OS9.2 questionmark on starting

[Wyrm82]

Hello,

My lab uses old mac with OS 9.2 on it.
Today something went wrong and the mac only shows a folder with a questionmark flashing when it's turned on.
I did some googling and found a few solutions like disconnecting keyboard and mouse. Did not work.
Then I tried pressing option key while booting. This time something was different that there was no more flashing questionmark, but now two buttons on blueish screen and nothing else.
One looks like refresh button and another an arrow pointing right.
Nothing happened when pressed both buttons.
What am I suppose to do next? Waiting for ideas.

Thanks.

 

[ElectricSheep]

Wow, Mac OS 9.2; blast from the past here.

The flashing question mark over a folder is a indication that no startup volume could be found.

Its not enough for a volume to contain the requisite System Files to boot, the volume must also be 'blessed' in order for OpenFirmware to know that it is bootable. If something has gone afoul with the disk or filesystem, it can cause this issue.

You are probably going to have to dig around and find a Mac OS 9 installation CD to startup from.

 

[pastrychef]

If I remember correctly, an easy way to rebless a System folder would be to move it to the desktop and then back in to the main directory.

 

[Wyrm82]

If I remember correctly, an easy way to rebless a System folder would be to move it to the desktop and then back in to the main directory.

Thanks for the input, but I cannot access to the hard drive. How can I move system folder in my situation?

----------

Wow, Mac OS 9.2; blast from the past here.

The flashing question mark over a folder is a indication that no startup volume could be found.

Its not enough for a volume to contain the requisite System Files to boot, the volume must also be 'blessed' in order for OpenFirmware to know that it is bootable. If something has gone afoul with the disk or filesystem, it can cause this issue.

You are probably going to have to dig around and find a Mac OS 9 installation CD to startup from.

Yes wow indeed. I believe that thing is more than 10 years old.
It would have been thrown away if it was not connected to the labware that I use.
So this is what happened, it sometimes cannot detect the labware properly and needs to be rebooted to do so. I did and all of sudden the questionmark.
Does this just happen sometimes?

 

[ElectricSheep]

Thanks for the input, but I cannot access to the hard drive. How can I move system folder in my situation?

----------



Yes wow indeed. I believe that thing is more than 10 years old.
It would have been thrown away if it was not connected to the labware that I use.
So this is what happened, it sometimes cannot detect the labware properly and needs to be rebooted to do so. I did and all of sudden the questionmark.
Does this just happen sometimes?

The filesystem could be damaged, or the disk itself could be failing. 10 years is a long time, and if the physical disk is also that old I wouldn't be surprised if its given up the ghost.