iMac G4 800MHz upgrades and OS 9 install attempts

[panzerkiller]

After successfully saving the screen by replacing a burned fuse, I made two upgrades targeting to reduce the noise level:

1. Replace the stock fan with a $6 3-speed one from Amazon, connect it to the 12V HDD power Molex. I put it at the low-speed mode, the running noise is from the air flowing through the holes, it sounds very similar to a working air outlet on the ceiling. The case feels cool as the environment while under normal usage and gets warm after heavy usage, I am very pleased with the performance.

Antec TriCool 92mm Cooling Fan with 3-Speed Switch

pBalance Necessary Cooling With Quietness./p

www.amazon.com

2. Replace the IDE hard drive with a 500G 2.5-inch SATA HDD via SATA to IDE adapter. It runs much quieter than my other IDE HDDs (quantum 4.3G and 7.0G, IBM 13.5G). The HDD noise is level is lower than the fan and only noticeable while it starts to spin. I think it is the best choice besides SSD.

ChenYang 2.5/3.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive to IDE/PATA 44Pin Motherboard Converter Adapter

SATA Disk to IDE/PATA 40Pin Motherboard Converter Adapter PCBA for Desktop & 2.5 3.5" Hard Disk Drive. 3.5 inch SATA HDD Drive to IDE 40Pin mainboard converter Board. Works with all 2.5/3.5" SATA Drives. Supports IDE 66/100/133MB/s. With Master and slave jumper. No driver needed, plug and play, u...

www.amazon.com

Another thing I would like to share is about OS 9 installation. My target is to make an OS X + 9 dual boot on the 500 SATA drive + IDE converter. I have learned about the 48bit LBA limit due to the IDE controller, which means it could not recognize HDD which is physically larger than 128GB (not partition). Below are the results of different configurations, hope it will help someone save a couple of hours and a handful of hair.

Machine Model: PowerMac 4,5 iMac G4 800Mhz, 17in, 512MB ram

iMac G4/800 17" (Flat Panel) Specs (iMac 17" Flat Panel, M8812LL/A, PowerMac4,5, M6498, 1936): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the iMac G4/800 17" (Flat Panel). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

Materials:

1. OS 9.2.2 universal iso from os9live:
   1. http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=2109.0
2. 2GB USB thumb drive

Expected installation procedure learned from most google results:

1. Direct burn the iso to 2GB USB drive via balanceEtcher under windows
2. Plug the OS 9 USB drive, boot, hold Opt key (Alt under win keyboard) to boot select screen, wait long enough for the cursor clock disappears, then select OS 9 live USB to boot. Follow the instruction on the OS 9 live desktop, find the target drive to install OS 9, proceed, wait and enjoy.

In real life:

Attempt	Result	Config	Steps
1	Success	Quantum 7.0G IDE HDD, pre-installed OS X 10.4, formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).	boot to OS 9 live USB (Hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard)) Follow the instructions on the OS9lives desktop
2	Failed: Drive/partitions are not shown in Drive Setup	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, cable selected jump (open)	split into four 155GB partitions via OS X 10.4 install DVD's disk utility. boot to OS 9 live USB (Hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard))
3	Failed: Drive/partitions are not shown in Drive Setup	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, split into three 155GB partitions	Install OS X 10.4 on partition 1; boot to OS 9 live USB (Hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard))
4	Failed: partition 2 is not shown at the boot select screen	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, split into three 155GB partitions, install OS X 10.4 on partition 1;	Boot to OS X, then mount OS 9 live USB iso, copy “System Folder”, “Documents”, “Applications(Mac OS 9)” to partition 2 Hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard)
5	Failed: Folder with a question mark	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, split into three 155GB partitions, install OS X 10.4 on partition 1;	Boot to OS X, then mount OS 9 live USB iso, copy “System Folder”, “Documents”, “Applications(Mac OS 9)” to partition 2 In OS X, Preference -> Start disk -> Select partition 2 -> restart
6	Failed: Folder with a question mark	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, split into three 155GB partitions, install OS X 10.4 on partition 1;	Boot to OS X, then mount OS 9 live USB iso, copy “System Folder”, “Documents”, “Applications(Mac OS 9)” to partition 2 Power off, plug OS 9 live USB Power on, hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard), the partition 2 is SHOWN at the boot select screen Select OS 9 live USB, boot to live desktop, now the 500GB drive is visible in the Drive Setup (see screen capture below). However, the three partitions are shown together, and inside “initialize -> custom setup”, you can see that it only recognized 131072 MB. This matched the 128GB limit. On the OS 9 live desktop, upright corner, open the “MacOS9Lives” folder, double click “Apple Software Restore”, switch Disk to partition 2, click restore. Restart, Hold Opt(Alt for win keyboard), select the partition just restored OS 9 (it is renamed to “MacOS9Lives”)
6 +	Success	500GB SATA + IDE adapter, split into three 155GB partitions, install OS X 10.4 on partition 1;	Heritage from attempt 6, restart to the folder with a question mark; Press the power button, get an error, click restart Folder with a question mark, a few seconds later, it automatically loads and OS 9 shows up.

Conclusion: the installation of OS 9 is so unpredictable, patient and luck are both necessary. Hope it helps.

Appendix, some screenshots from attempt 6:

 

[Spinnr]

Well done panzerkiller.

And great pathfinder post for all those who will be trying the same things in the future. Agreed, OS 9 is so unpredictable. Really a matter of which fingers you cross, and if the computer is facing east or west.

Honey, I shrank the super computer.

Spinnr.

 

[panzerkiller]

New update about the trick for dual boot:
Works Path:

Change startup disk inside OS X preference;​

Change startup disk inside OS 9 control panel;​

Not work:

Hold Opt(Alt under win keyboard) to select boot partition, no matter if you select default partition or the other;​

Note that, after my hold-opt-select attempt, I hold the power button to force power off. Then the boot to default still does not work, it is stuck at folder-question-mark (OS9) or sliced-circle (OS X). I need to force power off one more time, then the iMac boots to the default partition selected inside OS X or OS 9.

Conclusion: Do not use the Hold-Opt-Select to switch boot partition, use the preference/control panel inside OS X/9 to switch boot partition. I think this trick may not valid for a smaller hard drive (< 128GB), please comment if you have a similar experience.