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Resolved Unable to access Startup Manager screen

Hack5190

Hack5190

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2015
531
311
(UTC-05:00) Cuba
Trying to get my G5 to boot from a "SuperDuper!" backup at power up. However when I try to display the Startup Manager screen at boot (by pressing and holding the Option key) the monitor remains black.

Verified the BU disk is good by selecting it (under "Startup Disk") in system preferences and booting from it.

Could it be related to the fact that the monitor is connected via VGA?



 
That's a new one on me. My G4 has no IDE drives and my boot drive is SATA. I can still get to the manager holding option and I have both DVI and VGA screens, although the DVI ones are ADC>DVI.
 
Hack5190 said:
Trying to get my G5 to boot from a "SuperDuper!" backup at power up. However when I try to display the Startup Manager screen at boot (by pressing and holding the Option key) the monitor remains black.

Verified the BU disk is good by selecting it (under "Startup Disk") in system preferences and booting from it.

Could it be related to the fact that the monitor is connected via VGA?



Click to expand...
Do you have a wireless Mouse/KB combo? If so, that may be it as I cant get the boot selector screen with mine
 
Hack5190 said:
I do, however for this and things such as resetting the PRAM a USB keyboard is supplemented.
Click to expand...
Try it with only a USB keyboard and see what happens. When I use my combo, it thinks the keyboard is a mouse, so it ejects the SuperDrive lol
 
Also, might want to make sure it's a Apple USB keyboard and not a Windows USB keyboard.
 
eyoungren said:
Also, might want to make sure it's a Apple USB keyboard and not a Windows USB keyboard.
Click to expand...
That should not matter as long as the keyboard follows the USB standard. The optical eject with a wireless keyboard was driving me spare until I realised what the problem was.

For RF keyboards the receiver first needs to receive power from the computer so that it can scan for the keyboard unit. By the time it has done this and paired with the unit, the boot process usually has advanced past the point where pressing the Option key traps the system and calls up the Start Manager. This depends upon the speed of the pairing process but most units are too slow from a cold start and the same issue occurs with accessing the BIOS on PCs.

The only reliable wireless connection is with an Apple BT keyboard as pairing is supported in Open Firmware but this is a costly option, especially with the dual core G5s.
 
weckart said:
That should not matter as long as the keyboard follows the USB standard. The optical eject with a wireless keyboard was driving me spare until I realised what the problem was.

For RF keyboards the receiver first needs to receive power from the computer so that it can scan for the keyboard unit. By the time it has done this and paired with the unit, the boot process usually has advanced past the point where pressing the Option key traps the system and calls up the Start Manager. This depends upon the speed of the pairing process but most units are too slow from a cold start and the same issue occurs with accessing the BIOS on PCs.

The only reliable wireless connection is with an Apple BT keyboard as pairing is supported in Open Firmware but this is a costly option, especially with the dual core G5s.
Click to expand...
There was a fellow here a while ago (year or more I think) who had issues doing certain things on boot with a wired keyboard. Turned out he was using a Windows keyboard and not an Apple one. As soon as he was able to borrow one his issues resolved themselves.

I'm not saying you are wrong, I just brought that up based on that past information.
 
Wish I had a wired Apple keyboard to test this with. From my experience using a windows keyboard shouldn't matter. With a Microsoft Natural keyboard I can reset the PRAM. So I know the G5 is recognizing the Option key.

PRAM zap is -> Command + Option + 'p' + 'r'
Startup Manager is -> Option

Mac Option = Windows Alt
Mac Command= Windows Windows
 
Hack5190 said:
Wish I had a wired Apple keyboard to test this with. From my experience using a windows keyboard shouldn't matter. With a Microsoft Natural keyboard I can reset the PRAM. So I know the G5 is recognizing the Option key.

PRAM zap is -> Command + Option + 'p' + 'r'
Startup Manager is -> Option

Mac Option = Windows Alt
Mac Command= Windows Windows
Click to expand...
I don't dispute that, nor Weckert's assertion.

All I was doing was relaying information about what went on with one particular user a while back.
 
While researching this problem I've discovered that the code recognizing a PRAM request (Open Firmware) is NOT the same code (BootX) that recognizes startup requests such as verbose, single user, boot manager, etc. Not certain how this helps fix my issue, but I know where to focus my research....
 
the boot manager when you hold option is handled by open firmware its their on sawtooths and up no mater what OS you have installed Mac OS Mac OS X Linux or Morph OS you can still get to the boot manager. to get to it from an open firmware prompt type multi-boot and it should kick you into the boot manager and populate it with your bootable volumes.
 
LightBulbFun said:
the boot manager when you hold option is handled by open firmware its their on sawtooths and up no mater what OS you have installed Mac OS Mac OS X Linux or Morph OS you can still get to the boot manager. to get to it from an open firmware prompt type multi-boot and it should kick you into the boot manager and populate it with your bootable volumes.
Click to expand...

What your saying makes logical sense and before reading this link (http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_boot.html is how I envisioned it working. Now I'm less certain about the boot process.
 
Stopped at my local e-recycler today and picked up an Apple USB keyboard. The goal was to avoid the problems in this thread while testing a new (to me) G5 recently acquired.

However with the keyboard connected the G5 won't boot - no start up chime, nothing. is there anything special with Apple keyboards and the G5 or did I just get a dodgy unit?

UPDATE: Not certain why, but after pulling the power on the G5 for a few minutes the Apple keyboard is working - and I can access the options previously unavailable.
 
Last edited:
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