PowerMac G4 Digital Audio - Install Radeon 9000 Pro Help

[chrisdunderdale]

Hi there,

I have just installed a Radeon 9000 Pro into a Digital Audio G4 - the machine boots fine, but when I get to the desktop, it won't let me click on anything, move windows etc. Do I need to re-set the VRAM or PRAM or something? Apologies for such a simple question, I'm slightly out of touch with this era of machine these days!

 

[Forrest]

You will have to install drivers for the graphics card, depending if you are running OS9 or OSX.

 

[volvo242gt]

Was the machine working fine previously? When I upgraded mine from the stock Rage 128 Pro to the Radeon 9000 it currently has, I pretty much had to do nothing to get it working. It almost sounds like your mouse somehow isn't connected. Does the cursor move with it when the video signal is received by your monitor at boot?

I'd hold down command-option-o-f at boot.

Then, type reset-nvram and hit return. Next, type set-defaults and hit return. Finally, type mac-boot and hit return.

There's an Open Firmware Wiki over at Mac Rumors. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-open-firmware-wiki.2225024/

I suspect we have the same somewhere as well.

 

[GRudolf94]

Just to confirm basic functionality - if you hold Alt/Option at power-on, it should drop you into the boot picker. Does the mouse work there?

 

[Phipli]

Are you booting Mac OS 9 or OS X?

 

[chrisdunderdale]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have done a bit more testing. The machine boots fine from OSX Tiger partition, and boots fine from the OS9 installer disk. It seems to hang when it gets to the desktop on my OS9 partition. Maybe I need to rebuild the desktop file or something? Sadly, it hangs before I get chance to do that. Slightly stumped for solutions! Any ideas?

 

[ObeyDaleks]

Seems like it could be a driver/extension problem. Does it boot with extensions off?

 

[Phipli]

This is a common issue with the OS9 ATI drivers.

Sometimes you will find it will continue after a minute or so, sometimes it won't.

Boot with extensions disabled (hold shift while the computer boots), remove all ATI software from the Extensions folder and control panels folder into a folder on the desktop, restart (so the CD drive works) and re-install the ATI software. If that doesn't work, try a different version.

 

[chrisdunderdale]

Looks like it boots fine with extensions off - problem solved, apart from finding out which one it is!

 

[ObeyDaleks]

Looks like it boots fine with extensions off - problem solved, apart from finding out which one it is!

As @Phipli said, you still want to remove the old ATI extensions (everything that starts with ATI) and install new ones that work with your card. Just search for “Mac OS 9.x (whichever you’re running) ATI 9000 drivers”.

 

[chrisdunderdale]

That's great - I'll give that a try. really appreciate your help.