Option Key Appearance

I was reading Martin Evening's book Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers. He made numerous references to a key using a symbol that looked like the letter Y lying on its side. I have no such key on my new iMac G5 20" that I bought online in the US.
I emailed the author and he said that all the Macs he has seen have that symbol on the Option key. My Option key says "option" on the bottom of the key and "alt" on the top.
Mr. Evening lives in London. Does Apple manufacture a different keyboard for England than they do for the United States?
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

If you click Finder in the Finder menu and look at
the keystroke shortcut for Hide Others, isn't that
the first symbol you see?
Yes, I see the symbol in Finder, but I don't see it on my keyboard.

Similar Messages

HT1341 what is the option key?

what is the "option key"?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
On the Mac, the Option key appears as Alt key, so you can use the Alt key you want if you see that you have to press the Option key

What's happening on my iMac? There are two choices of selected start up disks appearance without hold down option key. On the other hand, it start up normally show apple picture when I hold option key.

There are two choices of selected start up disks:Main HD and Recovery HD, appearance without hold down option key. On the other hand, it start up normally show apple picture when I hold option key.

Hi artdiva28
Welcome to Apple Discussions
First go to *System Preferences > Startup Disk* > select the *Mac OS X 10.5. on Macintosh HD* > click the Lock > hit the Restart button.
Then if the iMac is still having trouble starting up, insert your Install Disk and restart holding the Option key. In Startup Manager select the Install Disk and boot into it, choose your language, skip the Installer and go up on the menu bar to Utilities and open Disk Utility. In Disk Utility select your Macintosh HD and hit the Repair button. Once finished note any errors and what was repaired for future reference. Quit Disk Utility and restart once again holding the Option key boot back into the Macintosh HD and eject the Install Disk.
Also see > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2956
Dennis

Why my Startup Manager does not appear when I hold the Option key when starting to boot.

I no longer have the Startup Manager appearing when I hold the Option key when starting to boot.
Instead, the system just boots into whichever OS was last selected in the Startup Disk Preference.
How to get back my Startup Manager so that I can boot up from my external hard disk.
Thank you.

Can you please run the following in terminal and post the output in your reply:
diskutil list; echo; nvram -p | grep boot-args; echo

IPhoto opens but then the spinning rainbow wheel appears and I can't do anything. I have opend iPhoto with the Option key pressed and rebuilt the library and it still happens. I want to at least access my photos and copy them to an external drive.

iPhoto opens but then the spinning rainbow wheel appears and I can't do anything. I have opend iPhoto with the Option key pressed and rebuilt the library and it still happens. I want to at least access my photos and copy them to an external drive. Anyone have ideas on how to get to them?

Make a temporary, backup copy (if you don't already have a backup copy) of the library and try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
User/Home()/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
User/Home()/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
Click to view full size
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
OT

HT1310 Why wont my start up disk appear after I hold option key?

At start up I hold the option key but after waiting for a bit the only thing that appears is the arrow icon instead of the folder icon with the question mark. Im not sure what to do. this is a MacBook I purchased on 2007ish (Blk macbook) and I dont think i can find the software to restart. any suggestions?

I have heard of others with problems getting that particular drive to mount, or boot the OS; but try this: Shut down, turn everything off, and unplug everything, firewire, keyboard, mouse, AC, etc. Wait 15-20 minutes. Plug everything in again, AC power last.
Make sure your external drive is powered up, then start up your Mac; see if it will boot.

Macbook pro folder with question mark blinking appear whent I turn on, When I press the Option key Grey lock screen appear asking for a password, can anyone help me please?

Macbook pro folder with question mark blinking appear whent I turn on, When I press the Option key Grey lock screen appear asking for a password, can anyone help me please?

Provide the computer's firmware password. If you don't know what it is, contact the person you got the computer from or Apple.
(91589)

My Option key will not show me all my drives at boot up but I can see then on my desktop

I have installed a SSD in my system and can see it on my desktop but I can not get it to aper when I use the option key at startup. The drive is formatted correctly (one partition Mac OS Extended (journaled) and set the GUID Partition Table) I was able to see it last week now no way will the option key work. I even used a different key board with the same result. the purpose for the SSD I am going to install new OS on this drive.

How to choose a startup disk on your Mac - Apple Support
A "startup disk" is a volume or partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. You can set your Mac to automatically use a specific startup volume, or you can temporarily override this choice at startup.
If you do not have usable operating system on your SSD, it won't appear on the Startup Manager window.
drivemaster wrote:
Do I need to do this?
Yes, if you want to have your SSD visible on the Startup Manager screen.
How to do it. Use Recovery Partition to install OS X on SSD drive. OS X Yosemite: Reinstall OS X

I have late 2006 iMac 24" and I cannot boot it up. I have tried everything but it will only come up in safe boot. I can, at last, boot up on the option key and it now gives me the option of the Recover HD but when I select this, it still won't boot up?

When I select the Recovery drive it tries and then I can't get further than a white screen. My curser so has 2 columns of marks like a horizontal barcode. I think it's a software problem. When I boot up in safe boot, I have run the disc utility and it says the disc is fine and I have run the repair permissions but it makes no difference.

Thanks AAndy but I had read all of that and tried everything but I have no disks as I upgraded from Snow Leopard over the internet. I have my Snow Leapard box but the disk is missing so I can't use that and anyway, I can only boot up in safe boot so it wouldn't recognise the superdrive. I had a copy of the recovery on a flash but it doesn't recognise that. I have redownloaded it but cannot get it onto an external because of safe boot. I have done the following
Reset the PRam, reset the desktop.
Tried the D key - no responce
Tried opt D and Command D - no responce
Comant R, jusr R and opt R - no responce
By no responce, I mean that the wheel goes round under the apple and then it goes white - and stays like that.
The only thing that I can do, is to boot up on the option key when it give me a choice of drive. If I select Recover, wheel turns under apple - white wcreen
If I boot up on the shift key, it boots into safe mode and there it stays, quite happy surfing the internet and playing stupid Facebook games, so long as I don't want to use any search engines (none of which work (not finder, not mail, not anything) and then after a few hours of forgotton pleasure, it crashes!
The only thing I can think of to do is to redownload Lion - it appears in my purchased account in the App Store but, Sod's law, our satellite internet is not working and I don't think my phone account has enough MBs - anyone know how many Lion is?
I can't backup because I can't use an external drive and old one stopped working a few months ago, so I haven't been backing up and as this is the first problem I have ever had with my iMac in 7 years, I had got a bit comlascent! However, I am pretty certain that I can re-install Lion without wiping my hard drive - I have done it years ago with an older system and an older Mac.
Do you think that downloading Lion again and re-installing it will help? Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Thanks for responding so far.

Boot camp and windows XP..can't use the "option" key to dual boot

Hi All
I'm a Mac newbie, but I know LOTS about windows XP. I set up windows XP to run on my brand new (5 days old) macbook. I can use bootcamp to boot from OS/X to windows XP, and everything works well o both systems (I also loaded fusion, didn't like it cause I had to keep activating Microsoft Office 2007 everytime I switched from the VM to the bootcamp method of accessing XP).
My question..when I hold down the option key when I turn on the computer, only the Mac hard drive appears, not the windows...so, I boot into OS/X and then switch to windows from there. Any ideas why the option key only gives me the Mac HD option?
Thanks

In terms of AV, I'm running Mcafee AV and firewall, if that's any help knowing..I don't know if the AV changes any boot record, etc. Also, interesting when I go to the boot camp control panel when I am in windows, both "hard drives, Mac and windows" show up as folders. When I go to the control panel in the Mac OS, the Mac HD shows up as a hard drive, and the windows shows up as a folder. So...who knows!
As for using Vista vs. windows, well, I haven't worked much with Vista, but, since many of us that need windows use programs that may not reliably work with Vista, I have stuck with XP.
As for the use of Fusion, my point was this. I put the trial copy on and then loaded office 2007...each time I started the windows boot camp partition, or the fusion VM, I had to reactive Office 2007...this is a known problem in fusion VMware per their discussion board on the site. If you load fusion AND the fusion tools before activating Windows XP, then you only have to activate windows twice, once in bootcamp and once in fusion, but you have to look for the fusion tools and load them, they don't load by default.
Thanks for the OS dual boot software suggestion, I'll check it out...this is not a huge problem, but, when the Apple engineers respond to my question as "hmmm...we don't know"...I'm a bit concerned. So, as an old time windows user who just switched to Mac, my initial take it...both systems have their problems, just a different set of problems...but, so far I love my Macbook.

How do I tell if the option key is down?

I want to detect whether the option key is being held down while the gui is setting up (the option key, only appearing on macs, is roughly equivalent to the 'alt' key).
I am not having any particular events fired at this time, that I know of. How can I detect this? I searched the API and other documentation -- there was a lot of stuff on keys becoming pressed or released (which can be represented by a java.swing.KeyStroke), but I couldn't find anything to just ask whether a given key was down at a given moment. You see, the option key could very well have been held before java even started, let alone before I am ready to ask the question...

Found it, I think
e.isControlDown()

What does "option key" starting a MacBook Pro do?

My computer will not boot up. Can't get past the white apple screen.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode.* The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Shut down your computer, wait 30 seconds, and then hold down the shift key while pressing the power button.
When you see the gray Apple logo, release the shift key.
If you are prompted to log in, type your password, and then hold down the shift key again as you click Log in.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
*Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode. Post for further instructions.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 6
Boot into Recovery again. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
Step 7
Repeat step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup.
Step 8
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Option key is out of order when I want to select a boot disk

I've upgraded the OsX10.6.8.
after then, I can't boot by Bootcamp any more, because the Option key is out of order. I've tried it over 10 times. What's wrong?

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

12 hour kernel panic, resolved with option key, but why?

i have no idea why my ppc G5 failed to start this morning.
booted up last night at 10:30, read mail, went to see new video from "within temptation" emailed to me from student - also went to their website and to the site of 'nightwish"
listened to 2 samples and then went to watch 24.
shut down computer about 2am, having forgotten it was on.
it is scheduled to autoboot at 6:16am with itunes playing as my alarm.
this morning it did not complete booting before kernal panic. it would not boot
ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems, just un-updated database files. it went into kernal panic when i tried to check my other 500gig seagate drive (i have 2 internal drives) that is home to timemachine and DVD movies (250gig of each). inserted leopard disc, ran permissions and several were corrected, some would not be repaired. verified both discs - both are good.
from apple site (run from my macbook) shut down booted with 'X' pressed - no go.
then booted with 'option' key pressed, selected my hard disc and everything booted normally.....why?
as a 10yr apple user, if you can tell me why this happened &/or how i can avoid it in the future i'd really appreciate it
thankyou
DETAILS:
Tue Apr 7 16:38:59 2009
Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x400 - Inst access DAR=0x0000000005F9D000 PC=0x0000000000000000
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS version:
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:39:01 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac7,2
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0004): 0x400 - Inst access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009BCF0 0x0009C694 0x00029EA0 0x000AFC10 0x000B32F8
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
*SYSTEM CONFIG*
Model: PowerMac7,2, BootROM 5.1.4f0, 2 processors, PowerPC 970 (2.2), 2 GHz, 5 GB
Graphics: kHW_ATIrv351Item, ATY,RV351, spdisplaysagpdevice, 256 MB
Memory Module: DIMM0/J11, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM1/J12, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM2/J13, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM3/J14, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM4/J41, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM5/J42, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM6/J43, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM7/J44, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Modem: MicroDash, UCJ, V.92, 1.0F, APPLE VERSION 2.6.7
Network Service: Built-in Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
PCI Card: firewire, ieee1394, SLOT-3
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Parallel ATA Device: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D, 7.51 GB
USB Device: hub_device, (null) mA
USB Device: EPSON Scanner, (null) mA
USB Device: deskjet 5550, (null) mA
USB Device: Hub in Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: USB Receiver, (null) mA
FireWire Device: iLINK DRIVE, SONY, 400mbit_speed
FireWire Device: unknown_device, unknown_value, unknown_speed
thanks!
Message was edited by: Moderator

I have no idea what could have caused the kernel panic, how to read a back-trace, or why the problem may have corrected itself after an option-key reboot.
However, in an unrelated topic, this statement raises some concerns:
..."ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems"...
I have never used "DiskWarrior" so am not familiar with details of the versions, but if permissions were repaired while booted from the "Disk Warrior" disk (which I assume was done since the system was described as unbootable from the drive) and if the OS contained on that disk was 10.4, and if the system on the hard drive was upgraded to 10.5 from an earlier version, then it is likely that "DiskWarrior" has reset the system's permissions to 10.4 values, which are incompatible with 10.5.
Furthermore, if the SUID messages appeared as a result of such an action, "repair permissions" in 10.5 will not repair them, and the messages do not fall into the category of those that should be ignored, potentially indicating that the system is in a state with security issues. Those familiar with the command line may be able to manually correct the permissions, but otherwise, an "archive and install" is likely the only recourse.
from:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html
..."Note: If you have used any utility to repair permissions of a Leopard startup disk while started from Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, Alsoft recommends that you perform an upgrade install of Leopard over your existing Leopard install. This will restore any changed permissions to their original values without altering your data."...

Problems with using Option key when starting up

I have 3 internal drives using a PCI card (2 slots) that allows me to use large drives with more capacity than stock allowance on my G4 Quicksilver 867 mhz 1.5 GB RAM tower.
All drives are Seagate Baracudas ATA: 2-400GBs and 1-200GB. I bought the 400s at the same time.
My main drive has OSX 10.4.11 (#1), and it is backed up to Baracuda #2 (400GB) which is a slave to my Main drive (using SuperDuper All files for a mirror bootable copy). The 3rd drive has Leopard 10.5.1 for learning and trying Leopard.
On the second PCI slot is the smaller 200GB Baracuda.
After backing up using SuperDuper (Main to #2) as a mirror, I see #2 in the Apple > Prefs > Start Up Disk.
After the first backup I can see all 3 drives when using Option key at startup, but instead of seeing the names of each drive under the normal hard disk icons, #2 has a SCSI icon underneath the hard drive icon, it's name (Mac BU) is missing and I can't start up to it. The other #1 and #3 looked as expected. I chose #1, it launched, fine.
On second backup, #2 is still in Prefs > Start up Disk panel, but this time doesn't show up on when using the Option key at start up. I have replicated this, but erasing #2, rebacking up twice.
With only the #1 and #3 drives showing at start up with Option key and #1 selected in the Start up Disk panel, I chose #3 (Leopard) in the Option window view, and my G4 froze at the gray apple screen. I hard shut downed, powered up and the G4 defaulted to Main (10.4.11)
I selected #3 Leopard in Prefs > Start Up Disk, restarted OK.
I restarted with the Option key (only #1 and #3 show) and now my main drive didn't have it's name only the SCSI icon under the normal hard disk icon like #3 was doing. UGH!
Nervously, I chose #3 with Leopard and the G4 started up to it OK.
I then reselected my Main #1 drive in the Start Up Disk panel, restarted to #1 OK.
OK, problems summary:
1) I can't use SuperDuper to create a blessed bootable #2 drive at Option start up, but I mention this for more info about a possible problem at Option startup, more than I want comment on SuperDuper potential bug / conflict.
2) I didn't try choosing #3 in the Start Up Disk panel, as I was affraid the G4 would freeze and then I might not be able to select either of the other #1 or #3 at Option start up as something is wrong with using Option key start up, and #3 would have been selected in Start Up Panel, which I was afraid I might not be able to get to again.
2) When I start up either of #1 or #3, I get momentary black screens after the gray apple screen at Option key start up and then again after the apple progress bar. This doesn't happen when I start up directly either drive when the drives are selected using the Start Up Disk panel
When using the Option startup, I am experiencing the above problems.
Whew, I know, but does anyone have any input and fixes?
Thanks, in advance,
Steven

Hi Dave.
Well... good news / bad news
Turns out, I have an Acard 6280M and have 3 drives connected to it as mentioned (#1 & 2 are mirrored using SuperDuper with 10.5.1, #3 is a clean install off a new Apple OSX disk 10.5, then updated to 10.5.1)
I also have a Firewire external drive, that I used SuperDuper to make it a mirror of #1, using the same procedure backing up #1 to #2, to test SuperDuper.
The firmware update directions tells you to start up off a drive not on the PCI card, I used #4.
While running off #1, I selected #4 in the Start Up disk pref and it booted OK! This seems to rule out SuperDuper being the problem - of creating a mirror from #1 to #2 (both on the Acard) and then not seeing #2 in the Option key boot screen.
I applied the firmware, which directs you to first update the Acard driver to 2.06, which is included in the folder with the firmware updater.
I did this and then applied the firmware updater.
I then applied the driver upgrade to drives #1 and #2 (10.4.11) while running off #4. I did not apply the driver update to #3 (10.5.1) and restarted, using Option key.
All 4 drives appeared successfully on screen as expected with their names!
Then I selected each drive one by one:
#1 = kernal panic. Hard shut down, used Option key again
#2 = kernal panic, same as #1
#3 = froze at gray Apple screen - no spinning gear. Hard shut down.
Tthankfully, left Start Up disk pref to be #4 external and on restart, let the system boot off without going to the Option screen. #4 booted OK. Whew...
So all 3 drives on the Acard, won't boot. I was concerned it was the 2.06 driver, but since it wasn't applied to #3 Leopard drive, I'm assuming the firmware is the issue and perhaps not compatible with 10.4.11 or 10.5.1?
Two things I've not tried:
1) With #4 selected in Sys Prefs, then using Option key and selecting #4 there too to see if using the Option key selector is a problem too.
2) Selecting any of #1, #2, or #3 drives in Sys Prefs and restarting without Option key selector.
My fear is that if my last working drive #4 isn't the default drive set in Sys Prefs, if Acard isn't the problem alone and there is also a problem selecting any drive using the Option key - even #4, then if #4 isn't the default and all 3 Acard drives panic on regular boot (non-Option key) and I have to hard restart, will keep defaulting to whatever drive I set in the Sys Prefs and not be able to get back to #4.
Should I just go to my local computer store and see if they have a newer model PCI card and trash my existing one as I may have ruined it with the firmware updater?
Thoughts?

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