Ancestors

Toot

Written by XtoF on 2024-11-30 at 21:21

If you know more about old #macosx and #mac than me, please read.

I have 2 Mac Mini G4 that I cannot boot on the DVD provided with the machines

I can enter multi-boot by pressing ALT after the chime. Then I see my DVD listed as boot device. But I cannot select them as no button of the mouse has any effect. I can move the pointer though. I cannot use the keyboard for anything else than ENTER that will boot the HDD and SPACE that refreshes. So I cannot enter OpenFirmware.

Could it be because I am using USB PC keyboard and mouse?

[#]retrocomputing

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Descendants

Written by XtoF on 2024-11-30 at 23:59

I finally managed to boot into OS/9 (this was my primary intent): I had to try every keyboard in my possession and one of them solved the problems I had before OSX was loaded.

Thanks to @paulrickards and everyone who gave me a hand 🙂

Now I have to try every mouse in my possession as I have no longer any pointer once in OS/9 😅

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Written by Joe Fahs on 2024-11-30 at 21:47

@xtof have you tried holding down the “c” key? That should try to force boot from the optical drive. I don’t think a generic USB should make a difference for choosing the boot device. If you boot into the OS can you choose the optical as a startup disk?

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Written by XtoF on 2024-11-30 at 21:58

@mokers Yes it does not work with any of the mac. The only thing I can do is pressing ALT to enter multi-boot.

Even selecting the DVD as the next boot device from OSX does not work (there is an option in the System Preferences) ; the DVD is ejected during the boot and I go straight to OSX from the HDD.

As I have two machines, I have two DVDs (10.3.7 and 10.4.2) but the behavior is the same with both.

I also replaced the battery of one of the Mini to see if it made a difference, but with no success.

I’m out of ideas 😅

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Written by paulrickards on 2024-11-30 at 22:06

@xtof Try a different keyboard and mouse?

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-11-30 at 22:14

@xtof AFAIR you should be able to use left/right arrow keys to select a different button? I think there are also some key combos to boot from the secondary partition ... holding left mouse button during startup I think? (Unless that was "boot from the floppy")

Also, are those really the discs that came with them, or just the ones you got them with? There are hardware-specific boot CDs/DVDs that will not work with other models.

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Written by XtoF on 2024-11-30 at 22:46

@uliwitness left/right keys do have any effect, nor tab or the num pad.

As @paulrickards suggested, I tryes another (PC) keyboard. Same effect.

Concerning the origin of the DVDs, I know that one of them did not come with the machine as I bought it separately. I believe that the other DVD came with the other machine as it is what the seller told me and the Mini came complete with the box and documents.

All DVDs are labelled for Mac Mini and predate Intel macs. Does it bear an importance if they were not part of the bundle?

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-11-30 at 22:50

@xtof @paulrickards yeah, there were many Mac mini models. No guarantee they will work.

One more thing to try: I think you can hold ‘C’ or ‘C' and ‘D' during startup to boot from optical instead of from internal.

Update: Could also have been holding ⌘ + ⌥ + C (+ D), it's been a while.

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Written by XtoF on 2024-11-30 at 23:22

@uliwitness @paulrickards Specific discs for specific mac revivions! I’d never thought it would be so hard to boot on another device with a PPC mac 😅

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-12-01 at 08:38

@xtof @paulrickards Only these grey ones, yeah. If you find a retail OS disc released after that Mac, it should work with all of them.

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-12-01 at 09:14

@xtof @paulrickards But that only return works makes me worry that there's something else going on. If you can easily borrow a Mac keyboard, I'd definitely try that to eliminate the chance of this being a bad keyboard or some weird model that's non-standard.

Does the Mac boot into any OS at all? I.e. are you just trying to install a fresh OS but the old one on the HDD still works? Because MacOS has a Startup Volume control panel that lets you set what to boot into for the next restart.

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-11-30 at 22:53

@xtof @paulrickards Oh one more thing: On some Macs, the startup selector isn’t cleared after you select something, so if the OS hangs at startup it may just freeze on the boot selector screen’s image. (If an OS launches, it will usually erase the screen to black or a checkerboard)

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Written by Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh) on 2024-12-01 at 09:15

@xtof @paulrickards Ah, the disk even says "hold down the C key” printed on it.

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Written by Felyashono on 2024-11-30 at 23:14

@xtof

It's been a while, so my memory may off, but IIRC

1. In the multiboot screen you show, the arrow keys should navigate right and left.

2. Rather than using multiboot, hold down command-C to force booting off the optical drive.

On a PC keyboard, it may take some experimentation to determine which, if any, modifier key is getting mapped to command.

If you can successfully boot from the internal HDD and use Startup Disk, you should also be able to boot it from a FireWire disk.

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Written by Xoa Gray on 2024-12-01 at 01:42

@xtof I know this is late, but I think pressing command + option + O + F would put you directly in open firmware.

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