Hello, I seem to have run into a catch-22. I am on a g4 400 mhz with OS 10.2.8 and OS 9.0 installed. I was attempting to install a firmware upgrade that requires the computer to be booted into 9, so I went into the system preferences and set the bootup disk for the 9 folder. While rebooting, the computer froze at the smiley-mac screen while starting up. I attempted to boot up from the CD, but could not install X due to frequent errors regarding the folder that simpletext was in. I moved simpletext all around, but to no avail. At this point, I could still start up using the os 9 CD.
Trying to bypass this completely, I simply initialized a brand new hard drive and installed X on it. Upon inserting the 9 disk to install 9 however, it couldnt, due to 9 not being installed upon the computer. So I did the logical thing and booted from the CD... only this time, it froze at the "Starting up..." message which is just after the smiley face, where the HD boot froze up at.
Seeing that this did not work, I tried to bypass the whole installation process simply by rebooting from the HD into OS X and copying the "system folder" from the CD to the hard drive. Well, after having set the preferences to restart using the 9 folder listed there (the one created by copying the system folder), it again froze on startup at the smiley mac face. I had thought that the new HD would fix the problem, but apparently its not an issue with that.
So now I am stuck in a catch-22, It either boots from the CD and freezes at "Starting up..." or from the 9 folder and freezes at the smiley face. I cant get into any OS at all to reset the startup folder to X. I have tried changing the RAM, zapping the pram, and holding option or x at startup, but it refuses to stop its startup sequence for the keystrokes to boot into X.
Any help or suggestions at at all will be greatly appreciated, I have been struggling with this machine all day and am about to explode.
Thank you for your thoughts,
John
edit:
As an update, I managed to get it to start up in 10.2.8 by putting in that CD and reinstalling the OS. I think I will try erasing the harddrive completely, booting up by CD in 9, and installing that before 10 this time (Assuming the CD bootup wont freeze).
Trying to bypass this completely, I simply initialized a brand new hard drive and installed X on it. Upon inserting the 9 disk to install 9 however, it couldnt, due to 9 not being installed upon the computer. So I did the logical thing and booted from the CD... only this time, it froze at the "Starting up..." message which is just after the smiley face, where the HD boot froze up at.
Seeing that this did not work, I tried to bypass the whole installation process simply by rebooting from the HD into OS X and copying the "system folder" from the CD to the hard drive. Well, after having set the preferences to restart using the 9 folder listed there (the one created by copying the system folder), it again froze on startup at the smiley mac face. I had thought that the new HD would fix the problem, but apparently its not an issue with that.
So now I am stuck in a catch-22, It either boots from the CD and freezes at "Starting up..." or from the 9 folder and freezes at the smiley face. I cant get into any OS at all to reset the startup folder to X. I have tried changing the RAM, zapping the pram, and holding option or x at startup, but it refuses to stop its startup sequence for the keystrokes to boot into X.
Any help or suggestions at at all will be greatly appreciated, I have been struggling with this machine all day and am about to explode.
Thank you for your thoughts,
John
edit:
As an update, I managed to get it to start up in 10.2.8 by putting in that CD and reinstalling the OS. I think I will try erasing the harddrive completely, booting up by CD in 9, and installing that before 10 this time (Assuming the CD bootup wont freeze).