Hi Jim, Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, that wasn't it. It *was* set to CS. I changed it to master, but still no go.
However, the problem seems to be intermittent. Or rather, normal booting seems to be intermittent. ;-) In about 15 boots attempts, it actually booted off the hard drive two times. After Googling, I found this: http://homepage.mac.com/techedgeezine/cart_imac_update7.htm Where the author says: Remember that when you install Mac OS X, either 10.1.5 or 10.2.6 “Jaguar”, you must create two hard drive partitions with the first boot partition at less than 8 GB for OS X. We suggest using a 7.90 GB partition to install OS X 10.2.6 Jaguar in, a second partition of 5 GB for OS 9.2.2 and the remainder of the space for a Data partition. I wonder if the same kind of restriction on boot partition size exists for MacOS 8.5? But that doesn't sound like something that would cause intermittent booting. I've also heard that a 7200 rpm drive may be too hot for an imac. And that DOES sound like a cause of intermittent booting. Unfortunately, it happens even after the machine is completely cooled down. Perhaps the power requirements for a 7200rpm drive is higher than the power supply can nominally put out? What do you think? Any other ideas? Thanks! Pete On Sun 01 Aug 04, 5:36 PM, Jim Arnott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Make sure that the jumper is on Master, not Slave or Cable Select. > > Jim > > On Sunday, Aug 1, 2004, at 16:43 America/Vancouver, Peter Jay Salzman > wrote: > > > > >The screen, upon reboot, displayed an icon of a folder with a blinking > >icon that alternated between a "?" and a graphic that looked like a > >face > >(a square, two eyes and a "lightning bolt" that looked like a nose"). > > > >I'm assuming that this is MacOS's way of saying: > > > > I can't find a boot device. > > > >I put the OS installation disk back into the computer. My little test > >file was still on the drive, so I know the drive is working. I > >reinstalled the OS for the heck of it and rebooted. > > > >Nothing. I still got the flashing "?" with the imac "face". > > > > > >I'm at a complete loss here. If this were one of my Linux boxes, I > >would say that the master boot record isn't pointing to a bootable > >partition. > > > Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the > sacrificial pitchers; this is repeated over and over again; finally it > can be calculated in advance, and it becomes part of the ceremony. > -Kafka > > > -- > The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... > > Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | > - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | > > Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> > > iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> > --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; > Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > >The Think Different Store > http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com > --------------------------------------------------------------- > -- In theory, theory and practise are the same. In practise, they aren't. GPG Instructions: http://www.dirac.org/linux/gpg GPG Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E 70A9 A3B9 1945 67EA 951D -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
