eMac won't boot OS9.2.2 disc

[nimraynn]

Hi,

Trying to install OS 9.2 onto my eMac and it's not recognising the disc.

I know there are different versions of the eMac that can and cannot boot into OS 9 natively, but from what I can work out, this should be one that can boot from it. I may be completely wrong on that though.

The machine I have is a 1GHz G4 with 512MB RAM and ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card. It has a 133MHz bus speed, which from what I can work out is the one required. System Profiler recognises it as a PowerMac4,4.

As far as I'm aware, the 9.2.2 disc I'm running is meant to be compatible with the eMac, and I've tried two different ones. If I put the disc in, Finder recognises it and mounts it. It doesn't, however, show up in Startup Disk within System Preferences. Nor does it appear if I hold down ALT/OPT when booting up the machine.

Does this mean that my model eMac simply can't boot natively into OS9, or am I doing something wrong here?

If it matters, the machine is currently runing Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Intell]

That eMac can only boot into an OS 9 disc that is a restore disc for that model eMac and also if it doesn't have a SuperDrive (DVD burner) in it.

 

[nimraynn]

Is there any easy way to find out if the disc I have is for this model eMac? The machine is second hand and didn't come with any discs.

Thanks.

Edit Sorry, only just thought about the SuperDrive thing. I think it does have a SuperDrive. Is there any way around this, such as swapping it for a ComboDrive? Or is there more to it than that?

 

[Intell]

I think the SuperDrive is an artificial limitation for OS 9 to differentiate the models. I've put official Apple SuperDrives in OS 9 PowerMacs and they still boot into OS 9 without a problem.

 

[nimraynn]

Hmm, OK. So it's not the drive itself that is limiting, just something about the models that came with it that are limiting?

Any ideas if there is a way around it? Or am I pretty much stuck with running Classic Mode in 10.4? That's assuming I can even get 10.4 on it, struggling with that at the moment! 🙁

 

[crewkid89]

there is an education only version of the emac 1ghz that can't boot os 9. I bought one once by accident.