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hanr3b · Jun 14, 2006, 06:57 PM

Dear All

First post, so be gentle with me! I've just bought a Lombard (320mb RAM, original 6gb HD, 333mhz). Loaded with 8.6 but I think may have had OS X on it in the past. Tried to load it with 9.1 from full copy I've loaded on many other Macs over the years (9500, 9600, 3400, 1400, B&W, 7500, etc.). No go -- won't recognise disk. Tried to load it via external Cd-rom. No go -- again cannot read disk. Tried to boot to 9.1 from known good external SCSI drive. No go -- flashing folder/question mark. Finally tried swapping 9.1 loaded 2.5inch drive from 3400 into Lombard. Again, flashing folder/questionmark.

Can't connect to my Mac Mini to use its drive to load 10.3 because cannot get 8.6 to connect to Tiger. I'm running out of ideas and need to free up brain space -- please help!! Ultimate aim is to have OS X on the Lombard (Jaguar? Panther?)

all the best

finboy · Jun 15, 2006, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by hanr3b

Dear All

First post, so be gentle with me! I've just bought a Lombard (320mb RAM, original 6gb HD, 333mhz). Loaded with 8.6 but I think may have had OS X on it in the past. Tried to load it with 9.1 from full copy I've loaded on many other Macs over the years (9500, 9600, 3400, 1400, B&W, 7500, etc.). No go -- won't recognise disk. Tried to load it via external Cd-rom. No go -- again cannot read disk. Tried to boot to 9.1 from known good external SCSI drive. No go -- flashing folder/question mark. Finally tried swapping 9.1 loaded 2.5inch drive from 3400 into Lombard. Again, flashing folder/questionmark.

Can't connect to my Mac Mini to use its drive to load 10.3 because cannot get 8.6 to connect to Tiger. I'm running out of ideas and need to free up brain space -- please help!! Ultimate aim is to have OS X on the Lombard (Jaguar? Panther?)

all the best

Sounds weird to me too. Maybe it needs a firmware update of some kind? I know that the original iBook wouldn't run later versions of X without a firmware update, same with the iMacs.

SSharon · Jun 15, 2006, 04:27 AM

Are you familiar with xpostfacto? I would search for that and see if they have relevant instructions.

nJm · Jun 15, 2006, 05:42 AM

This site might have some useful information:
http://www.lowendmac.com/pb2/lombard.shtml

slugslugslug · Jun 15, 2006, 08:50 AM

For the record, I'm 99.9% sure I never applied any firmware update to my Lombard before installing OS X on it. It came with 8.6, but it ran 9, Jaguar, and Panther. Interestingly, some Lombards had problems with freezing in OS X but not 9, especially with larger amounts of RAM. Mine ran X with 192 MB, but froze a lot when I tried to up it to 384. Not that that helps with your problem, but keep it in mind if you do get OS X on there and it freezes up a lot: there'll probably be nothing you can do (apparently it was a RAM/CPU daughtercard issue).

Anyway, my main point is that a Lombard should be able to run those OSes just fine, so the fact that you can't boot is more likely a hardware issue (SCSI bus maybe?) specific to your machine than a known incompatibility.

molala · Jun 17, 2006, 07:27 AM

I have Panther on my Lombard (also 333MHz, 320MB RAM, original 4GB HD). It was able to start up from the installation CD. I do get the flashing folder/question mark everytime it starts up, but it finds the startup partition within a few seconds. So it should work, is your copy of OSX is the full version (did not come with a particular computer)?

Colonel Panic · Jun 17, 2006, 08:20 AM

It won't recognize the 9.1 CD when the CD is in the internal CD-ROM drive in the bay? Is the CD bad/maybe it got scratched? Can the mini read the CD?

phuture · Jun 18, 2006, 11:55 PM

Do you really need System 9.1? I mean, if you're gonna install Jaguar or Panther, I believe it needs OS9.2 to run Classic. My dual G4 had 9.1 (I believe), upgraded to Jaguar, tried to run Classic, and it was a no-go.

So my advice is to ditch the 9.1 and run Jaguar exclusively. Or, if you really need OS9, pick up a new hard drive (because 6 gigs simply won't cut it in OSX -- 20-40 gig drives can be had for really cheap now) and do a partition on that new drive, so you can run each operating system separately. You're lucky you have a Lombard -- just pop open the keyboard and your hard drive is right there. 8 minutes max. to swap it. It's just an alternative but I hope it helps you decide what to do bro.

finboy · Jun 21, 2006, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by phuture

Do you really need System 9.1? I mean, if you're gonna install Jaguar or Panther, I believe it needs OS9.2 to run Classic. My dual G4 had 9.1 (I believe), upgraded to Jaguar, tried to run Classic, and it was a no-go.

So my advice is to ditch the 9.1 and run Jaguar exclusively. Or, if you really need OS9, pick up a new hard drive (because 6 gigs simply won't cut it in OSX -- 20-40 gig drives can be had for really cheap now) and do a partition on that new drive, so you can run each operating system separately. You're lucky you have a Lombard -- just pop open the keyboard and your hard drive is right there. 8 minutes max. to swap it. It's just an alternative but I hope it helps you decide what to do bro.

I can agree with the double-partition idea. It's just so much easier to manage the two operating systems that way. And a 40G drive should be pretty cheap for you. A 30 is about the smallest you want to use with OS X on one and OS 9 on the other, and if you're going to have dual installs of Office, etc. you'll need a 40 minimum. Well worth the effort and expense with a Lombard.