Bondi Blue iMac help please ???

[macclassic]

I was doing some repairs with Norton Utilities on a tray loading Bondi Blue iMac and everythng was going fine until it crashed in the middle of doing something!!!!!!!!!!

It now bongs but then shows the customary flashing "?" on a folder and won't start.

It was running OS 8.5.1

What I want to know is would an OS 7.x startup disk work as long as it had the right system enabler? or do I need one with an OS 8 system folder?

I am up a bit of a creek as I have no system disks with this machine!

 

[LCGuy]

A System 7 startup disk will not work. You must have Mac OS 8.1 or better, WITH the Mac OS ROM file. Anyway, i'm guessing that your system folder may have become "unblessed". When you get your hands another boot disk (anything OS 8.5 and up is guaranteed to work), open the hard drive and see if the System Folder has the System Folder icon still. If it doesn't, if it has the same icon as a regular folder, open the system folder and close it again. This should "re-bless" the folder. Then reboot, and if the drive, and the System Folder are both healthy, all should be well.

 

[macclassic]

Thanks, I will then have to beg, steal or borrow an OS 8.x startup disk.

The startup options seem so limited on these machines with no floppy and no SCSI.

 

[bubbleman7546]

http://www.abandonedabw.com/

register here, goto downloads tab, and under apple, click OS'es. They have Mac OS 8.5. hope that helps.

btw you'll need to burn a disc, so good luck.

hope this helps

 

[equill]

I was doing some repairs with Norton Utilities on a tray loading Bondi Blue iMac ...

You are now privy to the open secret that Norton can be a fraught proposition in versions above 3.2.x and with HFS+-formatted drives. DiskWarrior 2.1.1 (Alsoft) is much more certain as a file directory defragmenter/rescuer, and will rebless your System Folder at need. It is important to remember, however, that DW is a file utility, not a disk utility, and will not do anything unless your disk partitions and other logical structures are intact. However, the inbuilt Apple utilities can ensure this latter condition, and DW will fix the boot blocks after it has fixed the disk directory.

If you are in deep do-do because of corruption of the disk's logical structures, and whether or not the existing formatting was done by Drive Setup or by a third-party utility, you should aim to acquire a disk utility program with an informative GUI, especially if you have several Macs to care for. LaCie's Silverlining (v.6.4.1 to 6.5.4), InTech's HD SpeedTools, FWB's HD ToolKit and ATTO's ExpressPro-Tools will all work, and it is a Good Thing (and less taxing of your memory) to use one disk formatter throughout your collection. Silverlining is bundled with LaCie drives, but obtainable on the Web from expectable sources. The latter three are commercial utilities, but obtainable on eBay and elsewhere. I use Silverlining on about 100 HDDs without any unsolvable problems.

It is preferable that you rebless a System Folder by dragging either Finder or the System suitcase to the desktop, closing the System Folder, and then dragging the Finder or System back onto the closed System Folder.

de

 

[macclassic]

Thanks for the tips equill.

I did get the iMac gong by re-blessing the system folder, it also had two systems installed!! and it still has problems with cross/linked files - as the previous owner must have had an external drive connected at some time.

So I'm thinking of starting afresh, but my ultimate aim is to add more ram and install OS X.

Does anyone know if I can install OS X from scratch as most of of the install guides seem to suggest that you must have OS 9.1 installed first?

As a footnote I think it has already had the necessary firmware installed.

 

[equill]

OS 9 is the landing from which you start the next flight of stairs towards OS X. Here is the story about firmware.

You need a source of OS 9, not only to include the possibility of using Classic Mode from within OS X, but also for the firmware updates, and even as an alternative boot system for troubleshooting from a separate partition of your HDD. Any version will do for a start: 9.0, 9.0.4, 9.1 or 9.2.1, and you can then download updaters to get to 9.2.2 for Classic Mode or as a standalone. If you look for it, even the International English (which has a 'Z' prefix in the CD number, eg Z691-3334-A for 9.2.1, or in the download file) is downloadable.

From where you are now OS X will have to start from scratch. OS X is an Upgrade, not a free Update, and must be bought.

de

 

[coius]

DO be sure you have the Firmware update. just in case, run the update utility. Thinking you have it won't help if you go to install OS X and it does not have the update. It will cause your computer to become a worthless paperweight. Also, remember that OS X has to be on the first 8GB of the harddrive. If it's not, it won't work. Since the board is based off the Gossamer, you will have to do this. It's the same with the gossamer.

again:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Run the update utility first! Just to make sure. It will save from a lot of headaches down the road

 

[macclassic]

again:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Run the update utility first! Just to make sure. It will save from a lot of headaches down the road

Thanx.

I WILL, I WILL, but I was thinking of putting OS X on the first 3.5GB of the hard disk and OS 9.x on the remainder.

It doesn't have to be 8GB does it?

...

 

[equill]

No. It doesn't. But skimping on HDD space will hamper OS X, which can limp along with 3.5GB, but will have little room for its behind-the-scenes housekeeping and memory management.

If you wish to partition your drive with independently bootable partitions, it is OS 9 that can tolerate the smaller partition, say, 3GB, depending on the number and size of OS 9 apps that you have. You haven't indicated whether the drive is original (~6-12GB?) or larger. Consider that you may have little inclination towards OS 9 after a short time with OS X, and will then have some difficulty in re-allocating disk space between the two OSs. Why not consider a 500MB partition for OS 9 as a rescue boot partition, and allocate the rest (up to 7.9GB) to OS X? Further, you can then also run the OS 9 from within OS X in Classic Mode.

Alternatively, perhaps now is the time to think about a larger drive?

de