OS 9.2 Won't Boot

M

mcthunda

Registered
Hi

I have OS X10.2.8 and 9.2
I use os x fine with hardly any trouble(except speed). When I try to restart the computer in 9.2 It boots into a white screen with a picture of a mac in the middle with a smilley face. I then have to use the installation CDs and re-install everything(which takes ages). Do you think I have a virus on 9.2? If so how do I egt rid..?

Thanks
 
Seeing a happy face Macintosh when you boot into OS 9.2 is completely normal. That's how OS 9.2 starts up.

Why do you have to reinstall? What exactly is happening? From what you describe, it's starting to boot into OS 9.2 perfectly... is there something that happens after the smiley face that prevents booting?
 
Yeah, the smiling Macintosh is actually a good sign that everything is in working order. Now, if you want to go back to OS X, then you need to go to the Apple menu (top left) and go to Control Panels-->Startup Disk and select the OS X system folder and reboot.

Seems to me like you want to launch Classic and are a little confised about how to get it started to use your apps. If you go to System Preferences (assuming you're in OS X of course) and select the Classic pane, you can configure what you need to in order to get Classic Mode up and running properly. This way you can use your old Mac OS 9 apps in Classic while still booted into OS X. Unless the application doesn't support Classic mode and needs a booted OS 9 system to work, then there's no reason to boot into OS 9.
 
I used to have no problems jumping between 9.2 and OS X. But now, when I re-start in os 9.2 the screen goes gray and the computer appears(it might or might not have the smiley face, don't wanna try again). It just stays on this screen and won't do anything. When I power off and on again it goes back to this screen. So I have to use the install CD's to get back to OSX 10.2.8
 
Yeah, you don't want to force-powerdown the Mac unless it's ABSOLUTELY necessary. With OS X, a shutdown is needed to cleanly unmount all the mounted volumes and shutdown all running processes. To be honest, this is the case with any operating system. Forced shutdowns can result in weird symptoms with any OS.

How long did you wait for anyting to happen when you saw the smiling Macintosh? Sometimes you have to give it a little time before you see anything happening depending on your system.
 
Normally when I see the 'mac' it takes around 30 secs to boot into 9.2. But now it won't boot. I left it for 30-1hr the last time I tried to re-start in 9.2. Someone told me it was a problem with the hard disk.. I don't know?
 
Have you tried booting Mac OS 9 with Extensions Disabled? Hold down Shift after the Mac startup chime and see if you get to the desktop. Try running Disk First Aid (which should be in a Utilities folder on the Macintosh HD).

Also, have you tried zapping the PRAM? After the Mac startup chime, hold down Apple-Option-P-R and hold it down for about 5-6 Mac chimes, then let go. See if that also helps.
 
If when having to manually power the machine down when starting it back up again I think if you press the SHIFT key just after you press the power key to turn it on it will select what you want to boot up to i.e. Hardrive OSX/OS9, CD-ROM drive, External Hardrive(if one is connected) etc...etc...

Have you tried repairing permissions on the machine. It could of got a bit screwy.

Cheers,
Rich
 
mudfrog said:
If when having to manually power the machine down when starting it back up again I think if you press the SHIFT key just after you press the power key to turn it on it will select what you want to boot up to i.e. Hardrive OSX/OS9, CD-ROM drive, External Hardrive(if one is connected) etc...etc...

Have you tried repairing permissions on the machine. It could of got a bit screwy.

Cheers,
Rich
Click to expand...

mcthunda seems to be having issues with booting into OS 9. OS X doesn't seem to be the issue.

And Shift will get you to the Mac Finder with Extensions Disabled in OS 9 or "Safe Boot" in OS X. Holding down Option will bring up the boot selection.

mcthunda, try booting with Extensions Disabled as mentioned above and report back.
 
nixgeek said:
mcthunda seems to be having issues with booting into OS 9. OS X doesn't seem to be the issue.

And Shift will get you to the Mac Finder with Extensions Disabled in OS 9 or "Safe Boot" in OS X. Holding down Option will bring up the boot selection.

mcthunda, try booting with Extensions Disabled as mentioned above and report back.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats it the Option key.
The reason I said it was because he said that he was afraid of trying to boot into os9 as he said he has to reinstall everytime to get osx back. And was giving him the option of which os/device to boot from to avoid reinstalling everytime.

Rich
 
Right but the only reason he thought he had to reinstall everything was because it would take OS 9 a long time before it reached the desktop, which could be attributed to a conflicting extension or control panel. Plus, he forced the machine to power down by holding the power button which made things worse.
 
Yeah, OS9 does take a while to load to be honest. But he did say that he used to 'jump' between both os's without any issues.
Yeah it could be extension or control panel issues.
Disk first aid sounds like its in order. Permissions issue perhaps? But I did hear that repairing permissions on an OS9 folder could cause more problems than solve. But I've never had problems with doing so.

By the way my main machine is a PC:rolleyes: but have a mac as a second machine ;)

Rich
 
cheers for the help anyway.. I still can't load it up.. It was a mac with a question mark in the middle... and I left it over night in the end to see if it would boot. No luck.. Then I thought to myself why would i need os 9.2 any way? Classic still works... How do I delete 9.2 off my computer and will it interupt with anything if I do??

thanks
jamie
 
All you need to do is delete the "System Folder" for Mac OS 9 (not to be confused with the "System" folder that's for Mac OS X!). After that, you could try reinstalling Mac OS 9 and then set the Classic pane in System Preferences to use that new "System Folder."
 
Deleting the OS 9 "System Folder" won't mess up anything in OS X except for Classic, which probably boots from that same folder. So be aware that what nixgeek says is true - if you delete that System Folder, you may have to reinstall OS 9 on that machine to have a working Classic environment.
 
Make sure you have 9.2.2 installed. It's the one that works best with OS X...Classic won't work without OS 9 installed, will it?
 
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