Can't boot from OS 9 Partition

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james4ihl

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Hi -- having a strange problem that's got me a bit stumped. Hope someone knows the answer because it's really niggling me now. Here goes:

iMac G3, 333 MHz, 192 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD

Recently upgraded the HDD to 20 GB, divided into 2 partitions because I've installed OS 10.3.5 on the first 8 GB. Installed OS 9.2.2 on the other partition.

OK, here's the weird-ness: OS X runs like a dream. OS 9 runs absolutely fine in 'Classic' mode within OS X. BUT I can't boot from the OS 9 partition to run OS 9 on it's own. It just gets to the very first grey screen (before the 'happy/sad' mac even gets there) and stops.

Now, I've run disc first aid and that partition checks out fine. I've also checked that it's bootable, and it is. I've also checked that the system folder is blessed. It is. Furthermore, it's showing up as a valid startup disk in the 'startup disk' control panel in either OS X, or when booted from the OS 9 CD.

So WHY DOESN'T IT BOOT?!

I've never come across any issues about booting from a partition on the same drive before, but then I've never tried this before. I can't find anything on the Apple Support pages (but then these days can anyone?).

If anyone has any ideas or solutions, please let me know.

Cheers,
James
 
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On that imac os9 has to be on that 8 gig first partition too. I had the same problem on my 40 gig. If you dont have enough space on it, look at macosxhints.com..search for moving Users folder to another partition.
 
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cradom said:
On that imac os9 has to be on that 8 gig first partition too. I had the same problem on my 40 gig. If you dont have enough space on it, look at macosxhints.com..search for moving Users folder to another partition.

Why would this be? My G3 AIO (even older than the iMac 333) has an upgraded 20GB drive, and OS 9 is installed on the second partition, while OS X is installed on the first 7.99 GB. My machine boots fine using either OS.

James - when you formated the new drive, did you check-off the box for installing OS 9 drivers on both partitions?
 

rman


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I believe that you have to install the OS 9 drivers when you installed OS X. OS 9 does not have to been in the first 8GB. I think this is a limitation due to the old hardware.
 
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Badger

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Cradom nailed it. On the tray-loading iMacs the "boot" system has to be in the first partition and the partition has to be <8 gb. That means that both OS 9 and OS X have to be on that partition. This was a "feature" caused by the type of ATA controller that was used in these models.
Badger
 

rman


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I can not say that is true. I have a beige G3 that has three partitions. The system partition is ~8Gb with OS X 10.1.5 on it. The second partition is ~5Gb with OS 9.2.2 on it. The remainder of the storage is on contained in the third partition.
 
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Badger

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The beige G3 and the iMac tray-loaders (rev A-D, 233 - 333 Mhz) are different machines and use different controller chips. The original question is about an iMac 333.
 

rman


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True. But the 8Gb limit issue was not for only one model of hardware.
 
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Badger said:
Cradom nailed it. On the tray-loading iMacs the "boot" system has to be in the first partition and the partition has to be <8 gb. That means that both OS 9 and OS X have to be on that partition. This was a "feature" caused by the type of ATA controller that was used in these models.
Badger

If you put OS X and OS 9 on the same partition, you can't boot from OS 9. It needs to be on a seperate partition to be bootable.
And the 8GB limit only concerns OS X...

Check here:
http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/imac-d.shtml
 
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I have an imac 333 with a 40 gig drive. Both os 10.3.5 and os9.2.2 are on the first <8 gig partition. Both boot just fine. I've tried it with 9 on another partition and it will not boot. I learned from several sources about the boot limit on the first 8 gig of the drive. This also applies to Yellow Dog linux (learned the hard way). As far as I know, this only applies to tray loading imacs.

If otherwise works for you, go with it.
 
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james4ihl

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Thanks Guys!

Thanks for the speedy and knowledgeable responses, people, much appreciated!

OK that makes sense about the older tray loading iMacs having a different type of ATA controller which means they need both 'bootable' systems on the first partition - it the only thing that makes sense, since Classic runs fine with the OS 9 on that partition, so it couldn't really be anything to do with the installation being bad. For the record, I did install the OS 9 HD drivers, and updated them, just in case, so it can't be that either.

It is kind of annoying though, because where you have to limit the first partition on those older machines to 7.9 GB, by the time you've installed OS x/9 and any serious amounts of apps. you're running seriously low on space in that first partition. I'm now a little conflicted about whether to re-install and have the ability to boot into OS 9, or whether to leave it partitioned and just run the apps from Classic. They do run, but they're a little slow since we're talking fairly hungry apps like photoshop and director... anyway...

Did someone mention moving the User folder to another partition? How does that work? Anyone know if it would work if I installed just the system software to the first partition and then all the Apps to the second partition (which would be a much better usage of overall disk space) - or do the installers need to write files to the system folders during installation and get confused?

Cheers
James
 
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james4ihl said:
Did someone mention moving the User folder to another partition? How does that work? Anyone know if it would work if I installed just the system software to the first partition and then all the Apps to the second partition (which would be a much better usage of overall disk space) - or do the installers need to write files to the system folders during installation and get confused?

Cheers
James

Here is the info on moving the Users folder:
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/homedir.html

Print it out and read carefully. Make sure you know what you're doing before you start. There is also info on moving swap files but I dont recommend doing that myself. I have 1 partition named Users just for the users. Lots of space for stuff.

Yes you can put apps on another partition, but DONT move any apps installed by Panther itself. Software Update expects them to be in the default location. Most installers will put apps in /Applications but they can be moved unless the readme says otherwise.
 

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