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Can't format my Mac iBook Clamshell

F

fred3rd

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
213
Location
Central Pennsylvania U.S.A.
I made the mistake of installing osX 10.1 before Classic 9.2.2. Now I can't install classic. I
can't get anything to boot so I can format and start over. I tried 9.0, 9.1, 9.2.2, 10.1 and 10.2. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If it was a Ms os issue I'd have no problem. I'm new to this side of the street, :confused:
 
If you were to yank out the hard drive, mount it in a PC and scrub the drive with DBAN,
I wonder if you could start over.
 
I was saving that as a last resort due to the difficulty of removing the hdd. I was more hoping to find a software solution or maybe a kb trick during the boot other than hitting "C" (that doesn't work either). DBAN may be an option if there is a way to boot from USB.
 
Last edited:
FWIW I had this same problem with a Beige G3. Once OSX was installed it took over the machine and I couldn't get rid of it. (Intent was to downgrade to 9.1)

I had to reset the open firmware to start over.

The procedure is:

1. Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
2. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
3. Press Return.
4. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
5. Press Return
6. type: mac-boot
 
Dutch, I tried
The procedure is:

1. Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
2. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
3. Press Return.
4. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
5. Press Return
6. type: mac-boot
Click to expand...
Numerouse times.
Every time I complete step #5, it boots into osX. I think it is possesed.
Any ideas?
 
Hello Fred,

I was in wrong about step 6. After you complete 'reset-all', your ibook will reboot if you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings, which apparently has happened. Will it now start up from a OS9 cd? ('C' key)

BTW, one thing I have done in the past to get rid of pesky OSs was to but the drive in another machine and erase it.

-Dutch
 
You can try the 'option' key. With the OS9 installer in the drive, startup with the option key held down. Some boxes will appear mid screen, one of which should be your OS9 CD. Select from there.

I forgot to ask: Are the CDs you have 'installer' or 'restore' disks?
 
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Command-option-p-r resets the nvram. Regarding removing the HDD, If you have some laptop repair experience if is perfectly doable to remove the hdd. Replace if with a bigger one while you are at it. Also, if this is the firewire model, boot it into firewire target mode and wipe the disk from another mac. Hold down T right after you power on the ibook to go into firewire target mode. Read mode here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
 
Dutch and all who posted to help me with my dilemma, Thank You so much. The post that really was a turning point came from Dutch.
You can try the 'option' key. With the OS9 installer in the drive, startup with the option key held down. Some boxes will appear mid screen, one of which should be your OS9 CD. Select from there.
Click to expand...

On Monday I removed the hdd. I then put it in my Toshiba 650ct. I formatted it with dos v6.22. Using this version on a 10gb hdd resulted in numerous partitions. I was not concerned because the goal was for the Mac to not find an os and look to the CDRom for a system. This proved fruitless though.

Tuesday I removed the hdd "again" (I'm getting good at it now). Again into the Toshiba. This time I used, "Seagate Disk Wizard", and filled the drive with no partitions. Still I couldn't get it to boot to os 9.2.2. Then I reread all post in this post and found this to do the trick...
You can try the 'option' key. With the OS9 installer in the drive, startup with the option key held down. Some boxes will appear mid screen, one of which should be your OS9 CD. Select from there.
Click to expand...
I then installed os X 10.1.

Now as I'm typing on a pc, I'm upgrading my clam shell to os 10.2. It's going well but slow, I think that's normal though.

I'm posting all this information to hopefully help someone else in this frustrating dilema.
 
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