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

SEGStriker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
11
0
Hi there,

I have a problem after installing OS X 10.3 on my iMac 333. It have 96 MB of RAM, 20 GB HDD, partitioned to 6.4 GB and 12 GB, because of the requirements for the first partition (smaller than 7.45 GB). I already updated the firmware to 3.0.f2 (Apple update 1.2), as required.
But, after successful installation of OS X, I can't boot from the 1st partition, where OS X installation resides.
I tried everything - read forums, checked firmware settings (boot-device, boot-file, etc.), everything seems ok. But for some reason I was unable to boot OS X for the first time. BTW, booting from CD is perfect.
Then I tried to install OpenDarwin 7.0.2 PPC - it booted and installed, then I landed to the same problem - can't boot from the HDD.

Does anyone have an idea?
 

Makosuke

macrumors 604
Aug 15, 2001
6,661
1,242
The Cool Part of CA, USA
I wasn't even aware that 10.3 would let you install with only 96MB of RAM. I suppose it should, in theory, still at least boot to the login window, but I can't help but wonder if that's part of the issue.

Past that, I have no useful suggestions other than to make sure that you put the two partitions in the right order--if the small one isn't the first partition on the disk, it won't work.

I've run 10.3 on one of those (albeit with a couple hundred megs of RAM), so I know it's at least possible.
 

Luigi239

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2007
529
0
I wasn't even aware that 10.3 would let you install with only 96MB of RAM. I suppose it should, in theory, still at least boot to the login window, but I can't help but wonder if that's part of the issue.

Past that, I have no useful suggestions other than to make sure that you put the two partitions in the right order--if the small one isn't the first partition on the disk, it won't work.

I've run 10.3 on one of those (albeit with a couple hundred megs of RAM), so I know it's at least possible.

I don't think it's the Ram, because he can't boot opendarwin up either. (even though the system requirements state that you need at least 256mb of ram...and even that is slow.)

I think it's a bad hard drive from what you are describing, as everything runs fine from the installer cd. Try loading panther on to an external and booting from there. (because its usb 1.1, it will take a long time, but that will diagnose the problem for sure.)

EDIT: Can the PPC macs boot from usb? I don't have a bootable partition on my external to test with.
 

maccam

macrumors 6502a
Feb 18, 2007
515
0
Wisconsin
I don't think it's the Ram, because he can't boot opendarwin up either. (even though the system requirements state that you need at least 256mb of ram...and even that is slow.)

I think it's a bad hard drive from what you are describing, as everything runs fine from the installer cd. Try loading panther on to an external and booting from there. (because its usb 1.1, it will take a long time, but that will diagnose the problem for sure.)

EDIT: Can the PPC macs boot from usb? I don't have a bootable partition on my external to test with.

You can't boot from a usb hard drive, you must have firewire.
 

Luigi239

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2007
529
0
You can't boot from a usb hard drive, you must have firewire.

Ahh, well that doesn't help.

Anyway, I would try and pop in a new hard drive if you are comfortable opening the case. It's not really that hard, just time consuming, with lots of screws. (it took me 20 min. to figure out how to put the logic board assembly in correctly...it just wouldn't go in. :p)
 

SEGStriker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
11
0
You can't boot from a usb hard drive, you must have firewire.

Well, actually I can boot from USB, I read some messages in many forums, it is possible. Also my iMac is 333 MHz, I don't see firewire interface.
With 96 MB RAM OS X will work, but slower and without essentials. There was a warning message about this. But this is not the problem. With the original HDD (6 GB) and OS 8.6 my iMac works fine. Also I did some experiments with PearPC on my PC - OpenDarwin, OpenBSD, Linux (Debian, YellowDog), OS X, OS 9.1 works fine... Strange...
I had some problems with typing "\" in OpenFirmware, but after reading some messages I was able to reprogram the firmware, it is possible to type "(5C) instead of \... I tried to repoint boot-device, boot-file - without a success... Damn hard depending to PC Bios :)
 

SEGStriker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
11
0
I would love to talk to those guys.

Well, I am not sure, but there are some OpenFirmware commands about USB. Anyway, this is not my problem. I don't want to boot from USB, just to boot from the internal IDE HDD :)
 

SEGStriker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
11
0
Problem resolved - HDD's jumper (master/slave) was not correctly set. Too bad I had to dismantle my iMac for such a simple operation...
Now I have OS X 10.3.9, everything works fine even with 96 MB RAM.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.