[G4] OK. Now I am starting to get a little irritated. Flatliner MDD.

[Maj. Richard H. Blount (OHMR Ret.)]

<snip Rich's incessant whining, moaning and gnashing of teeth>
> 
> I have a similar machine to yours, 1.25 dual MDD.  If I'm not mistakes
> some of these models would not boot into OS9 but were OS 10 only.  The
> model number should give a clue about that. I believe the non OS9
> computers has a firewire 800 port and the others didn't but I'm not
> sure.
> 
This one appears to have two FireWire ports
>> 
>> When I use the plain old OsX install disk, I get the happy mac face and the
>> beach ball (encouraging eh?) then the happy face tears in half and the
>> system once again laughs in triumph.
> 
> I guess you are saying that the install disk mounts but when you try to
> run the install app it bombs.
Actually, I just hold the C key down and when the beachball starts, I let go
and watch it explode.
>> 
>> The only other thing I can think of is maybe  have the wrong system restore
>> disks. It seems to get farther in the process with this disk. I get happy
>> Mac, then the grey Mac OS screen, then the blue MacOS screen with the weird
>> textured background and a moving like thermometer bar. Sometimes I get to
>> the stylized person holding a disk then to the part where I get to select a
>> disk to restore to. Then either it sees no disk, or says the disk is not
>> compatible. This occurs on all three controllers and can die at any point
>> along the way.
> 
> I have read through your posts and I don't see for sure how the jumpers
> on the HDs are set. The manual calls for cable select on all drives.
> Make sure the jumpers are set properly.  What works on the G3 may not
> work on this machine.
I learned right away about the cable select thing. This is completely
opposite of my prior experience.

> Since the machine was in parts, it seems that one of the wiring
> connections may not be made up properly.  A pin may be bent, broken or
> something like that.  Hard to find but worth looking at closely.  There
> may even be a broken wire in a cable.  I have had all of these problems
> in the past on various machines.  Also, you might want to try another
> keyboard if you haven't as a stuck key can cause havoc.
> 
> OK, these ideas probably wan't help much.  I am far from an expert in
> this area.
> 
> Good luck.  I hope the problem is not something that requires a major
> investment as this is still a good computer, much better than the G3 I
> think.
> 
Thanks, I have a lot of time on my hands and this is turning into an
annoying obsession. In 20+ years of working on PC's and Telephone systems, I
have never had my butt kicked like this. I must have retired at just the
right time!

-- 
It is not enough to aim, you must hit.

Richard H. Blount
Maj. OHMR (ret.)