[quicksilverG4]

I've got a 1 GHz/133 MHz FSB eMac. I bought it specifically so that I could use X and 9. It's been happily running 10.4 for awhile now and I just bought OS 9 restore CDs.

There's 3 CDs. I put #1 in and the Software Restore program installs on the hard drive in the OS X Applications/Utilities folder. Software Restore runs automatically or I can run it later off the hard drive.

When it starts it asks for a CD. Instead of saying CD 1, 2, etc it shows a pic of the disc with a dot and then a single larger dot with a hole in it next to it. CD 1 (which is labeled eMac Software Restore 1 of 3) has that symbol (CD 2 has two dots with holes, CD 3 has three). I don't know why it doesn't just say CD 1 but whatever. The problem is that CD is already in the drive. And ejecting and re-inserting doesn't do anything.

The disc doesn't seem to be damaged. It installed Software Restore to the hard drive OK.

These are non-bootable restore discs so I can't restart using them.

I'm totally stumped. I'm running 10.4.11. It would be extremely stupid if I have to drop back to the original eMac version of X to do this install. These discs are 9 only and the installer clearly states they have nothing to do with X.

Any ideas???

[dowNNshift]

I guess I'm confused as to where you got these discs from since they're not bootable and that there are three of them. Typically OS 9 is contained on a single bootable disc.

Do you have OS 9 drivers installed on your hard disk? Apple has a couple pages that I quickly found in their knowledge base that might set you in the right direction:

Macintosh: Some Computers Only Start Up in Mac OS X
Mac OS X: Reinstalling Mac OS 9 or recovering from a software restore
Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Installing a Mac OS 9 System Folder to use with the Classic environment
Mac OS X 10.4 Help: I can't start up in Mac OS 9

[quicksilverG4]

I found out how to make all the files visible on the discs and was able to copy OS9General.dmg off disc 2. The other discs contain apps - which I could care less about at this point.

After a lot of nonsense I found out that I DO have to downgrade to 10.2 and that I have to wipe my drive to do it. Not having an easy way to backup my files at this point OR a copy of 10.2 I guess I'll have to settle for Classic for now (open OS9General.dmg and copy to hard drive).