Powerbook G3 Wallstreet Hard drive troubles

[Zoara]

Hello, so a while ago, I upgraded my Powerbook g3 Wallstreet to a 16 gb ide to SD card adaptor, but I am only able to install macOS9 on it. Amy version of OSX results with a unbacklit install screen. And trying to install it anyways always ends up with a frozen installer. If anyone knows why this might happen I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[AlpineRaven]

Can you explain a bit more - where does it freeze?

Ive got OSX.2 on my PDQ with 44pin to SD adapter in it, I installed OSX first then OS9 after that.
Cheers

AP

 

[Zoara]

Yes, It always tends to occur randomly, usually after I begin the install. It will mostly occur once it begins the main install, the time will increase to 3 hours, but it seems to hang indefinitely, and I’m pretty sure that the cd drive will stop spinning

 

[jonpurdy]

I'm actually having some trouble as well on my 250MHz Wallstreet (non-PDQ) with a Sandisk CF → 44-PIN IDE dual drive adaptor, as well as when the CF card is in a PCMCIA adaptor. The system hangs whenever I try to write data to it (mouse cursor can move, but clock and everything else freezes) using OS 8.6 (don't have X and wasn't planning on using X, but might do so for testing).

I've actually got a PDQ waiting for me at home (shipped and delivered just today) so I'll update this post with my results after trying this machine out.

 

[Zoara]

I'm actually having some trouble as well on my 250MHz Wallstreet (non-PDQ) with a Sandisk CF → 44-PIN IDE dual drive adaptor, as well as when the CF card is in a PCMCIA adaptor. The system hangs whenever I try to write data to it (mouse cursor can move, but clock and everything else freezes) using OS 8.6 (don't have X and wasn't planning on using X, but might do so for testing).

I've actually got a PDQ waiting for me at home (shipped and delivered just today) so I'll update this post with my results after trying this machine out.

That sounds good, I’m starting to think there’s a trend with using flash memory with these devices.

 

[AlpineRaven]

This is the adapter I am using in my PDQ - works well with OSX.2 and 9.

Cheers

AP

 

[Zoara]

That’s funny actually, that is the same adaptor I have lol.

also after further testing I determined I’m still getting the boot issues with regular hard drive as well. Although I was able to fully install and boot to it, I am still having issues where the backlight will not come on when I boot into OS X, or when I open the lid from sleep.

 

[AlpineRaven]

do you think there is a possibly of corruption files from faulty CD drive?
Cheers

AP

 

[Zoara]

I have considered this, however, I have still installed multiple programs and even reinstalled macOS9 several times with no issue. And the fact it is always the backlight that randomly works confuses me.

 

[Byrd]

do you think there is a possibly of corruption files from faulty CD drive?
Cheers

AP

Was just going to suggest that - try another, or reburn the CDs to new media.  Notebook optical drives can baulk at a lot of burnt media that desktop drives wouldn't care about.

 

[Zoara]

That makes sense, I will try burning a new disk, however I have already tried with multiple different ones, including a tiger disk through xpostfacto. I might try 10.0 again however, originally, I received a burnt copy with the computer that seemed to work

 

[rsolberg]

If I'm installing Mac OS/OS X from CD images, I've found that burning the install CD-Rs at 4x makes for much less frustration.  The higher the CD write speed you use, typically the more error correction the CD-ROM drive has to do when you boot/read the disc.  The disc may pass verification in your burning software, and may read fine on your modern burner, but on a "vintage" drive it will often read very slowly, freeze in the installer, display errors, or just fail to boot at all.

Also, is the PRAM battery in the Wallstreet holding a charge?  The weird backlight behaviour sounds like what I experienced.  I had to boot back into Mac OS 9.2.2 in order to turn it back on.  I think part of the classic Mac OS boot sequence makes sure the backlight is set to a non-zero value.  If I did a warm reboot into the OS X installer, all was good.  If I did a totally cold boot (dead/no battery, dead/no PRAM battery) after having the power cord unplugged, no backlight again.

 

[jonpurdy]

So the PDQ I got is great: 300MHz, 512MB RAM, 8GB drive, and a DVD-ROM drive (unexpected surprise). Unfortunately, it too has the exact same issue as my 13.3" 250MHz. I didn't test the 44-pin adaptor, but I did test the CF card in a PCMCIA adaptor and it can read and even boot from the CF card, but as soon as data is written it hangs (clock stops, mouse can move, but need to hard reset). 

I tossed all my CF cards years ago (I think mostly 512MB and 1GB anyway), so I don't have any more to test with. I am considering getting an mSATA adaptor with a 32 or 64GB m.2 drive, but I'd like to wait a bit to see how much I actually use this machine (since I'm already in about $220CAD after buying two of them and the accessories). I may just copy the system folder and whatever I'm doing on it to a RAM disk and work off that (since I got the CF card for silence, not speed).

 

[Zoara]

OK, so I have gotten a chance to try making a new bootable CD on a different type of CD, and I think this is definitely more software oriented. 

So I decided to try booting a 10.0 burnt disk through 9.2.2, and I recieved an error telling me that startup disk could not select the cd. “-2 error”. 

And now even attempting to restart into the disk through holding the option key does nothing, as if this computer is just

completely immune to OSX. So if anyone has ever had this issue before, and has found a solution, I would GREATLY appreciate the help.

Thank you.

 

[rsolberg]

Below I've linked a helpful startup key guide that has saved me much frustration over the years.  The Option key boot menu is a New World Mac ROM feature and your Wallstreet is Old World, so holding Option should just force booting to OS 9 from hard drive.  On the Wallstreet, holding 'C' should tell the system to boot from CD during power on.  If I have trouble with 'C' on an Old World machine, I'll usually try CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE.

http://davespicks.com/writing/programming/mackeys.html

 

[Zoara]

If I'm installing Mac OS/OS X from CD images, I've found that burning the install CD-Rs at 4x makes for much less frustration.  The higher the CD write speed you use, typically the more error correction the CD-ROM drive has to do when you boot/read the disc.  The disc may pass verification in your burning software, and may read fine on your modern burner, but on a "vintage" drive it will often read very slowly, freeze in the installer, display errors, or just fail to boot at all.

Also, is the PRAM battery in the Wallstreet holding a charge?  The weird backlight behaviour sounds like what I experienced.  I had to boot back into Mac OS 9.2.2 in order to turn it back on.  I think part of the classic Mac OS boot sequence makes sure the backlight is set to a non-zero value.  If I did a warm reboot into the OS X installer, all was good.  If I did a totally cold boot (dead/no battery, dead/no PRAM battery) after having the power cord unplugged, no backlight again.

That actually sounds exactly like the issue I am having, so I just need to boot from 9.0? 

 

[rsolberg]

I'd suggest booting into OS 9, making sure the backlight is set appropriately, then restart with the installer CD in the drive.  Make sure to hold down the C key from before the chime until you get a Happy Mac icon or grey Apple logo. (depending on the OS X version)  I wouldn't bother trying to use the Startup Disk control panel from within Mac OS 9, as I found it quite problematic on my Wallstreet.  I find XPostFacto quite helpful as it includes a replacement for the Startup Disk control panel.  Version 3.1 is good for 10.0 and 10.1, the latest version is for 10.2-10.4.  https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=XPostFacto.html

 

[Franklinstein]

You guys are making sure to keep OS X entirely within an 8GB partition at the beginning of the drive, aren't you? On old world G3s OS X has to be within the first 8GB or you will have problems. 

 

[Zoara]

I have heard this many times before, and I have definitely made sure of this. I even tried the original 2gb hard drive to no avail