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7.6.1 on a PM 6100 - startup problem

Beavix

New member
My Power Mac 6100/60 AV refuses to run 7.6.1. I installed a brand new system from a retail 7.6.1 CD and everything went fine during the installation, but as soon as I restarted I got this white window and the system frozen with no mouse pointer:

6100-freeze.jpg


Shift-booting works, so I thought it's an extension problem. I disabled everything in the Extensions Manager - still not working.

What else I should try? Is there a known incompatibility between 6100 and Mac OS 7.6.1? 7.1.2, 7.5.5, 8.1 and 8.6 work fine on that computer.

PS: I also tried installing 7.6 from an Apple Software Restore CD containing all systems for all Macs, including the 6100... still the same problem.

 

kite210

Well-known member
1. Make sure to check all connections inside to make sure nothing is loose

2.Try re-seating the RAM and any VRAM SIMMs as well

3. Run Disk First Aid to check for any disk errors

That's all of the advice I can give right now.

 

Beavix

New member
I checked the connections and took off the RAM (2 x 32 MB), the CD-ROM unit and the Ethernet transceiver, it still doesn't work.

I don't think it's a hardware problem since Mac OS 8.1 on another partitition works fine, and also 7.5.5 which was installed before. I erased the hard drive before I installed 7.6.1 and 8.1.

On another forum someone told me he had the very same problem with his 6100. He eventually found a 7.6.1 version which worked fine, but he has no idea how the problem fixed itself.

 

Beavix

New member
Problem solved!

Here's what I did. I booted from an Apple Software Restore CD (the one that has all Mac OS versions prior to 9) and initialized the hard drive (again) using Drive Setup 1.7.3. This time I only made a single partition. Then I updated the disk driver. This is something I don't remember doing before, at least not using Drive Setup 1.7.3. And finally I installed 7.6 and 7.6.1 from that Apple Software Restore CD.

I tried installing from that CD before and it failed, so I can only assume updating the disk driver using Drive Setup 1.7.3 did the trick. The idea came to me after reading this tech note:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1249?viewlocale=en_US

Mac OS 7.6 discs have an earlier version of Drive Setup (1.2.2) so it's possible 1.7.3 did something different to the disk.

 

Dimitris1980

Well-known member
Back again for this. As i have read in internet, i assume that this problem is common. My Mac is the following:

Performa 6116CD

Sonnet G3 500 Mhz installed

136mb ram

73gb hard drive

Apple 4x scsi cd

Apple 8100 video card 4mb

For years i had the same problem. I couldn't find a solution. I have 3 partitions on my hard drive: one for Mac OS 8.1, one for Mac OS 9 and for the remaining i want to have the 7.6 because it is really fast and some games (Gobliiins 1, Gobliiins 3, Lost in Time) run only with this version. Last year (after long time) i managed to install Mac OS 7.6.1 with success without any problems but i really do not remember what i have done. Yesterday, suddenly my computer froze when i quitted from Pirates Gold and after booting, the same problem appeared. I don't want single partition and i don't want to format my drive, there are lot of games installed in there. I checked the partition of the drive, problems appeared but also repaired. Now i am stuck again with OS 8.1 (which is really nice and stable) and OS 9.04. I tried yesterday to install some versions of 7.6 and 7.5 on the remaining drive without success. I used various versions from macintoshgarden site like the Apple Legacy cd. Well, i will keep trying in order to find a solution. My hard drive is large and i want the below operation systems for the following reasons:

1. Mac OS 7.6: it is extremely fast with the Sonnet G3 installed and some games like Gobliiins 1 & 3 and Lost in Time do not run on OS 8.0 and up.

2. Mac OS 8.1: i find it very stable and this would be my choice if i wanted to have only 1 operating system installed.

3. Mac OS 9.0: I use it only for more demanding games and for surfing the internet with classilla. With it i can go to macintoshgarden site and download a program or a  game.

 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
Dimitris1980, does your Mac boot 7.6.1 if you hold down the shift key on boot?

What version of drive setup had you used to initialize your hard drive ?

 

Dimitris1980

Well-known member
Dimitris1980, does your Mac boot 7.6.1 if you hold down the shift key on boot?

What version of drive setup had you used to initialize your hard drive ?


It boots normally with the extensions off pressing the shift key. But i don't remember which version of drive setup i used to initialize my hard drive. For a year it was working perfectly until yesterday where my computer stuck with Pirates Gold (which was running just fine every time i was trying it, it's the first time this happened). Then i reset the computer and i couldn't boot with Mac OS 7.6.1.

 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
It boots normally with the extensions off pressing the shift key. But i don't remember which version of drive setup i used to initialize my hard drive. For a year it was working perfectly until yesterday where my computer stuck with Pirates Gold (which was running just fine every time i was trying it, it's the first time this happened). Then i reset the computer and i couldn't boot with Mac OS 7.6.1.
If you boot with extensions disabled and get info on your hard disk it should show you the version of hard disk driver that was used to format the disk. 

 

Dimitris1980

Well-known member
Yesterday evening finally i initialized my hard drive.  Again 3 partitions but this time i made all of them extended. I used the drive setup 1.7.3 version. Can Mac OS 7.6.1 be installed in extended format drive? The other times i had the one partition standard and the other two partitions extended. I installed Mac OS 8.1 in partition 2 and runs with success. In partition 1 i tried a cd international Mac OS 7.6 from macintoshgarden and also system 7.5 version for Powermac 6100 but with booting a msg came on screen saying that i have to update my disk.

 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
Mac System 7.6.1 can read HFS+ but cannot write or boot from an HFS+ volume, if memory serves me correctly. However, you can easily erase the volume as a different file system type in the finder I believe. Use HFS on 7.6.1 for best results. 

 

Dimitris1980

Well-known member
Well, it worked. Yesterday night before I turn off the computer, i erased the partition 1 and changed it from extended to standard. I installed again the international version of Mac OS 7.6 (the cd contains various languages and i installed the international English one). Now it boots normally and i installed also the Sonnet G3 drivers with success. So, the steps i did:

I initialized the hard drive and created three partitions with disk setup 1.7.3: one standard and two extended.

I installed firstly Mac OS 8.1 in partition 2 in order to be able to boot from hard drive and to be able to read every cd.

Finally I installed the international English Mac OS 7.6 downloaded from Macintosh garden site (cannot boot directly from cd).

Now i have lot of work copying games and programs.

 
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