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| G4 cube dual boot OS X and OS 9 |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 11:19:47
Recently I got a Mac G4 Cube with OS 10.3 installed which is working well.
Tried to install OS 9 on a second existing partition at the same hard drive from Mac G4 Cube Recovery CD.
When starting from that (OS 9) partition it take 25s with a grey screen, then 25s with a Mac with a question mark, then booting onto OS 9.1
I installed the same on a USB stick. This stick is booting into OS 9.1 without the question mark.
Did a parameter RAM reset: Mac booted into OS X partition. When switched back same procedure as before.
OS 9 driver is installed on that partition.
Firmware is 4.1.9
Selected boot device to OS X and back to OS 9: Same procedure as before.
OS X boots without question mark.
What can I do to boot into OS9 without the Mac with question mark delay? |
Posted by: finkmac on 2026-07-06 11:44:29
do you have a good PRAM battery installed? |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 11:58:03
Yes I installed a new battery before the installation. |
Posted by: treellama on 2026-07-06 12:01:42
I have had very long flashing question mark on the Cube when I had an IDE conflict between the SSD and DVD. But that would not explain Mac OS X booting quickly, would it. |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 12:19:01
OS X take some time as well (15s grey + 60s to desktop) but does not show a question mark.
There is a SSD instead of a HD build in.
How did you solve the conflict? |
Posted by: treellama on 2026-07-06 12:40:52
I don't recall the full details, but I think eventually I had to get a IDE->SATA with a master/slave jumper and set it correctly. Many of them just use cable select which the Cube doesn't like? (Or is it the other way around?)
The easiest way to rule that issue out is just to remove the DVD and try booting it that way. |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 13:26:19
The IDE to SATA adapter looks similar to that.
Jumper seems to be on "Master" position (im am not able to read without removing the adapter from the computer), which is wrong if I read right.
After changing the position OS X booted at a similar time, OS 9 did not boot at all but stuck at the question mark. 🙁 |
Posted by: treellama on 2026-07-06 13:37:45
It's weird that Mac OS X would boot at all with it set incorrectly. Cubes are weird. |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 14:06:43
Not set a jumper at all is behaving same as "Master", so no improvement but OS 9 is booting. |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-06 14:07:46
Next is to check CDROM settings. |
Posted by: Mustermann on 2026-07-10 12:17:10
It is not possible to determine the setting of the CDROM without removing it from the computer.
Meanwhile I read some other posts without a clear solution.
One of the suggestions was: An issue with the IDE to SATA adapter.
So I ordered a StarTech IDE to SATA adapter (the red one).
The adapter just arrived.
After some testing I found out that jumper on "Master" and jumper on "ADC" worked for me.
Cube is now booting into OS 9 without question mark, booting into OS X is a little bit faster, CDROM is visible in System info, so I assume this work as well.
Problem solved 🙂 |
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