[G4] Noob with a question

[Philip J Robar]

On Nov 22, 2005, at 2:20 PM, Harry Freeman wrote:

> On Nov 22, 2005, at 2:12 PM, Matt Pendergast wrote:
>
>> Hey Everybody
>> My name is Matt. I picked up a G4 500 Sawtooth off ebay about 2  
>> months ago.
>> I've had a strange problem with it. It works fine, I got OSX  
>> 10.3.9 (I think) on it.
>> Problem is I always have to boot by holding the option key down.  
>> Whether it's
>> from a cold boot or a restart. I'm not sure how to correct this.  
>> Hopefully it's
>> something simple.
>
> Matt it sounds like your HD is either (if you only have one drive)  
> on the wrong connector, or it is optioned incorrectly. The drive  
> with the Operating system should be on the last connector, and  
> should be optioned for cable select.

Macs don't care what drive the OS is on, what connector the drive is  
connected to, or how the drive is jumpered - as long as it's a legal  
setup. That's the whole point of Open Firmware. Sawtooths will work  
with master/slave or cable select jumpered drives. If you're  
jumpering for master and slave it doesn't matter what position the  
drive occupies on the cable. (Although leaving the end of a cable  
unoccupied is a bad idea, despite the fact that companies like Dell  
used to ship systems like this.)

Matt, it would be easier to help you if you had told us how your Mac  
is set up, but have you tried selecting a startup disk in the  
"Startup Disk" Preferences panel?

If that doesn't work then I would suggest resetting the PRAM, which  
on your flavor of Mac will also reset the NVRAM where this setting is  
stored. Since you bought this Mac used this has the added advantage  
of getting all your low level settings to a know good starting point.

Heres' a good article on dealing with a flashing "?" at startup:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/openfirmware.html

It includes links to more detailed articles on Open Firmware if  
you're interested.


Here's how to reset the NVRAM only:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Resetting_NVRAM


Apple's knowledge base article on resetting the PRAM and NVRAM:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238



Phil