Firewire on Blue&White G3/300

reeserv · 12-11-2004, 02:09 PM

I'm trying to clone a lab of G3 B&W towers. I'm using Carbon Copy Cloner and NetRestore from Mike Bombich. the computer I created the asr_disk image from was one of the G3s that I had updated and set up just the way I wanted all of the others to be. I repaired permissions befor creating the image and ran /sbin/fsck -y from single user mode. The image is on a bootable LaCie 120 GB hard drive that has had their latest firmware update.
When I attach the FW drive to another computer and start it, I hold down the "option" key on the keyboard which should let me choose which system to boot from. Well, this didn't work so I let it boot and went to system preferences and selected the FW as the Start Up., clicked restart. Now the computer comes up with the flashing ? for a few seconds and then boots to the original system on the HD. I let it boot, the FW shows up on the desktop, I can see all contents including the asr image.
I tried on four different computers computers with the same result.
Any Idea why I can't boot from this Firewire drive? Oh, it was booting when I was using it the day befor cloning some G3 iMac/700 DVs.

voldenuit · 12-11-2004, 02:29 PM

Perhaps this thread can be helpful:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...+firewire+boot

It could be a good idea to make sure the OpenFirmware on the G3s is up to date, I think they were still fixing quite some FW-stuff.

These G3s don't have the boot-menu, it was introduced later.

Craig R. Arko · 12-11-2004, 02:34 PM

The Blue and White G3 can't boot from a FireWire device, a trait people say it shares with its close cousin the "Yikes" G4.

It's the only complaint I've had with the model.

DeltaMac · 12-11-2004, 03:34 PM

I'll echo that. The B&W can't boot from a FireWire device.
You could check to see if your B&W will allow 2 hard drives attached to the IDE bus. One way to tell is the U-bracket for the IDE hard drive. If this has the tall sides to allow a 2nd drive, then you can add your cloning drive as a Slave, Boot to that and Clone back to the master drive. When complete, pull the 2nd drive, and move to the next computer. Hope this helps you!

reeserv · 12-11-2004, 06:29 PM

Thanks everyone for the information.
I'll look to see if they will accept a 2nd HD. If that doesn't work, I'll borrow a skateboard from a student and wheel the master around the room, only have a 6 foot cable.

NovaScotian · 12-12-2004, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig R. Arko


	The Blue and White G3 can't boot from a FireWire device, a trait people say it shares with its close cousin the "Yikes" G4. It's the only complaint I've had with the model.

Just to complete this thought (as a B&W G3/ZIFfed to 1100 owner), these machines will not recognize the Option key on boot either, so you cannot dynamically choose your startup disk. If you have a broken system, it's best to boot from the OS 9 CD (which is fairly brisk), and choose your alternate Startup Disk from there (which cannot be a Firewire, as Craig says).

12-11-2004, 02:09 PM	#1
reeserv Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2003 Location: Saint Petersburg, FL Posts: 399	Firewire on Blue&White G3/300 I'm trying to clone a lab of G3 B&W towers. I'm using Carbon Copy Cloner and NetRestore from Mike Bombich. the computer I created the asr_disk image from was one of the G3s that I had updated and set up just the way I wanted all of the others to be. I repaired permissions befor creating the image and ran /sbin/fsck -y from single user mode. The image is on a bootable LaCie 120 GB hard drive that has had their latest firmware update. When I attach the FW drive to another computer and start it, I hold down the "option" key on the keyboard which should let me choose which system to boot from. Well, this didn't work so I let it boot and went to system preferences and selected the FW as the Start Up., clicked restart. Now the computer comes up with the flashing ? for a few seconds and then boots to the original system on the HD. I let it boot, the FW shows up on the desktop, I can see all contents including the asr image. I tried on four different computers computers with the same result. Any Idea why I can't boot from this Firewire drive? Oh, it was booting when I was using it the day befor cloning some G3 iMac/700 DVs. __________________ reeserv

12-11-2004, 06:29 PM	#5
reeserv Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2003 Location: Saint Petersburg, FL Posts: 399	Thanks everyone for the information. I'll look to see if they will accept a 2nd HD. If that doesn't work, I'll borrow a skateboard from a student and wheel the master around the room, only have a 6 foot cable. __________________ reeserv

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12-11-2004, 02:29 PM	#2
voldenuit Hall of Famer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Old Europe Posts: 4,969	Perhaps this thread can be helpful: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...+firewire+boot It could be a good idea to make sure the OpenFirmware on the G3s is up to date, I think they were still fixing quite some FW-stuff. These G3s don't have the boot-menu, it was introduced later.

12-11-2004, 02:34 PM	#3
Craig R. Arko Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,965	The Blue and White G3 can't boot from a FireWire device, a trait people say it shares with its close cousin the "Yikes" G4. It's the only complaint I've had with the model.

12-11-2004, 03:34 PM	#4
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,998	I'll echo that. The B&W can't boot from a FireWire device. You could check to see if your B&W will allow 2 hard drives attached to the IDE bus. One way to tell is the U-bracket for the IDE hard drive. If this has the tall sides to allow a 2nd drive, then you can add your cloning drive as a Slave, Boot to that and Clone back to the master drive. When complete, pull the 2nd drive, and move to the next computer. Hope this helps you!