Mac double boot & problem reading cd

[adsr]

Hi,
Maybe you can help me whith a strange problems on my  Powermac 9600 (OS 9.1).
 
1/
I'm obliged  now to boot twice the mac to get to the finder, if not  got a blank screen and nothing happening.....
After this double boot, everything's ok.
2/
I got an internal cd rom (matshita cr 8024) and an external (matshita cd
 8004) ,
cd roms burned can be monted  on the external  but not in the
internal, all the olds ones can be monted on both, do you see a reason?
 
Got no solutions from any of my mac users friends or surfing the Web.

Thanks for your help
 
G Rodi

[kelly]

G Rodi. Bonjour. And welcome to the Forum.  

I believe that that is a SCSI External Drive.

If that is so, have you tried giving it a different SCSI ID number?

http://new.lowendmac.com/tech/scsi5.shtml

http://new.lowendmac.com/tech/index.shtml

[krissel]

Hi  adsr , welcome to TS!

I have the same machine running same OS.

Blank screens can signal a near dead PRAM battery or video card problem or even the computer searching for a viable system folder.

If your battery is over three years old or you have experienced any odd dates or loss of regular preferences like sound,  I would strongly suggest replacing it. Runs under $10 here in the states and is easy to do.
In the short run zapping the PRAM may give you a little time or maybe even enough to reset the memory so it will boot OK,

Have you been inside the machine lately? I would also check to make sure the video card is set snug in its slot. Do you have the original Twin Turbo? It wouldn't hurt to reset the CUDA switch (small red button near processor, hold for 20-30 seconds) if you have moved anything internally. You will have to reset some prefs on restart.

The CD-Rom is the original and should be able to read newly burned CDs if the brand of CD is a good one and the CD has been burned properly. What brand blanks are you using? I burn on an external Yamaha (on SCSI  4) and have no trouble reading the burned CDs on the internal drive. The internal should be on internal SCSI #3 while your zip is #5. That model mac has two SCSI buses, internal and external. Theoretically you can have peripherals on external numbers that are also used by the internal but I ran into a couple problems with external zips and Jaz when put on the same ID # as an internal item.

Are you closing the disk when burning or burning open sessions? Some disks are a bit  particular and not as easily read by older CD-Roms if left in open session. Again, I haven't had that problem but I use top quality blanks.

Lastly it woudn't hurt to be sure a startup disk is selected in your startup control panel so the computer isn't searching for a system. Depending on how long you waited to reboot it may have been looking and you get a blank screen.

Post back with any troubleshooting you have tried and we'll give it another shot.

[adsr]

I believe that that is a SCSI External Drive.

If that is so, have you tried giving it a different SCSI ID number?

I tried whithout the  external chain, zap the pram (the battery was changed 3 months ago)..and got the same blank screen (blank it's not really the word, it seems not initialized whith gray stripes in it) and nothing's happening till i force reboot.. than everythin's ok....

For the cd problem , i try to burn differents types of cd whith no success  .
This problem occured a few months ago..(.i don't think having changing something ... )
Before i could burn cds and  read them on the internal drive.

Thanks very much for your help

GR

[kelly]

Ok GR.  

Have you tried resetting the CUDA Switch as krissel suggested?

"The CUDA switch is a little red button that exists on some Mac motherboards The 9600 motherboard has it-obviously-and so do the PowerTower motherboards (both based on Tsunami board?). Reseting CUDA is like zapping the pram, but for the hardware. It resets the motherboard to default settings."

"On the 9600, take everything apart (be sure to stay static free!). On the motherboard, you will find the red button near the top left corner. Press and hold the button for 20 seconds."

http://www.interactivepages.com/macfreak/9...smeresetCUDA898

http://www.interactivepages.com/macfreak/M...icProblems.html

[adsr]

Hi,
Just did the CUDA switch  reset....
The first boot after that was ok , but after a shut down and a new boot the same problem occured....
It does'nt if i do a restart???
Do you see others solution?

Thanks very much

G R

[kelly]

GR. This is a tough one.  

Maybe a power supply problem or other hardware?

One thing you might try, to rule out software problems.

Try a Clean Install of the OS and see if that makes a difference.

Can you Backup all your stuff and reformat the Hard Drive?

[adsr]

I'm not gonna be there this week but next week i'll try a clean install and let you know....maybe it can solve also internal cd rom reading problem?

Thanks very much

GR

[adsr]

Clean install doesn't resolved the double boot problem... but the cd reading problem was solved by a cleaning of the internal cd rom .

G Rodi

[kelly]

Will your machine Boot properly from an OS CD now?

http://www.stanford.edu/group/partners/not...crash.html#boot

http://www.stanford.edu/group/partners/not...ml#reinitialize

http://www.stanford.edu/group/partners/not...leshootmac.html

[adsr]

Booting from a cd  was not a problem...
The double boot problem is still there, even if i boot from an external drive.
I can here the chord sound  but nothing's happening untill i force a new reboot...

Thanks for your help

GR

[kelly]

Does it Boot with the CD every time with no problem?

Are you in a position to Reformat the Drive and reinstall everything?

It might be worth it to buy another Battery. You might have an old, bad one.

It might be a bad Power Supply.

Is there a mac shop where you could take it to be checked if nothing else works?