Howdy Listers, Originally I brought this problem to the OS 9 List, someone there helped me but it turned out to be more than what I suspected, and after around two weeks of waiting for someone to get a chance to respond to my last post (how what I thought was an obvious fix turned out not to solve the problem), I think maybe it's time to bring it over here to the home of the Real Mac Gurus. If none of you remember OS 9 well enough anymore (and I'm even surprised my own intimacy with it has begun to wane slightly), well, I have to try at least. I don't boot in OS 9 often anymore, but right now I REALLY want to in a big way...
Technical details of equipment and OS's: Most important: G4 Quicksilver 867, 1.5 GB RAM, two internal HDs -- OS X Tiger 10.4.9 on a 60 GB HD, OS 9.2.2 on a 20 GB HD, plus one 40 GB external USB/Firewire HD for backups. Relevant note: the 20 GB HD with OS 9.2.2 was originally moved from my old Beige G3 into this G4 when I got it (it's still my heart and soul). Old though it is, though, it still works, makes no funky noises and verifies as good with Disk Utility. I mention this because when I put it in my G4, it wouldn't boot. I had to do a clean reinstall of OS 9 on this HD to get the G4 to boot in OS 9, but once I did, it was fine, mostly (more to come). Printer situation, which is anywhere from minimally to very important: Since getting the G4, I've had a Farallon Ethermac printer adapter running out to Apple laser printer 4/600 PS. Formerly (i.e., on the Beige and two prior Macs) I used an Apple Personal LaserWriter 300 (who I named Transmissibles), which wouldn't work with OS X -- that's why I switched to the 4/600 PS when I got the G4. OK, the original problem, which I (and ErnieG on the OS 9 List) THOUGHT should have been a fairly easy fix: Although the aforementioned clean reinstall of OS 9.2.2 allowed me to boot my G4 in OS 9 (I could do it by option-restart), every time I did, I would get the following prompt: "You cannot use the desktop printer "Transmissibles" because its print driver LaserWriter/300LS is not in the Extensions folder." --and the option to click "OK." I would click OK, and that was the end of it -- I could use my straight-up OS 9 just fine, no problems -- until now (well, the last few weeks). Recently (the last time I tried to boot in OS 9), I got that prompt, but when I clicked OK the whole machine just froze. I had to "nerve pinch" reboot. It came back up in OS X (my main startup disk set in Preferences), I option key-Restarted to try getting up in 9 again, and the same thing happened -- that prompt, clicking OK and freezing the whole thing. All right, I nerve pinch restarted and let it stay in OS X, and then I started going into the OS 9 System Folder looking for the Chooser, because I figured I had to have that driver in there somehow since that's what my old Beige G3 (and its predecessors, the 7200/100 and Performa 475) used with Transmissibles. Well, guess what's in the Chooser -- the LaserWriter 8 driver, which is the driver for the 4/600 PS! Ummmm-huh? I didn't start using the 4/600 PS until I got the G4, and as I said, hooking that up didn't happen under OS 9 or with the Chooser at all -- I did it under OS X with its setup utility. And no, there wasn't any LaserWriter/300LS driver in there either. OK, so ErnieG from the OS 9 list sent me the LaserWriter/300LS driver, and I installed it in the Extensions folder. Question That Never Got Answered: How come my Mac still booted and ran fine in OS 9 even with that missing driver (for a printer I no longer had, and I don't PRINT in OS 9 at all anymore), as long as I clicked OK on the prompt -- from late September 2006 until late October/early November 2008?! Why would it start freezing up NOW? But, OK, let's give it the missing driver since Ernie was kind enough to send it. However, apparently there seems to be more to my problem than just the missing driver. True enough, after having installed the one Ernie sent, it stopped whining about the lack of the driver, but....it's messed up anyway -- I could move my mouse pointer around the screen but couldn't get into any of the folders or open any of the menus....so I went back to OS X, rebuilt the desktop from Classic Prefs (this didn't fix it) and then tried booting in 9 with Extensions Off. That worked, sort of -- I could get into the folders and menus (LOL and I even opened the Chooser to see the driver in there), but...ultimately this isn't any good, because my Sims game won't boot (it plays in OS X which is how I usually play, but periodically I need to be straight in OS 9 with it). Trying to boot my Sims game in OS 9 with Extensions Off (double-clicking its icon), I get the prompt: "InterfaceLib-GetComponentResource could not be found. You may need to install a newer version of InterfaceLib-GetComponentResource." I think maybe I got that because I was up in Extensions Off. This game was actually built for OS 9 (its later expansion packs, which I do have most of, were carbonized for OS X compatibility), and I was playing it in OS 9 exclusively prior to getting OS X. Since getting OS X, I play in Tiger with Classic on, or, occasionally in straight-up OS 9. I never had a problem with it in 9 since getting X until now. I posted this result on the OS 9 list a couple weeks ago, haven't heard anything, but before deciding to bother you guys on the G-List about it, this past weekend I went ahead and did a clean reinstall of 9 (which somehow didn't come with the LaserWriter/300LS driver, so I slipped it in myself.) But that didn't fix it either. In fact, I started having another weird problem -- when I'd option-restart to show the bootable disks/be able to choose my 9 HD, the OS 9 HD *disappeared entirely* -- the option-restart screen only showed the OS X HD. I used to get BOTH my OS X and OS 9 HDs when I did an option-restart, always! So -- do any of you have any idea of what I need to do to get my G4 to boot in OS 9 properly? I'm starting to feel desperate now. Thank you, ~Yersinia. ________ "It doesn't take all kinds; we just have all kinds." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
