I need some help with my eMac

[Rockstarwxy]

I’m trying to boot 9.2 on it using the specialized 9.2 disk. The only issue it that my Mac’s optical disk drive is broken and booting from usb isn’t possible with cd drives but is possible with usb. So, I was wondering if anyone could send me a copy of the system folder for 9.2 that was “installed” so I can bypass the “These system files will only work on it’s intended media” error?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

From my memory, PowerPC Macs didn't support starting up from USB devices. They can startup from FireWire devices however. The Intel Macs added support for starting up from USB.

-What exact model is the eMac?
-What does it say on the gray install disc(s) - can you upload a photo?

You can't just use a System Folder to startup from, and it can be very difficult to find the model-specific OEM install discs for the eMac these days.

C

 

[Rockstarwxy]

Hello,

From my memory, PowerPC Macs didn't support starting up from USB devices. They can startup from FireWire devices however. The Intel Macs added support for starting up from USB.

-What exact model is the eMac?
-What does it say on the gray install disc(s) - can you upload a photo?

You can't just use a System Folder to startup from, and it can be very difficult to find the model-specific OEM install discs for the eMac these days.

C

It’s the PowerMac 4,4 “northern lights” 1Ghz model with the ATI chip, the (now broken) super drive, 80 GB hard drive maxed out ram and airport card. I had bought it second hand around 2005. The original seller couldn’t find the original restore disks, so they gave me a burned copy of 9.2.2 with “eMac restore” written on it in permanent ink. And I thought that os 9 was like os 1-8 where a disk was bootable if it had a system folder on it.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks for the addition information.

Installer discs are bootable, since they do have a minimized version of Mac OS on them with a System folder. I thought you meant just the System folder.

Many of those older PowerPC Macs had very specific install discs that came with them, due to the fact that some of the hardware required exact graphics and System drivers. Because yours has the ATI graphics instead of NVIDIA, it would have had a specific OEM install disc with it. Hopefully the copy the previous owner supplied was that version, and was created as a bootable disc.

I t will be tough to find, but you're going to need to find a FireWire HD that has Mac OS 9.2.2 or OS X 10.3-10.4 already installed on it that you could use as a startup drive, or access to a FireWire CD/DVD drive. It's a bit foggy, but I don't remember for sure whether the eMac will startup from a FireWire optical drive. A FireWire HD would have to be formatted as Apple Partition Map, not GUID like the Intel Macs for the eMac to startup from it.

Do you happen to have a Mac user group near you? Someone there may have some older Apple/Mac hardware/software that could help you out.

C

 

[Rockstarwxy]

OK, thanks for the addition information.

Installer discs are bootable, since they do have a minimized version of Mac OS on them with a System folder. I thought you meant just the System folder.

Many of those older PowerPC Macs had very specific install discs that came with them, due to the fact that some of the hardware required exact graphics and System drivers. Because yours has the ATI graphics instead of NVIDIA, it would have had a specific OEM install disc with it. Hopefully the copy the previous owner supplied was that version, and was created as a bootable disc.

I t will be tough to find, but you're going to need to find a FireWire HD that has Mac OS 9.2.2 or OS X 10.3-10.4 already installed on it that you could use as a startup drive, or access to a FireWire CD/DVD drive. It's a bit foggy, but I don't remember for sure whether the eMac will startup from a FireWire optical drive. A FireWire HD would have to be formatted as Apple Partition Map, not GUID like the Intel Macs for the eMac to startup from it.

Do you happen to have a Mac user group near you? Someone there may have some older Apple/Mac hardware/software that could help you out.

C

It already has 10.5.6 on the internal drive, I was hoping to boot 9.2 so I could format the drive and install 9.2 then tiger. And the closest Mac user group is the Apple store but it’s not older Macs. I might just get an ata dvd-rw drive and try to replace it.