EMAC-switching OS

Silly · #1 September 21st, 2004, 05:45 PM

I don't know diddley about Mac apparently. I thought that my emac had two OS installed, and I've been running OS 9.x. Some new software (digital camera) wasn't working very well so I tried to switch to the OS 10.2. The computer failed to start-up, and brings up the Open Firmware prompt screen, but mac-boot just takes me to a blank grey screen. Shut-down seems to work. I tried re-setting the PRAM, and even reset-all, but neither seems to work. There is an error message "Default Catch! code=300 etc.". Is it possible to just get the computer to revert to the OS 9.x?

**Buzz** · #2 September 22nd, 2004, 02:02 AM

Hold down the option key while the mac boots. Youshould be presented with a list of all available operating systems to boot into.

Silly · #3 September 23rd, 2004, 04:26 PM

I tried it--but only the OS X icon appeared and it didn't seem to want to boot up using that. I guess I could try re-booting from the disc?

Silly · #4 September 23rd, 2004, 05:20 PM

The only discs I have say OS 9...my emac is two years old and I think these are the discs that came with it, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I inserted the disc and when I hold down the "c" key while it's starting up I get a foder icon with a question mark, and it still won't start up.

**Buzz** · #5 September 23rd, 2004, 07:35 PM

Booting from the CD and gettign the blinking questionmark means that the CD does not have an OS the computer recognizes or there's no OS on the CD. Are you certain youv'e got the proper CD?

Silly · #6 September 23rd, 2004, 07:38 PM

nope. They are the only cds I have though.

**Buzz** · #7 September 23rd, 2004, 08:54 PM

Did you install OS10 on the emac or did you just try to boot into OS10? I'm a little unclear as to what exactly you did to get to where you are. Did the emac come with both OS9 and OS10 installed?

Silly · #8 September 23rd, 2004, 09:37 PM

Yes, the emac came with both OS 9 and 10. I've been using 9 for awhile, and thought I'd try switching to OS 10...so from the apple menu on the desktop I switched and the computer hadn't been able to boot up since.

**Buzz** · #9 September 23rd, 2004, 09:49 PM

So in System Preferences > Startup Disk you chose the OS10 folder to boot into and everything just stopped? Sorry OS 9.. from Control panels > Startup Disk, you chose the OS 10 folder?

Where did the firmwhere update come in? Apple would never send a dual boot system out that needed a firmware update to run one of the OSes. That would have been installed at the factory.

Silly · #10 September 23rd, 2004, 09:56 PM

ya, that's what I did. Then the computer tried to boot-up, the grey screen with the apple flashed on and then the firmware screen came on. And from there, "mac-boot" takes me to a blank grey screen and nothing happens.

And if I hold down the option key when it's starting up, only the OSX icon appears. My back-up discs are a version of OS 9...so I think i am stuck in a rut.