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Can a Power Mac G4 MDD (FW 800) natively boot OS 9?
- Thread starter PowerPCFan
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Not without "hacks". Some Open Firmware commands need to be run or you need to use a custom version of the Mac OS ROM. If the games you want to play require GFX acceleration then you need to be sure you have an OS 9 compatible graphics card.
Mac OS 9 ROM "Universal" can be found on Mac Os 9 Lives page with some installers that allow Mac Minis and FW 800 a a few ALU powerbooks to boot nativelly Mac OS 9 installers and O.S.
OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s
"
Details:
Mac OS 9.2.2 for Unsupported G4s
THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL CD ISO MEANT FOR G4s THAT ARE OS X ONLY MACHINES
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, YOUR MACHINE MAY NOT FULLY BOOT OR OPERATE IN OS9
Special Thanks to iMic for Creating the Modified ROM used in this image
No Need to Install OS X !
No DMG or other image files Needed !
No Need for any Additional Updates or Patches !
No Need to Type Open Firmware Commands
Details: Full version of 9.2.2 for all Unsupported G4 Systems...
Contains: Mac OS ROM Version 10.2.1, Mac OS CPU Software 5.9 from 04.2003, Graphics Card Updates from 10.2002
Model Specific Hardware Notes:
1. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal
2. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal
3. Apple PowerBook G4 867 12" (Al) (Identifiers: A1010, M8760LL/A, PowerBook6,1)
Sound comes thru headphones, but not speakers
OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s
"
Details:
Mac OS 9.2.2 for Unsupported G4s
THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL CD ISO MEANT FOR G4s THAT ARE OS X ONLY MACHINES
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, YOUR MACHINE MAY NOT FULLY BOOT OR OPERATE IN OS9
Special Thanks to iMic for Creating the Modified ROM used in this image
No Need to Install OS X !
No DMG or other image files Needed !
No Need for any Additional Updates or Patches !
No Need to Type Open Firmware Commands
Details: Full version of 9.2.2 for all Unsupported G4 Systems...
Contains: Mac OS ROM Version 10.2.1, Mac OS CPU Software 5.9 from 04.2003, Graphics Card Updates from 10.2002
Model Specific Hardware Notes:
1. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal
2. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal
3. Apple PowerBook G4 867 12" (Al) (Identifiers: A1010, M8760LL/A, PowerBook6,1)
Sound comes thru headphones, but not speakers
Would the stock graphics card be OS 9 compatible? This mac was never meant to run OS 9, so it might not work, not sure. I think it is a Nvidia GeForce MX 4. It goes in an AGP slot I think.
The GeForce4 MX is compatible with OS 9, since it was also shipped in the 9-bootable Quicksilver.
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Depends, I think some of the later 4 MX cards used the NV18 GPU rather then the NV17 used in the older 4 MX. In OS X go to the System Profiler and glean the Device ID of you 4 MX.
If the Device ID is 0x17x it will likely work fine with OS 9, but if it is 0x18x it likely will not.