Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

bengi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
131
6
I flashed this PowerMac G3 B&W and it's rock solid with OS X 10.4 but I cannot get to boot off Mac OS Classics versions. I tried from 8.6 to 9.2.2 and it stalls with a grey screen. I removed all drives and PCI cards, put back the G3 processor but it can only boot from OS X, so its not a matter of IDE/master/slave thing. I tried also to boot of an HD where I had installed an universal version of 9.2.2 and it stalls at the grey screeen.
Any ideas?
 

bengi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
131
6
Did you install OS 9 drivers on the HDD?
I did, howewer even if I unplug everything and leave just the CD drive this thing boots only off OS X, no way to boot off any classic Mac OS. I tried everything, also a Mac OS 9.0.4 «internal edition» for apple tech. So I think that this beast needs a very specific Mac OS version: does it make any sense?
 

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,970
3,682
What's your graphics card? Is it one that is supported by all the versions of OS9 you tried without additional drivers? Where does it stall - before you see the happy Mac face or after?

Try booting with extensions off and see if you can get any further.
 

bengi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
131
6
What's your graphics card? Is it one that is supported by all the versions of OS9 you tried without additional drivers?
This Mac came with Mac OS 9 installed, IIRC. Then I tampered with it and managed to flash it using the G4 enabler from Newetech (which requires 8.6 or 9 ti run, so at that time this B7W worked with Classic OSs) and I could install a G4 at 400 MHz. I do not recall trying to install OS 9 at that time. Now after several years of storage, profiting by the lockdown, I started checking my collection.
Graphic card is the standard Ati 128 mb ram.
 
Last edited:

bengi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
131
6
Removed everything, CD, ZIP, replaced CD drive, removed all Ram sticks except one, moved the video card to the farthest slot, installed a new HD: bingo!
Don’t ask me what was the cause! I went the straight way:
 

Attachments

  • 428A5C18-7EE7-4B4D-873A-4FBE0525DD9A.jpeg
    428A5C18-7EE7-4B4D-873A-4FBE0525DD9A.jpeg
    888.7 KB · Views: 129
Last edited:

bengi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
131
6
ebay, long ago, more than 10 years ago. Very cheap. IIRC it was bundled with an XLR8 carrier that I used for the PowerMac 7600. My collection at that time was growing but now I feel a little bit overwhelmed. Capacitors leakage, ICs that die, retrocomputing is time consuming.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.