in the future:
@Greystash:
- Before replacing the cable I tried using openfirmware to boot using "boot hd:,\\:tbxi" but it did not recognize the command.
- And when i use the "ls" command I do see a line/item which seems to be the HDD but I believe that's just a default line that would show up even if i didn't have a drive connected.

@refinery:
The msata adapter I used which wasn't recognized by the firewire enclosure:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805490631719.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.131.74021802g2jfZU&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

The SD adapter which was recognized by the firewire enclosure, and i'm now using in the laptop:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802953063078.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.71.74021802g2jfZU&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

The firewire enclosure:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373652123412

See attached files for photos of the parts. Thank you all!!

[Greystash]

Glad to hear it was just the ribbon cable! That's great!