MacBook won't boot off Firewire drives

i just got a MacBook and couldn't be more pleased but i just tried to use the Firewire drive to boot from but it doesn't show up as option for restart. the drives( i tried two) are loaded with 10.4.10 and show up on the desktop and work fine but it's odd the Mac won't boot from them. had no issue connecting to my Pismo. both show up as start up discs. i looked in the forums but didn't see this issue brought up. a little help please.

Paul Roese1 wrote:
Does this mean i have to (can i?) install Tiger from my MB's discs on to a connected firewire drive and it can then be used as a start up drive for the unit? Thanks much.
Yup. Alternatively, you can 'clone' the MB's internal hd to the external firewire hd. Two of the most widely used methods of achieving this are:
1. Carbon Copy Cloner - http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
2. SuperDuper! - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Kryten

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Old G4 won't boot from firewire drive

I have an older 400 MHz G4 running 10.3.9 and 10.1.5 which will not boot from a firewire system volume. Two system volumes (10.4) on the external drive appear as start up disk choices in the system preferences, but when selected the system displays a folder w/? upon restart and then the system boots from an OS 9 partition on one of the machines internal drives. This happens when the system is restarted from either of the computers boot partitions (10.3.9, 10.1.5). Don't know if this is a software or a hardware problem. Holding down the option key upon restart, even without the external OS 10.4 drive, produces same behavior. System info identifies the machine as a G3 but processor type as G4. It is one of the graphite colored Power Macs.
Any insights appreciated.

The G4 PCI graphics PowerMac can not boot off a Firewire hard drive. Check which G4 model you have here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418
The G4 AGP and the iMac DV were the first Macs to be able to boot off Firewire.
It is interesting your Mac identifies itself as a G3. Now it is true that the early G4s were basically a G3 with a slightly modified logicboard and front and side panels (as well as the omission of the ADB port). But there are G4s inserted in some old Blue and White G3s by adventurous upgraders. The Blue and White G3 pictured here can't boot off Firewire either:
That Mac also can't boot off Firewire.

K8n won't boot off ATA drive

So with all this talk of unlocked SATA busses limiting o/c, and my frustration getting the bus over 240 with 5:6 (or even 2:3), or 225 with 1:1 I thought I'd give using an old ATA drive a shot.
But the board won't boot off it.
I've tried several installs of XP, formated clean for fat or ntfs, clean or quick, each time after windows copies over all the files and does it's first reboot, the board can't find the OS on the HD.
NTFS and FAT give slightly different error messages but the error is something like can't find operating system, or bad operating system.
Not your can't find ntldr or anything that would look software related.
I even moved the hd from the computer back to my main rig after one of these installs, and it went right into the install program where it shoulld have been.
!!

Quote
Originally posted by sotti
yeah I ain't no newb.
wasn't ment personally, it's just that you can never tell for certain on forums
Quote
Originally posted by sotti
I'm on primary master in this box, I rejumpered the drive for my main box as it's a secondary slave there.
2nd boot device is set to HD (after floppy #1) and in the HD boot order menu it shows only this drive and external card.
It's completely bizarre
well it seems more people have these problems. Since I haven't tried yet I wouldn't know what's the trick behind this. Will let ye know more in 2 weeks orso when my exams are past tense

Won't boot as firewire drive?

Hey guys,
So I've read through every post on a ton of websites about this problem and nothing I tried worked. Today I started my computer up as an external firewire drive (holding 't' as it was booting) and it worked normal. However, several hours later I tried it on another computer and for some reason it didn't show up on the other computer. I restarted it and tried it again - no luck. I disconnected the cables and then just booted up like normal and all of a sudden my Macbook Pro took like 1 min longer to boot up than normal (1 min 52 sec). Also, my computer wouldn't shut down - it got stuck on my bg after clearing the finder.
I proceeded to follow all of the advice I found online: I reset the PRAM and SMC (taking out the battery, disconnecting the power cord, holding power button for 7 s, reconnecting everything), deleted the cache in my home/library/cache, and even repaired the disk and disk permission via the install disk (also repairing disk permission after booting up to see if that would do anything). Somewhere along the way my computer decided that it could now shut down normally (well - it turns off within like 5 - 7 seconds but if I close the lid the little sleep light remains on for another 10...is that normal?) - but I still have the two problems: slow startup and not showing up as an external firewire drive on another computer.
Anyone have any ideas - or do I totally have to reinstall Mac OS X?

So tried the previous post and it didn't work. I got fed up so I did an archive install of Leopard using the install disc and the problem STILL won't go away...what else can I possibly do? I thought that was the last resort? Thanks...

Another annoying "won't boot off firewire" thread

OK, I work at a small charter school with only a single Intel Xserve ("late 2006" model 1,1).
We have an external GRaid firewire 800 hard drive (this has RAID 0 internally, but appears to the computer to be a single drive). This boots the Xserve just fine when hooked to USB, but won't boot the Xserve when attached via firewire (either 800 or 400). I'm at a loss here, because the drive is supposedly firewire bootable. I do have the drive partitioned, it is GUID, and I've created and booted from many partitioned external drives in the past (although I have never booted this Xserve from external firewire - this is the first time I've tried it with this machine).
I have a keyboard and monitor actually hooked to the Xserve for now, so I can easily select the "option" key at bootup method and simply select my boot disc. This drive does not show up when hooked up to firewire, but shows up immediately when hooked to USB (but this is far too slow for our purposes).
What am I missing? (besides my brain, that is...)
Thanks.

Turns out the drive manufacturer was simply lying. I called them directly and they tried to give me the runaround about them "not supporting the Xserve" and that I would have to call Apple. At any rate, their attitude demonstrated quite quickly that they knew perfectly well the drive wasn't actually firewire bootable. Too bad as the device was nicely made and very fast on firewire 800. It has been exchanged at the place of purchase for a different firewire 800 drive which is bootable and works perfectly.
Thanks for trying to help out.
(And yes, I'm familiar with all popular RAID configurations. The purpose of fast drive was specifically to maintain a high-speed bootable clone, so when one of the drives in the raid 0 fails I can quickly switch over to booting from the external device. We also maintain both on-site and off-site backups. Would love to set them up with a RAID 5 or high-capacity mirrored array on 10k drives, but when working in the education environment, one often has to make due as best as possible with limited funding.)

Mac Pro won't boot if firewire drives attached

New Mac Pro (OS X 10.4.8) won't boot if my two daisy-chained LaCie hard drives are attached (firewire 800).
I can upnplug 'em and the computer cranks right up; can then plug the drive back in and everything's fine. Wazzup?
Thanks, Bob
Mac Pro 2.66 Mac OS X (10.4.8) User since Apple IIe

Similar problem with iMacG5 - if two firewire drives on bus wouldn't boot. Worked with one but erratic, also long delays opening files, finder erratic and hanging. Decided it was probably a chipset problem with the firewire bus. Since upgrading firewire enclosures problem gone away (I hope). How old are the drive enclosures. Oxford911 firewire bus has some problems with newer macs and OS. May get information on bus in "about this mac/moreinfo/firewire", or in disk utility window ("applications/utilities/disk Utility") WHEN computer is booted up with drives running.
OK, a Plug for Macpower's IceCube enclosures, bloody expensive but since I upgraded no problems. Also wiebetech.com have some cool stuff including internal SATA adaptors/cages etc.for older G5's and dual cores

Macbook won't boot from Hard Drive of Disc Drive!

So I bought a Macbook (Mid-2010) from a friend recently and I can't seem to get it to boot from the hard drive or optical drive. At first I tried booting from the HD it already had and when I didn't have any luck, I went out and bought a new one. It still won't boot. I'll turn it on, it'll chime and will try to load, and then I'll get the "You need to restart your." message. I've tried booting from disc (Leopard & Snow Leopard) and will still get the same message. I have also tried all possible startup key combinations and haven't had any luck. I don't have the original DVD it came with. So was wondering if any of you guys out there have experienced this. I would like to hear your tips before I go to an Apple Store and see if they can get it fixed for me.

"You need to restart your." message
That is referred to as a "kernel panic"...
Try here > Tutorial: Avoiding and eliminating Kernel panics | MacFixIt - CNETReviews
I don't have the original DVD it came with
You will need those discs. Replacement disc(s) from Apple: You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
You can check the startup disk using the Disk Utility application located in /Applications/Utilities if you can boot in Safe Mode, but you cannot make repairs without the install disc.

My Macbook Won't boot from USB drives

Alright. Seems that ever since I've upgraded to Mountain Lion, I keep having one problem after the next. It's probably my fault, but I've been doing nothing I would think to be wrong...
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So, what did I break that made it so only OS X will start up and no other bootable drives?

Week 2, this problem still occuring. Would be nice if this support forum actually offered support...

Re: Old G4 won't boot from firewire drive

I am having the same problem with one I just received today. I have the AGP one but it will not but off of the firewire drive. Any insights on this?

Hi, stupidipodnano -
Okay -
The firewire drive shows on the desktop, so there is nothing wrong with the Mac's hardware or the hardware for the drive.
The drive's size, and the OS on it, are not incompatible (OS 9 can not boot from volumes larger that 200GB, but neither of those conditions pertain here).
That leaves the issue of the installation of the OS.
• If the OS (OSX 10.4.x) was installed while the drive was connected to a different model Mac, it is probably a model-specific install of the OS, and thus not capable of booting a different model.
• If the OSX Install CD used is one that came with a different model, and not a retail one, that, too, would result in a non-bootable OS. The disks that come with a Mac are model-specific to that particular model and its hardware.
• If the OS was copied from another source, rather than actually installed using the installer program, that, too, usually results in a non-bootable installation.
What format is the firewire drive? You can determine that by doing a Get Info on the icon of the mounted drive.
Did you reformat (initialize) the drive after gettting it? ...or did you go ahead and use it 'as-is' as soon as you got it? If you did not re-initialize it, it would be a good idea to do so. Note that this will erase everything on the drive.

Boot Off Firewire Drive

My internal Superdrive is dead so I always use my external Firewire drive. Well I need to run Disc Utility and it says I should reboot of my OS disc but my internal Superdrive is dead so can I reboot off my external Firewire drive? If so how do I do this? My external drive is a Pioneer DVR-111D if that matters.

Aswell as the Macintosh HD option there should be another box appear with the external drive there. I assume that the external drive works well if you boot into OS X normally(?)
What kind of OS disc is it that you're using? Is it a retail one or the one that came with your iMac?
Try booting holding Option-Command-Shift-Delete this tells the Mac to ignore it's primary start-up volume and look for another.
mrtotes

Black MacBook won't boot off OS Install Disc!

Hi all,
Just wanting to help out a friend here (who is not really knowledgeable in the area of fixing Mac faults)
The product in question is a Black MacBook (MacBook4,1) - 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM. He had previously had the factory standard 250GB installed in the Macbook.
The MacBook had functioned normally until one day it had crashed. Upon a hard reset (ie using the Physical Power Button on the MacBook), the OS would not boot - a grey screen would appear with an Apple Logo, fans blowing at full speed. Diagnostics (AHT) using the Applications Disc would not boot either.
The following have been attemped, with no success in booting to the OS Disc:
* Clearing the PRAM
* Clearing the NVRAM
* Booting the OS Disc from another MacBook connected via Firewire (ie Target Disc Mode)
* Reseating the RAM Modules
* Using only one RAM Module
* Using a different (working 80GB) Hard Drive
* Repartitioning the 'different' Hard Drive (using a GPT Scheme / MBR Scheme)
* Booting into Single User Mode (Command-S) - would hang at the Grey Screen on boot
* Booting into Verbose Mode (Command-V) which hangs at 'appleintelcpupowermanagementclient'
Unfortunately the product is now out of the window of the standard 12 month AppleCare warranty provided as standard on MacBooks. I am now stuck in a rut, as I did promise him that 'it will be fixed'!
Would appreciate your thoughts.

Did you call Apple and ask for replacement disks (giving them your serial number)?
If not, and if you purchased the retail version at the Apple store online, then you may have a version that is older than what yours came with. And, macs cannot boot from an OS older than what they came with. I believe the latest retail version is 10.6.3 and yours might have had 10.6.4 or higher. You might want to check on your model to get the exact OS version; you may need to call Apple and request replacement disks.

MacBook won't boot from hard drive or CD

My MacBook will not turn on. When the power button is pressed the chime sounds as normal and the grey screen appears but it will not go any further. It also refuses to boot from a CD when c is held down. The CD spins up but it does not load. The computer was water damaged in December and this killed the hard drive but I replaced it and it worked fine again for about a month. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for the advice, doesn't seem to have worked though.

9.1 won't boot from FireWire drive on an iMac g3 and iBook g3.

hi, I have a very old powermac 6500/250, I just wiped it and installed mac os 9.1 it boots fine in the powermac, but when in the FireWire/USB encloser I get the floppy with a ? Mark.
the encloser boots with mac os x. Is mac os 9 not bootable with FireWire?

Sorry, if it is not retail, or isn't the installer disc that shipped with the Mac, or an up to date program, then it is illegal. We can't help you there. Please read the terms of use on the right. Get a legal licensed copy of Mac OS 9 if you want to install 9.
System specific disks can only install on the Mac models they shipped with.
Retail disks can only install on Mac models older than them.
Update disks can only install on the immediately previous version, on Macs made available new just upon the release of that operating system.

Startup Problem, won't boot off hard drive from earlier Mac.

A while back I had an Intel mac and I loaded and installed all of my apps onto the hard drive. I then sold that Intel but kept the drive and continued to work on my G5 quad for a while.
I intended on installing the hard drive from the first Intel machine in the next one I got. Now I just got a 2X2.26 Quad Core which boots up fine with the disk it came with. When I try to boot up the machine on the previous Intel drive (it has 10.5.3 on it and it shows up in startup disk in sys prefs) all I get is the light gray screen but no apple logo. It just stays like that.
I have repaired the permissions with disk utility and it seems all is well. I would love to be able to just boot up with that disk as it's authorized and it would save me days of installing and authorizing software.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

Following this link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159
Looks like you need 10.5.6 at least.

My G4 won't boot off a firewire drive cloned from properly-booting drive

I've got a G4 that normally boots 10.3.9 off an external firewire drive. I cloned the drive onto a WesternDigital "MyBook" external hard drive, and connected it via firewire 400. I cloned the 10.3.9 boot drive using SuperDuper to a partition on this drive. But, the G4 refuses to boot off it when I choose it as a startup disk. I see (very briefly) the following
....couldn't read it.... @d/mac-io@7/ata-4@1f000/disk@0:5,\\:tbxi
anyone know what this is, why it won't boot off the clone, and how I can check whether the drive contains a proper 10.3.9 system and is set to be bootable?
Mike

Hi Mike-
How did you know?
I "Googled" it. It's been reported many times, and is included in a couple of reviews.
Problem is, "bootable" can be claimed in Mac's, as it will boot with Intel machines.......
Don't ya' just hate that?????
This review is from a writer for Mac-Centric.

MacBook won't boot off Firewire drives

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