Startup Issues with Dual 1.8 G5 - Option Key

pwharff

Registered
I helped my Dad purchase and setup his new Dual 1.8 G5. I decided to run it through the loops and make sure that everything was working as it was suppose to. Everything seemed to be working fine until I noticed that I couldn't use the "Option" key to get to the boot screen where I could choose which volume to boot from. Out of curiousity I decided to try some of the other startup keys, so I inserted the DVD that came with his G5 and held down the "c" key to try to boot from the DVD, didn't work. Come to find out, none of the startup keys works, none of them! Not even holding down the mouse button to eject the CD/DVD. So something is obviously wrong with startup!

Is anyone else that has a Dual 1.8 or any G5 for that matter having this problem or should I say, is anyone that has a G5 able to perform startup keys during boot time?
 
First, you need to have more than one system folder installed in order to get the boot option to work. The new computers does not/will not boot in OS 9 even though you have classic working in OS X.

Can you start up the computer now? Does the CD/DVD show on the desktop? It could be a faulty DVD or drive...if it does not show up. Try a different CD or DVD. You might need to take it back and have it checked out. It is under warranty.
 
Cheryl said:
First, you need to have more than one system folder installed in order to get the boot option to work. The new computers does not/will not boot in OS 9 even though you have classic working in OS X.

Actually the other OS must reside on a separate drive or partition.
But the Option key at startup should still at least present him with his default boot volume…
 
My G4 only has one system on it and the option key works on that and only presents me with one boot option, the only bootable drive.
 
I have been trying to get dual-boot on my G5 working for days now without success. I have 2 Serial ATA drives, one with Panther 10.3.2 and the other with Jag 10.2.8, and no matter what I select in system prefs it always starts in Panther. Holding down the option key when starting only shows the Panther drive, the other one does not appear.

However, if I install Panther on both drives (which I have done to test this) then dual-boot works fine....

I suspect there is something in Panther that prevents you booting in a 'lesser' System...??
 
Your G5 most likely won't boot in any system lower than it shipped with.
 
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