I'm a moron who deleted the System Prefs from a PowerBook G3!

[jackcambrian]

Hello all. Apologies if this is not the appropriate forum. I recently inherited a '99 PowerBook G3 in lovely condition from my work  (they were just going to throw it away). Long story short, I deleted a bunch of stuff - including a folder with the OSX applications in it. The machine was running OS9 when I got it and I didn't realise that it was able to run either 9 or X. I found this out, switched over to OSX and now I don't have the ability to open up the Startup Disk program so I can switch back to 9. I'm marooned in OSX when what I really want the machine for is the System 9 environment.

I've done a lot of stuffing around and it seems the only way out of my predicament is to get a copy of the System Preferences file for OSX 10.3 - any kind soul out there able to help me out? 

 

[Machead]

What sub-version of 10.3? I have 10.3.9 on a PowerMac G4.

 

[commodorejohn]

Well, if nothing else, you can boot it with the Option key down and get the partition-select menu. Takes forever for the damn thing to actually finish sniffing around for partitions, but it does work. Just remember to re-select it in the Startup Disk control panel on OS9 or it won't stay selected.

 

[Reasons.]

The good news is that you likely don't need the System Prefrences file. Simply hold the option key when you start the computer and select the Mac OS 9 system folder. It should then boot into OS 9, and you'll be able to select the correct startup disk in the OS 9 control panel.

 

[jackcambrian]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. Unfortunately, I had already tried the option startup thing (I've tried every single keyboard shortcut I could find) and nothing happens - the machine just boots up to OSX without anything happening. 

Machead, in the About This Mac dialogue it just says '10.3'. 

 

[aladds]

Run this in Terminal:

sudo /usr/sbin/bless -folder9 '/Volumes/<path to Mac OS 9 System Folder>' -setOF

If you've managed to delete terminal too, download iTerm

 

[PowerPup]

The Option key method only works if Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X are installed on separate partitions. If they are installed on the same partition, then it will only display the "blessed" OS on that partition. Still, it should have at least displayed the boot menu, odd that it didn't.

The OP mentioned that they deleted the entire Mac OS X applications folder, so I assume they don't even have Terminal or Safari.

Do you have a usb drive? You could download iTerm as aladds suggested but from another computer and copy it over.

Or you could "obtain" a Mac OS 9/X CD and boot up from that. (Assuming your PB G3 has a CD drive.)

 

[jackcambrian]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I just tried running iTerm on the PowerBook but it wouldn't open in OSX 10.3. Am trying to get some restore disks and just start from scratch. 

 

[jackcambrian]

For anyone interested in the outcome of this saga, after some suggestions from a member of the forum and a huge amount of frustration, I decided to just do a clean OS restore using the original PowerBook install CD (http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/powerbook-g3-lombard-software-install). Seems to be working nicely and I'm able to start with a beautiful, clean slate. Thanks all.