Install Mac OS 9 on a PMac 6100

[bobo68]

Hi,

I'm struggling to install Mac OS 9.1 on my 6100. The only CD-ROm drive I have is a third party one and I cannot make it boot from the original Mac OS 9.1 install CD.

I also cannot install OS 9.1 from the mounted CD without booting from it because the 6100 currently has OS 7.5 installed (readme says I'd need to boot 8.5 for that to work).

So I copied the CD's contents to a Jaz disk. If I boot from the Jaz I get a message that I need to boot from the original CD - aaaah. Is there a way to disable the CD check on a copy of the CD? There must be something in the System Folder of the CD which does the check.

Any help is appreciated.

Best, bob68

 

[MJ313]

Can you copy your OS 7.5 system onto a jaz disk and boot from that? And then pop the CD in the drive?

Or... does your floppy drive work? You could create a barebones 7.5.3 install disk and add the apple cd extension? Boot from that, then pop the cd in the drive and run it?  I think I've actually done it this way before.

 

[bobo68]

That would not work because you have to boot from the Mac OS 9.1 install CD if the installed Mac OS version is < 8.5. If you still try you get an error message saying that the system cannot run the installer.

BTW, I was wrong with my second sentence. The 6100 does not even see the third-party CD-ROM drive - with one exception: if I boot with command-option-shift-delete (= boot from external drive) it reads the CD but ends with a floppy-with-question-mark symbol. Other than that it does not see the drive. I made the Jaz copy on another Mac.

So it seems I have to find an Apple-supported CD-ROM drive or manage to hack the Jaz copy of the install CD so that it boots.

 

[Cory5412]

What if you use the CD-Sunrise extension? Copy your System 7.5 install to the Jaz disk, pop CD-Sunrise in it, and you should be able to read the Mac OS 9 CD.

Or, put CD-Sunrise on your main System 7.5 disk, insert the Mac OS 9 CD, and then copy it to a Jaz cartridge. (If you have spares, just leave one cartridge set up as a 9.0.4 or 9.1 installer. Since you'll have some extra room, just put whatever other software installers you want as well.

 

[bobo68]

I solved it in another way: made universal OS 9.1 Jaz on another Mac, booted the 6100 from that, copied system to the internal HD. So I had a universal OS 9.1 (with extensions etc. with all kinds of Macs) but it was very slow.

I then found another CD-ROM drive (also non-Apple). This one would be seen by the 6100 (on the SCSI bus) but it would not mount the OS 9.1 install CD. I left the CD in the drive and rebooted the 6100 pretty much thinking of nothing. After that the install CD showed up on the desktop!

I could now install a specific OS 9.1 on another partition of the 6100's HD.

Very complicated. Is this voodoo? I read and remember that the OS 9.1 CD was very tough to handle because of all the restrictions Apple put in place.

The 6100 is still pretty slow with 9.1 (has no cache card).  :beige:

 

[ArmorAlley]

I have Mac OS 9.2.2 running on my daughter's PM 8100/80. It has been upgraded with a Sonnet Crescendo G3/400 card but that just makes everything faster. I created an image of the Mac OS 9.1 CD on the 8100, then ran OSHelper and installed 9.2.1, and finally 9.2.2.

It's not difficult. Time-consuming but not difficult.

Why do you want 9.1? I, personally, would find Mac OS 8.1 perfect for your 6100. Load it up with RAM if you can. 64MB should be enough.

Have you made the image of your 9.1 installer CD with DiskCopy 6.2.2? Have a copy of this and Virtual DVD app on the Jaz drive.

 

[Dimitris1980]

I agree with armor alley. I have installed mac os 8.1 & 9.0. Mac os 8.1 is the best for my performa 6116. Very stable and fast. I have installed the sonnet nubus g3 500mhz and 136mb of ram and the machine flies. Very rarely i use mac os 9.0. Some time before i had installed also mac os 7.6. So fast with the sonnet nubus!!! but I think the best is 8.1 version.

 

[bobo68]

I'll try 8.1 when I find the time. In the meantime I got a 256k cache card which helps.

Thanks four your advice.

 

[bobo68]

Why not use Mac OS 8.6?

 

[Nathan]

At least you've got a working HD and CD.