iMac G3 boots into open firmware

The computer is an iMac G3, tray loading, 333 mhz with 512 mb of RAM.

It ran OS 9 perfectly before installing OS 10.3. I partitioned the HD so that the first 8 GB are for OS X, and planned to install OS 9 on the second partition, which is a little over 30 gb. OS X boots and runs fine.

I boot from the OS 9 CD and select the second partition, and the installation runs normally. However when I try to boot it goes directly into open firmware and nothing I do will boot OS 9. When I type mac-boot, the screen flashes briefly then returns to the prompt. I can boot from the CD and change the startup disk to OS X and it boots fine. I know OS 9 installed because I can see all the files in the partition from OS X.

I can't check to see if classic works because the version of OS 9 I have is not higher than 9.1. I need to boot into OS 9 to install updates.

What could be the problem here? Thanks for any help.

There was firmware updates for G3 iMacs when installing OSX. Check your OSX install CD for firmware updates or go to Apple site download it.

When booting up your iMac, option-command-shift-delete keys during boot up, hopefully that will bring you to a screen to choose which to boot into.

I would first check for the firmware updates.

I tried holding those keys but nothing happened, it just booted into OS X. I updated the firmware prior to installing Panther, so it is up to date. Any other suggestions?

BTW, when I type mac-boot in open firmware, there is an error message which says:

DEFAULT CATCH!, code=300 at (strange symbol here)SRR0: ff80a850 (symbol again) SRR1: 0000b030

Unfortunately I do not know anything about firmware codes.

powermacj7 said:

When booting up your iMac, option-command-shift-delete keys during boot up, hopefully that will bring you to a screen to choose which to boot into.

Click to expand...

If X is installed and the firmware is updated, when starting the machine hold only the Option key down for the boot choices to appear.

holding option doesn't work on this machine, for some reason.

ADKhikerVW said:

BTW, when I type mac-boot in open firmware, there is an error message which says:

DEFAULT CATCH!, code=300 at (strange symbol here)SRR0: ff80a850 (symbol again) SRR1: 0000b030

Click to expand...

I got this error on an iMac once. I formatted the HD and it was fine after that. Hopefully, if you have anything important on that drive, you have a means for backing it up before formatting.

Was this problem ever solved? I have the same problem.