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PowerBook G3 Pismo will power, but won't boot to any OS from any drive?

D

DistantStar001

Experienced Member
Joined
May 8, 2019
Messages
270
So I have a Pismo that has an odd issue. It refuses to recognize any drive including the optical. I know the DVD Drive is good since it works in my Lombard and I can boot from a CD. I'm pretty sure that the Hard Drive and ribbon connector are good since I was able to boot into targeted FireWire mode and connect it to my G3 Desktop. From there I was able to format the drive and even install OS 9.1 from CD. However, the Pismo still won't recognize either drive and just sits there flashing its folder-question mark icon. The drives do spin up, and the DVD drive will open if I press the button on the drive. I've tried multiple drives (both optical and Hard) and two different ribbon connectors, but get the same issues. FireWire works, Hard Drives can be formatted and OS installed, but the Pismo still won't boot an OS.

Both PowerBooks are junk machines I got from my local recycler and have been trying to piece together, but the Pismo has been the real stumper.

Side note: sadly, I cannot test the Hard Drive in the Lombard as I do not have a working ribbon connector for that machine. It's the one thing keeping me from a working laptop and so far, all the parts machines I've come across either had the same issue or were missing their drives and ribbons altogether. If anyone knows of someone who makes a replacement, I'd appreciate it (but then, I'm probably not the only one).
 
Are you using a universal install CD or some sort of restore disc? I assume you know about needing to hold down 'C' or use some other key combo to boot from the optical drive?

Is it possible that your hard disk is failing or that the OS install needs something special done to get the Pismo to boot from it?
 
Istarian said:
Are you using a universal install CD or some sort of restore disc? I assume you know about needing to hold down 'C' or use some other key combo to boot from the optical drive?
Click to expand...
I'm using a standard Mac OS 9.1 general install disk. And yes, I do need to hold C to boot from it. It is the disk I used to boot my Lombard and I even used it to put an operating system on my G3 Desktop and at least two of my Wallstreets, so I know it works.

Istarian said:
Is it possible that your hard disk is failing or that the OS install needs something special done to get the Pismo to boot from it?
Click to expand...
I don't think so. As I said, I've already managed to reformat and install an OS on it (with the same OS 9 CD). Also, it's not just this HD. I've tried two others, and the DVD drive isn't loading either.
 
So you only tried a single OS, which was 9.1. This is not what "won't boot to any OS" means to me. Try MacOS X 10.1/2/3/4, as these will run on the Pismo.

If this won't work either, chances are the IDE controller is faulty.
 
Timo W. said:
So you only tried a single OS, which was 9.1. This is not what "won't boot to any OS" means to me. Try MacOS X 10.1/2/3/4, as these will run on the Pismo.

If this won't work either, chances are the IDE controller is faulty.
Click to expand...
To be fair, these laptops shipped with 9.0.2 installed and are supposed to support OS X through 10.4.11(albeit a firmware update might be needed).

It's not unreasonable to think that Mac OS 9.1 or 9.2 should install and run just fine on them.

The difficulty with both the optical drive and the hard disk does point to potential problems with the IDE controller. But rushing to assume that the controller itself has to be faulty is a bit of a leap.

Is that known to be a specific issue for these members of the PowerBook G3 family?
 
Timo W. said:
So you only tried a single OS, which was 9.1. This is not what "won't boot to any OS" means to me. Try MacOS X 10.1/2/3/4, as these will run on the Pismo.

If this won't work either, chances are the IDE controller is faulty.
Click to expand...
Alright. That worked. I was able to get it to boot with a 10.1.3 CD and installed the new OS. However, it won't dual boot. Classic works, but it immediately asked if I wanted to update to 9.2. I was hoping to make this an OS 9 machine. Is there a reason it won't boot to that OS? Would installing 9.2 help?
 
The fact that OS X works does suggest that the firmware on the machine was upgraded at some point in the past. I think the System Profiler (or whatever it's called on these versions) should report which version of
the firmware is installed.

I don't know much of the details, but during this era there were machine-specific install/restore discs for some version of Mac OS 9 as well as "universal" install discs (usually a retail copy not bundled with a system). Supposedly people have run other versions of Mac OS 9 on the Pismo models, but there could be some niche detail we're missing here.

You can try the "universal" install media for 9.2.1 or 9.2.2 that are found on Macintosh Garden, but you'll have to get them onto a CD first.

P.S.



^ restore disc images for 9.0.2, an installer disc for 9.0.4, and

P.P.S

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PowerBook G3 PISMO Firmware Issue - PowerBook

Hi, I would like to know how can I flash the firmware on my PowerBook G3 PISMO if I am encountering the following problems. So, I bought parts for it like an HDD cable, RAM, and a new charger after not using my machine for over 10 years. After all the parts arrived I tried to boot it, but...
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The response given on this page is a little hard to follow, but it sounds like v4.1.8f5 had some issues that caused Apple to suggest, at the time, that users revert to v4.1.8.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all. It took me a while, but I managed to get both OS X and 9.2.1 working as a dual boot system. I did have some issues getting it to accept files from a USB in OS X, but that was a formatting issue. In any case, it's working now. I even managed to find a new LCD and the battery even holds a charge. Still, don't trust the PRAM battery though.

My next step will be the wifi, but that's another post for another time. Thanks again for all the help.
 
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