I've got a perplexing Mac OS X boot problem, I've read about everything
I can get my hands on from the web. Thought I'd give your group a try.
Please ignore if not appropriate.

Thanks,
  Bruce Petrick


My Computer: G4 Dual 500Mhz, 384 MB RAM, 30 GB hard-drive, 8 GB free
My OS: Mac OS 9.2.2, Mac OS X 10.2.8, Open Firmware 3
My Problem: Cannot boot in Mac OS X 10.2.8 anymore
My Name: Bruce Petrick, bpetrick@charter.net

I've had this Mac for 2.5+ years, running fine. While in Mac OS X 10.2.8, I
was doing some housecleaning, in the process I was deleting all the files
from a 750MB Zip firewire drive. Had some device problems, tried another
disk, same thing. So I reinstalled the Zip250 firewire drivers. On reboot, I
could no longer get Mac OS X to boot. I am still able to boot Mac OS 9.2.2.

This problem is reproducible. I suspect either a firmware/BootROM problem,
a bad hard-drive (controller?), or corrupted files in the Mac OS X libs.
But, if firmware problem, why does 9.2.2 still boot? And if bad
hard-drive/controller why does disk check/repair all check out ok, and why
9.2.2 still boots? And if Mac OS X lib corruption, why doesn't a reinstall
of Mac OS 10.2 fix it? (I'M STUCK!!!)

Here are the details:

On the first boot failure, the following messages are on the console:

DEFAULT CATCH!, code=300 at %SRR0: 01c0cab4 %SRR1: 00003030
(...) copyright .. 2001
open firmware
use mac-boot or shut-down ...
Apple PowerMac3,3 4.2.8fl

If I do a reset using the reset button on the front of the Mac tower, I get
the same error above on reboot.

If I force a system-shutdown by holding the power key for 6 seconds, then on
power up, I see the gray Apple screen, but nothing else happens.

If I boot from CD, then back to Mac OS 9.2.2, then use Start Disk to set
startup using Mac OS X, then on a reboot I go back to the "DEFAULT CATCH"
situation. If in the DEFAULT CATCH reboot, I turn on verbose mode (cmd-V) I
see the following additional message in the boot log:

...
panice(cpu 0): Unable to find driver for this partition: "PowerMac3,3"
Latest...

Another symptom is that the Mac OS X 10.2 install disks cannot see my
hard-drive as an install partition until I first run the Disk Utilities
Fix Permissions. Even this didn't help one time.

In increasing levels of desparation, I've tried all of the following fixes
(with a reboot in between):
  * reset PRAM (Option+Cmd+R+P at boot)
  * reset from Open Firmware (reset-nvram + reset-all)
  * performed a full disk check/fix using Norton Utilities (found & fixed a
    few problems)
  * re-installed Mac OS X 10.2 from installation disk (twice)
  * ran Fix Permissions on HD from Mac OS X 10.2 install Disk Utilities
    (4 times)
  * ran Verify/Repair options to HD from Mac OS X 10.2 install Disk
    Utilities (twice)
  * removed power from Mac, removed battery for 30 minutes
  * re-applied Mac firmware update 4.2.8
  * tried booting in safe mode (Shift at chime), still only got to
    gray Apple screen

So, do I need to have my firmware reflashed, or reformat my hard-drive?