XPostFacto Issues on a PDQ

[fredric98]

For the past week I have trying very hard to install Mac OS X onto my PowerBook G3 PDQ. I have burned 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 to verbatim brand CDs at 3x speed to make sure they are readable by the cd rom drive as I've heard that anything over 4x speed may cause issues. I currently have a 256mb Samsung brand ram stick on the bottom of the CPU since it appears to not be recognized on the top slot for some reason despite the two 32mb modules it came with worked just fine on both slots. I have a mSATA to ide adapter on the PowerBook which is small enough that it does not need to be screwed in place. Also the pram battery is dead and I heard that unplugging it can alleviate certain issues, so I unplugged it.

1. At first, when I tried to install OS 10.2 onto the SSD, it would hang at the "examining packages" screen. I was later able to get it to install when using the original hard drive.
2. OS 10.3 would also install fine, but I had forgotten that apparently you shouldn't install the 10.3.9 update or else it will crash your wallstreet, which it did after I had erronously attempted it.
3. I would switch to an ibm brand travelstar taken from a broken thinkpad t20(the motherboard was the issue and the hard drive was removed after an unsuccesful repair, and was proven to be functional as I had bakced up it's contents). I tried to install OS 10.4 on it and it would issues with the boot process multiple times with the most common errors being that in XPostFacto's window, it would say that the disk had invalid extension cache files, but it would still attempt to reboot into the installer. After booting, it would hang in the booting saying that it was "still waiting on root device". When enabling the L2 cache setting it would crash and reboot in some instances.
4. Today I went back to the original 2gb hard drive as oppoesd to the 15gb travelstar. I booted into os9 from a bluescsi this time, using a CN50 adapter on the back. The same thing happened where it was searching for the ide/01 drive, and continue to wait for the"root device" while the cd started to spin down. I tried the L2 cache again and it had kernel panic like before, but with 10.3, it would freeze when it was "testing 0xBD040000"
5. It is important to note that I was actually able to install 10.4 once, when I first used the travelstar, but afterward it would not boot into the OS after the initial success. This wouldn't happen for 10.3.

So essentually, these are the main issues

1. Installing on a hard drive or on an msata ssd, causes the cd drive to not be seen
2. When using the L2 cache, it crashes ona kernel panic
3. XPostfacto reports every cd I have used as having the "invalid extension cache files"(When I first used the travelstar, this did not happen on any cd I used, but it started to happen again after the initial 10.4 installation).

By this point in time, I am exhasuted and white tired of trying and failing, so I figured i'd ask a question. What am Idoing wrong and how can I fix this?

The Msata to ide adapter I had originally tried was this type

Mini PCI-e msata SSD to IDE 2.5 inch 5V 44pin Adapter Card | eBay

1 x Msata to IDE Converter. MPN : Does Not Apply.

www.ebay.com

I have ordered a new one which looks like this however it has not arrived yet

mSATA Mini SATA SSD to IDE 44Pin 2.5 inch Hard Disk Case Enclosure Box White ... | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for mSATA Mini SATA SSD to IDE 44Pin 2.5 inch Hard Disk Case Enclosure Box White ... at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I was considering buying a different apple rom hard drive but I'm not so sure if that will work either.

 

[Project Alice]

IDE adapters are finicy and wallstreets\PDQs like wise.
My PDQ has a triple boot of 9.2.2, Mac OS X 10.2.8, and 10.4.11. It was a bit of a process getting to that state, I don't exactly remember what it was as its been like this for a couple years at least. I know it has a hard drive in it, I don't remember what size but its at least 30GB, probably more. I'm sure I pulled it out of a Powerbook G4.

I think OS 9 and jaguar are on a single partition, if they are its under 8GB. Tiger would have the rest of the drive (Jaguar could also have its own partition, I don't remember). Either way, both would be booted via XPF using the less than 8GB partition as a "helper". Technically Jaguar is supported by Apple on these, but I've never gotten it to work on an old world Mac without XPF.

I believe the enable L2 setting applies to 3rd party upgrade cards? I might be wrong about that, but I feel like I read that at one point. Either way, mine also KP's if that setting is enabled in XPF.

I would suggest getting a known good IDE adapter (like the star tech or ableconn one), a native IDE SSD, or get a newer HDD (an IBM travelstar isn't known to be reliable anyway). Either will be overkill for the G3s bus. The issues you're having are almost certainly due to the quirkiness of oldworld G3s, and their IDE-pickyness. Your optical drive could also be on its way out. I personally never pay attention to the speed I'm burning CDs, they always just work. In fact my wallstreet has no issues with even CD-RWs. It might be the oldest Mac I own that will read those with its original drive.

 

[fredric98]

IDE adapters are finicy and wallstreets\PDQs like wise.
My PDQ has a triple boot of 9.2.2, Mac OS X 10.2.8, and 10.4.11. It was a bit of a process getting to that state, I don't exactly remember what it was as its been like this for a couple years at least. I know it has a hard drive in it, I don't remember what size but its at least 30GB, probably more. I'm sure I pulled it out of a Powerbook G4.

I think OS 9 and jaguar are on a single partition, if they are its under 8GB. Tiger would have the rest of the drive (Jaguar could also have its own partition, I don't remember). Either way, both would be booted via XPF using the less than 8GB partition as a "helper". Technically Jaguar is supported by Apple on these, but I've never gotten it to work on an old world Mac without XPF.

I believe the enable L2 setting applies to 3rd party upgrade cards? I might be wrong about that, but I feel like I read that at one point. Either way, mine also KP's if that setting is enabled in XPF.

I would suggest getting a known good IDE adapter (like the star tech or ableconn one), a native IDE SSD, or get a newer HDD (an IBM travelstar isn't known to be reliable anyway). Either will be overkill for the G3s bus. The issues you're having are almost certainly due to the quirkiness of oldworld G3s, and their IDE-pickyness. Your optical drive could also be on its way out. I personally never pay attention to the speed I'm burning CDs, they always just work. In fact my wallstreet has no issues with even CD-RWs. It might be the oldest Mac I own that will read those with its original drive.

Thanks for the help! Just bought an ableconn adapter to see how that works. I’ll update on what happens.

 

[fredric98]

The Ableconn adapter arrived, and I was able to get 10.3 panther installed on it successfully, though it took a few tries. The CD drive failed and so I had to use a disc image on a bluescsi connected to the back in order to install it using XPostFacto. Everything works fine now, which makes me quite satisfied for now. I tried to get 10.4 Tiger installed previously on the same adapter and after installing Panther, however both times it still would give me the "still waiting for root device" error or freeze in other parts of the boot up process. I feel like it has something to do with the CD. Help would be appreciated on the matter, but for now, everything else seems to be fine. I feel like It's important to note that I am installing Tiger over the current installation of Panther, using os9 to run XPF.

 

[Project Alice]

The Ableconn adapter arrived, and I was able to get 10.3 panther installed on it successfully, though it took a few tries. The CD drive failed and so I had to use a disc image on a bluescsi connected to the back in order to install it using XPostFacto. Everything works fine now, which makes me quite satisfied for now. I tried to get 10.4 Tiger installed previously on the same adapter and after installing Panther, however both times it still would give me the "still waiting for root device" error or freeze in other parts of the boot up process. I feel like it has something to do with the CD. Help would be appreciated on the matter, but for now, everything else seems to be fine. I feel like It's important to note that I am installing Tiger over the current installation of Panther, using os9 to run XPF.

I suspect that does indeed involve the CD drive. I've had that error a few times. I would just take the dead optical drive out.
Tiger may not like booting from SCSI (I honestly don't know, I've never tried). If you can source another drive for that thing that would probably be best.

Also, I have had that annoying waiting for root device error more times than I count. Sometimes, it just resolves itself and eventually works. But for now I'd just take the dead drive out and try again.