The 6400 Zone - OS 9.2.x info

9/2/2001 OS 9.2.1 ships but, should we use it?: I downloaded and installed it on my B&W G3 and the install went very smooth. I don't notice much difference from OS 9.1 but I suspect, as Apple has stated, that many of the changes are for use as Classic under OSX. But, and this is a big BUT, OS 9.2.1 is not supported on Macs older then the Beige G3 :( It is supported on Mac OSX supported systems only. Many people have tried to install it on older Macs and they then get an error that the system is not compatible with there Mac. I hear if you remove the 9.2.1 system file and replace it with the 9.1 system file that it will boot OK. But most all these people had to trick the installer to make it think it was installing on a real G3 Mac and not an older upgraded Mac. Another trick is to use Tomeviewer to extract all the files and drag and drop them where they belong.

Still, even after all of this, there are reports that the system is very unstable and several people have reverted back to OS 9.1. For those that stick with 9.2.1 even on supported Macs, they report many issues with sleep, MS Office, third party utilities, HD utilities, and so on. For a minor update, according to Apple, this one seems just as big as going from 8.1 to 8.5 or from 7.5.5 to 8.0.

Personally I only intend to use it on my B&W G3 till an issue with the new iBooks is resolved. It turns out that 9.2.1 will not allow new iBook to run with an external monitor attached and the lid closed. This worked fine in OS 9.1. I have no plans on placing 9.2.1 on my 6400. It seems that 9.2.1 is very finicky and reminds me of the OS 7.6 and 8.0 days where 6400's just became unusable!

So, should you upgrade? I have to say no. Since OSX will not run on our Macs and Apple intended OS 9.2.1 to be a better classic layer, there really is no reason to install it on older Macs. OS 9.0.4 is going to be the last OS on my 6400 it seems ( I would use 9.1 but I hear lots of issues with AppleShareIP 6.3.3 and OS 9.1 so I am sticking with 9.0.4 and ASIP 6.3.2 which get along just fine. My 6400 has become the family file server and web server).

I know this is going to upset a lot of people as it does me but Apple has to move on to get OSX running or they might as well just stop everything!

9/14/2001 OS 9.2.1 on a 6500 works with hacks used!: Tupring sent me a bunch of info how to install OS 9.2.1 on a 6500. He has it running right now and reports its stable. Thanks Tupring. He also sent some links to patches that change the installer .smi file and then the new 9.2.1 system file. More on these after his comments below.

[Just incase you care, I'm running OS 9.2.1 with no problems following the directions on the MacFixIt forums, I was keeping up with the forum from the beginning, they figured the hack out only four hours after 9.2.1 was available for d/l.

I used the gestalt hack and the ResEdit hacks before the patch was made. I'm running 9.2.1 system suitcase/system resources with the 9.2 finder. Everything is much faster than 9.1 and very stable. I haven't had my system this stable in a long time.

The 9.2 finder was installed with 9.2.1 and it's working because of the ResEdit hack, which is now available as a patch on a couple websites. I didn't use the patch as it wasn't made yet. Here's the patched resources. Just use machid to change your machine id to 510 and then the mac OS 9.2.1 update will run and install. Restart from a CD and use ResEdit to replace the resources in the system suitcase with the patched ones. That's it.

Two different people made similar patches that pretty much do the same thing.

http://homepage.mac.com/scottboone/FileSharing.html

http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html

One of the patches is for the updater itself so that it will launch on unsupported Macs, but during the install process it still quits if you don't use machid and change the machine id to 510 so the patch is pretty much pointless and not needed. machid and the other patch worked fine for me.]

The original hack posted on MacFixIt was to either use tomeviewer to extract all the files from the 9.2.1 install file and drag them to your system folder and then leave the 9.1 system file in your system to make a new hybrid system that would boot. Then they found that using an app like MachID, that can change what the installer thinks your Mac model is, worked for the installation but you then still needed to replace the 9.2.1 system file with your older 9.1 system file for your Mac to boot.

Now they seem to have patcher apps that take care of all of this so there is no need to use MachID or replace the 9.2.1 system file anymore. Tupring suggests that the MachID app is still needed as it did not work in his case so your mileage may very with that patch. The 9.2.1 system file patch seems to be working fine for him though. I don't know how it was made but I suspect some smart Mac user figured out exactly which resources caused the issues with older Macs and made a patcher that replaces them with older resources from possibly the 9.1 system file. If this is so, you are still running a hybrid system but no as much as it would have been if you replaced the entire system file with an older version. I hope that was to wordy :)

The first link posted above has the installer patcher and the system file patcher. The second link has just the system file patcher but also has a system file patcher for NUBUS Macs! Very nice :)

I have posted all the needed patches, plus instructions on how to use them, to help make the update easier :) You will need Stuffit Expander version 5 or higher to extract them.

I won't be trying this update as my only 6400 is used as a file/web server and the server software won't work in anything newer then OS 9.0.4 :( So I will depend on my readers for 9.2.1 experiences on a 6400/6500. Please email me any experiences you have in trying OS 9.2.1 on your system. Thanks.

OS 9.2.1 on a 6400 with same hacks: Another reader who wishes to remain anonymous, said the hacks posted on the web worked very well for him. Thanks for the info. He has instructions on installation which are very similar to the ones I posted but have a few extra details so I left them in.

[Dear Tom:
I read carefully all the postings of the thread "9.2 Running on 6400" in your outstanding Forum and I have some comments to do.

At this very moment my 6400 is running 9.2.1 with no problems! Not the hybrid stuff that "Apple II Forever" described in the above mentioned thread, but true 9.2.1 with Kenny's "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" applied to the 9.2.1 System File.

My computer is a Performa 6400/180 with 136 MB of RAM, Sonnet L2 G3 400/1MB, internal IDE Seagate 40 GB HD, external SCSI 1 GB Micronet HD, Realtek Fast Ethernet (10/100) PCI Card, ADS USB Dual Port Card, Logitech USB Wheel Mouse, HP Deskjet 970 Cxi Printer and external Yamaha CRW6416SX CD-RW drive.

As you can see, my 6400 is pulled nearly to the maximum and I would like to try Mac OS X as soon as possible, even though I understand the post of Erik about trying to run OS X on a computer with only 136 MB RAM.

Notwithstanding the numerous issues reported on Macfixit Forum about 9.2.1, my 6400 is running 9.2.1 since Aug, 28 in a very stable manner and with an overall performance that is similar to 9.1. All the hardware behaves well, but I didn't yet try to burn a CD-ROM. I tried Microsoft Office (except Entourage), Eudora 5.1, Photoshop 4.0 LE, Fine Reader and other software with no glitches.

I am writing to you because your postings about 9.2.1 denote a pessimistic feeling about having OS X on 6400 (as far as I know, to run Classic on the new version of OS X will need 9.2.1).
If you want to try 9.2.1 on one of your 6400s it should be very easy for you, as probably your HDs have multiple partions. The procedure I used is the following:

1- Get "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" from http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html.
2- Boot your computer from a 9.1 partition.
3- Perform a clean install of 9.1 in another partition
4- Use GestLab or MachIDWannabe to change the real MachID of your computer to the ID of a supported computer (510 should do the trick).
5- Run the 9.2.1 Updater to update the system installed in 3. Contrary to what you can read on Macfixit Forum or in http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OS9/os_9_2_1_install_mods.html, there is no need to patch the installer. {patching the installer is supposed to make it work without needing MachID or some other similar app - Tom} If you are planning to use a CD-RW drive with 3rd party software (like Toast) perform a custom install of 9.2.1 and *do not* install Disk Burner.
6- Quit the installer without restarting the computer (as far as I can remember it is not necessary to perform a force quit)
7- Use Kenny's "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" to patch you updated System file.
8- Use Startup Disk Control Panel to choose the updated system.
9- Reboot.

As you can read in Mafixit Forum, 9.2.1 seems to be very reactive to old preferences files, those ones you are going to drag from other system folders to try you software ;-). If you have time enough, it is better to install your software using the installer programs.

And that's all. I hope you find some use for this e-mail, i.e., you can trash it or publish it in part or in all. Is this case, I only beg you one thing: do dot publish my real identity because I am very zealous of my privacy.
Greetings.]

9/29/2001 OS 9.2.1 user letters: Here are a few letters I have received from 6360-6400 owners that have installed OS 9.2.1 with one of the hacks available. Thanks for the info guys :)

[Tom,
A week ago I downloaded and installed 9.2.1, patching it with Kenny's Old World patch. This is the most stable system I have ever had. It seems to be much faster and responsive than 9.1 was for me. So far, every app I have tried has run without any problems. here is my System configuration:

Performa 6400/200
Sonnet L2 240/512 overclocked to 300Mhz
104 megs of RAM
Voodoo3 2000
USR 56K V.90
Maxtor 15 Gig, 7200 RPM drive Divided into two equal partitions.

Marty

Tom,
In my original e-mail, I forgot to add some information. When I installed OS 9.2.1 and restarted, I got a totally black screen. I tried starting from the OS 9 CD and a Zip disk with OS 9.0.4 and still got the same black screen. Oh no! I've hosed my 6400, I thought. Then I had an idea. I zapped the PRAM. Fortunately it worked. The problem may have been related to the fact that I have a 3DFX Voodoo3 2000 PCI video accelerator card installed. I hope this will help others who are having problems with the install.
Regards,
Marty]

[I've got OS 9.2.1 up and running on my Performa 6360. I have a Sonnet L2/G3 upgrade and all seems to be working well.

I used a SCSI backup drive as the startup disk to perform the installation on the main hard drive, and had to use the resedit hacks to modify the system file, as the patch wouldn't work. Then I changed the startup disk to the main hard drive and restarted, but had to zap the PRAM before I could get the machine to boot up at all; it wouldn't even recognize the SCSI backup drive or the internal CD drive.
Don

I downloaded the "OS 9.2.1 Update .smi" file and applied the "Update to Mac OS 9.2.1" patch as instructed and it worked. I restarted and booted from the OS 9 CD and ran the "System 9.2.1 patch". When I clicked on the new installer Icon, it began to try to install, but then I got an error message that there was not enough memory and I needed an additional 2 gigabytes of memory in order to complete the installation! I checked the memory control panel and the memory allocations and couldn't find the problem. I didn't get this message when I ran the same patch to do the installation on a Lacie external drive.

Since the patch wouldn't work, I used ResEdit to hack the system file, then changed the startup disk to the internal hard drive and restarted. I got the startup chime, but the monitor screen stayed black and the green light on my Mac didn't light up. I tried to do another restart, but got no response so I unplugged the machine and plugged it back in, with the same result. Then I unplugged, plugged in and zapped the PRAM, and then it started up fine.
Don]

[Hi Tom,
I also successfully got 9.2 to work on my Performa using the solution of your anonymous resource. However, I have the Maxpower L2G3 card and cannot get the Maxpower extension to load due to an error message 7. This makes the upgrade unattractive unless there is a way to hack the extension to work. If you have any thoughts I would be interested. Apparently the Sonnet G3 card with associated extensions work under 9.2 per your anonymous resource. Thanks. Bill

I had downloaded the latest version of the Maxpower extension and used the space in front method so it loaded first. This works great with 9.1. When attempting to load this on 9.2.1, a message alert indicated it would not work on a "G3". I loaded it anyway and it did not work on reboot. Bill]

from reading these letters, it appears that your mileage may very with the patches. Some worked and some didn't? Also some reported having to zap the PRAM to get their Mac to boot after the install? I don't know why that is needed but remember this if you try and your Mac gets a black screen at startup.

Another thing I noticed is that Newer MaxPower owners are having issues getting their G3's to work under OS 9.2.1? Sonnets G3 seems unaffected and I have not heard from any Vimage users yet. It seems that the MaxPower installer or extension itself sees your 6400 with OS 9.2.1 as a real G3 and will not load at startup :( I asked several people to try and remove the MachID extension (which was used to fake the installer into thinking you had a real G3) to see if that would help. At least one person wrote back saying it did not help. Another suggestion would be to try MachID but type in "58" which represents a 6400. Maybe this will allow the MaxPower extension to work again. That is if it does not break OS 9.2.1 now?

10/5/2001 6400/6500 needs PRAM zapped after OS 9.2.1 install or they might not boot!: Well this letter I got from Chris pretty much says what most 6400/6500 are going through.

[After installing 9.2.1 and patching with the OldWorld patch, I had to zap the pram before the hard drive would boot up. Thanks for a great website.
Chris]

It seems most people are having to zap their PRAM after the update to boot their Macs! I just wanted to emphasize this so you're not left thinking the install destroyed your Mac :)

10/21/2001 Vimage L2 G3 and OS 9.2.1 work together fine: Tupring notes that his 6400 with a Vimage G3 upgrade is working fine with the hacked OS 9.2.1. Great!

Newertech L2 G3 upgrades and OS 9.2.1 don't work: I have received a few letters from Newertech G3 upgrade owners who said once they installed OS 9.2.1, their G3 would not work anymore. They all got an error stating that "the Maxpower Extension does not work on a real G3"?

I asked each person to try removing the control panel MachID but that did not help. Not sure what to do at this point? You might try using MachID and set it to the original ID for the 6400 and see if that works. Otherwise it seems that Newertech L2 G3 owners cannot use OS 9.2.1 :(

Update on PRAM issue after OS 9.2.1 upgrade: The person who wrote me anonymously in the past about OS 9.2.1 working on his 6400 just wrote me again with some test info he tried on his 6400 with the different patches out. Thanks. He notes that he only had to zap the PRAM when doing the upgrade in a certain order. Read his email below for more on this. There does not seem to be any side affects to zapping the PRAM so if you must zap it then don't feel insecure about doing it :)

[Dear Tom,

I am the anonymous author of the E-mail about 9.2.1 on a 6400 that you published on the 9/14/2001 edition of your home page. Thank you for protecting my privacy!

I'm now using Kenny's "System 9.2.1 US OW patch v6" and my Sonnet G3 L2 400/1M upgraded 6400 is a charm with the new patch. I can use my UMAX Astra 1200S scanner and even the Yamaha CR-RW burns disks very well using Toast 3.5.7.

As for the guys who have had to zap the PRAM after a 9.2.1 install, I have tried all the patches available and I have had the same problem just once. This occurred after performing the following operations:

1- Boot from a partition with MacOS 9.1;
2- Patch a fresh copy of 9.2.1 system suitcase with one of the existing patches;
3- Swap the current 9.2.1 system suitcase that resides in another partition with the one that was prepared in step 2;
4- Use startup disk control panel to immediately boot into the 9.2.1 partition.

The computer hanged after this procedure with a black screen and the green light on the monitor didn't show up, just as stated in the E-mail message that Don sent to you.

I'm not sure, but I think that the PRAM problem can be avoided booting once more to another bootable partition before trying to boot to the one containing the patched system suitcase.

Greetings.]

12/2/2001 User report of OS 9.2.1 install on a 6400/200: Andrew writes that he was able to update his 6400/200 to OS 9.2.1 and that it's very stable. Thanks Andrew.

[Hi...love this site...has extended the life of my Performa immeasurably...I have the following on my computer: 6400/200 with Sonnet 300/1M using 1.4.6 extension, 30GB Maxtor 7200rpm, 136MB Ram, Orange Micro USB/Firewire card, ethernet card, ATI Radeon 32MB DDR...and installed OS 9.2.1 without incident...hardest part was backing up the HD and making the partition to make the install. Using the patches from http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html did not work for me but the patch from http://homepage.mac.com/scottboone/FileSharing.html worked like a charm...Worked as per the instructions on your page...overall the system does feel more stable...system is more responsive...startup and shut down is much quicker...and applications have a little added zip...need to try toast and itunes later...IT DOES WORK...
Thanks...
Andrew]

3/2/2002 Update on OS 9.2.1 and OS 9.2.2 patches posted with more install info: I added updated files to the OS 9.2.1 install patches and OS 9.2.2 install patches. I also added some great install instructions from Bleck who tells you how to make it work on non-US installs and what can happen during the install and how to fix it. Thanks Bleck. I suggest downloading his text file instead of viewing it online as it may not appear properly in some web browsers? Click here to read more on installing OS 9.2.x.

11/20/2002 NewerTech L2 G3 may never be supported in OS 9.2.2!: Here is a reply Phil got from Newer about the issue of Newer's L2 G3 not working on a 6400/6500 in OS 9.2.2. Thanks Phil.

[Here's the answer I got from Newer... Not very promising...

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: Newer Maxpower L2 G3 card on 6400 running OS 9.2.2

> I doubt that we will have any new drivers for 9.x, but I will keep you in
> mind for 10
>
> Rick
> Pres, Newer Systems Technology Inc.
> 7777 E. Osie Suite 304a
> Wichita, Ks. 67207
> 316 691 1585
> Restes41@aol.com
> rick@newertech.com]

So unless Newer releases the source code or some brilliant hackers finds another way, NewerTech L2 G3 users are stuck in OS 9.1 :(

12/22/2001 OS 9.2.2 is out!: Apple quietly released OS 9.2.2 last week. You can get a copy of it here. It will need a hack just like OS 9.2.1 did for it to work on our Macs. Antonio was nice enough to give us his experience with OS 9.2.2 on a 6400. Thanks Antonio!

[Dear JJ and friends of 6400 Zone's Forum:

I think that some of you would like to know that my 6400 is running MacOS 9.2.2 since yesterday. For more details on how to do that, you can see MacFixIt Forum.
So far, 9.2.2 stability seems to be as good as 9.2.1 patched with Kenny's „System 9.2.1 US OW patch v6 (BTW, I am the anonymous reader quoted in Thomas Koons' MacOS 9.2.x Info Page (http://homepage.mac.com/zone6400/files/OS_92x.html. Antonio is my real first name but I think that I will remain anonymous because there are zillions of Antonios all over the World!).

To get a running copy of MacOS 9.2.2 I began with a copy of MacOS 9.2.1 patched with „System 9.2.1 US OW patch v6 and I used the following procedure:

1- Got a copy of the file „System 9.2.2 US OW resc 9.2a4 from http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html (Kenny says that you can also try the file „System 9.2.2 US OW resc 9.1 , but „System 9.2.2 US OW resc 9.2a4 worked very well for me. I have tried before to use Kenny's „System 9.2.2 US OW patch v7 and „System 9.2.2 US OW patch v7p with no success.).
2- Made a copy of my active MacOS 9.2.1 „System Folder into a different disk partition (just in case!).
3- Used MacIDWannabe to set the mach ID to 510 (to pretend that the 6400 is a PowerMac G3, as „Mac OS 9.2.2 Update does not run in a 6400).
4- Ran the „Mac OS 9.2.2 Update and updated the System Folder copy that was obtained in step 2.
5- Saved an extra copy of „System suitcase for further experimentation. (You can skip this step.)
6- Opened the updated „System file and the „System 9.2.2 US OW resc 9.2a4 file using ResEdit. In „System 9.2.2 US OW resc 9.2a4 there are 5 resources (gtbl, gusd, gbly, gpch, vers) containing the patched and missing resources for OldWorld compatibility.
7- Opened each of them to see the individual resources inside with their specific ID. Selected and copied them. Opened the same resource group in the System file and pasted the corresponding copied resources in by replacing resources of same ID.
8- Saved the patched System file, used the „Startup Disk control panel so select the new 9.2.2 System and reboot.

Remarks:
a) If you don't understand what I wrote, DO NOT ATTEMPT to install 9.2.2. Be very careful when using ResEdit!
b) Kenny's patches are targeted to PCI PowerMacs, including 6400s and 6500s. Do not attempt to use them on NuBus machines.
c) The first time you boot onto the newly obtained 9.2.2 System, it is possible that the computer hangs with a black screen. In that case, you must zap the PRAM.

Greetings!]

And here are Kenny's instruction as found on MacFixIt's forums.

[OK. I will explain it a bit further.

To update to System 9.2.2 from 9.2.1, DL and install the MachIDWannabe control panel and set the machine ID to 510. Now put in a bootable Mac OS 9.1 CD before running the Apple Installer. After a successful installation, restart with the 'C' key pressed to boot from the Mac OS 9.1 CD as the newly updated System 9.2.2 would not run in old Macs.

There are THREE ways to upgrade a System 9.2.2 file for OldWorld compatibility with three files provided.

(1) System 9.2.2 US OW resc : If you take the ResEdit route, there is no need to DL the patchers. U must have ResEdit (an old resource editing application from Apple) in your hard disk. Make a copy of your System 9.2.2 file for patching purpose. The System file can be derived from updating either an already OW patched System 9.2.1 OR a cleanly installed non-patched System 9.2.1 file. Just do not patch the active System file in the System Folder. Open both the copied System file and the ResEdit file in ResEdit. In the ResEdit file, there are 5 resources (gtbl, gusd, gbly, gpch, vers) containing the patched and missing resources for OldWorld compatibility. U need to open each of them to see the individual resources inside with their specific ID listed. Select and copy them. Open the same resource group in the System file. Then paste the corresponding copied resources in by replacing resources of same ID. This will work in whatever country version your System is. Version 9.1 of the resource file has 2 gpch resources (#750 & 752) from System 9.1 while version 9.2a4 has them from an early beta of System 9.2. See which is more stable in your system.

(2) System 9.2.2 US OW patch v7p : If you use this patcher, there is no need to DL the resource file. Use this to patch a freshly updated System 9.2.2 US file which MUST be derived from updating an OW patched System 9.2.1 file.

(3) System 9.2.2 US OW patch v7 : If you use this patcher, there is no need to DL the resource file. Use this to patch a freshly updated System 9.2.2 US file which MUST be derived from updating a clean non-patched System 9.2.1 file.

Patching errors? That could be a problem of the ResCompare application that I use to create the patches. I tried them before posting and no problem encountered in my 2G partition. I don't have time to change the patcher to Installer VISE yet, perhaps someone will do it soon. U may up the memory of the patcher to see if that works. Perhaps it wouldn't run in hard disk of partition size larger than certain GigaBytes.

Good luck.

Kenny ]

So from all of this, if you are already running a patched OS 9.2.1 install then you can try the patched 7p file. If you just installed OS 9.2.1 and updated it right away to 9.2.2 without patching or running 9.2.1 then run the patch 7 file. If neither work for some reason and you wish to venture with ResEdit then give that file a try. I see Kenny has a version 2 of each patcher so maybe they issues with the original patchers not working are fixed? I would love to hear from more people on this. Thanks

I am currently running OS 9.2.2 on both my B&W G3 and my iBook Dual USB and it seems pretty stable. I have noticed some issues on the iBook when I try to close the lid to put it to sleep though? It sometimes won't sleep and the Finder crashes. I think that may be related to a new contextual menu item I installed though called OpenWith. I removed that and so far its working fine. I'll have more stability info in a few weeks :)

One thing I noticed right away is that internet (online and filesharing) is much faster then OS 9.2.1! I don't think its as fast as OSX yet but is sure has been improved :) I like that!

I posted all the patches plus these instructions in one file to make updating easier for you :)

OS9 Helper 9/27/2002

OS 9.2.1 and OS 9.2.2 install app for old world Macs!: Christophe sent me a link to a web site named OS9 Forever.com and they have a utility named OS9 Helper that will automate the install of OS 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 on your old world Mac. Thanks Christophe! Basically you will need OS 9.1 installed and they suggest you have at least 2 partitions because modifying the OS 9.1 install while booted to it may cause trouble? This is true of many OS installs though. Apple always suggests booting to an install CD for OS upgrades. The 5400-6500 are all listed as compatible so hopefully this will help others that have been having issues with the hacks I have posted. Please email me if you try this. Thanks.

10/15/2002 OS9 Helper app a great success!: Many of the people that tried OS9 Helper love it! This program makes installing OS 9.2.1 and OS 9.2.2 so easy. Below are a few of the comments I have received. Thanks.

[Hi,
I just want to let you know that I have installed 9.2.2 on my Performa 6360 with Sonnet 240 MHz G3 using the software on the OS9 Forever site. I installed the OS upgrade on another partition and so far everything seems just fine. This includes booting up, running Microsoft office and my SBC DSL software. I think that I will not upgrade my main partition for a little while just to be sure.

I really appreciate the work you have done in giving me a superb resource for my "classic" computer.

Ian]

[dear Mr. Koons; I was sorry to hear about your job situation, hope all turns out for the best. As a frequent visitor to your site I have read the posts about updating to os9.2 but felt I was out of my league as regards resedit mods and machine ids and all the rest of the tech stuff. Anyway after reading your comment about os9 helper I checked it out. I don't know if I was just feeling adventurous that night or what but I tried it. And it works perfectly. With no more than my usual "installing something new jitters", it was just a matter of following directions. I am using 9.2.2 now and find it worth the trouble. The finder is much faster to start with, apps open quicker and it seems web surfing is faster, although all are hard to quantify exactly in numbers. I ran techtool 3.06 after installation and all was well except for the system files exam which found non-specified problems but seemed to suggest that it was something that did not need to be concerned about. Probably the system patch confused it. After this I zapped pram and rebuilt the desktop just to make sure. I had to remove a lot of extensions it installed, such as for printers I don't use and suchlike. As for the actual install the only thing that bothered me was that I couldn't get it to run after starting up from my os9.1 CD as was suggested on the os9 helper website. So I just booted from the startup disk as usual, and let it do its thing. I didn't even turn off any of my extensions or anything! So to sum up, id recommend this to everyone to try. 9.2.2 would really fly with a cpu upgrade which I don't have. If you use any of this note on your website, please edit it so I don't appear so naive and 'newbie' as I am !! thanks again for a great website.]

[Hi Thomas!!
So far so good with the install of 9.2.2 using OS9 Helper from OS9Forever.com. Although I had a series of annoying Finder "Quits", it seems that I needed a PRAM zap and Desktop rebuild with each step along the way. It has only been a few days, and I am slowly moving and reinstalling software from the old 8.6 partition to the new 9.2.2 partition. I am surprised that by going to "About this Computer", the patched/modified 9.2.2 is using a little bit less RAM than the full 8.6!! Cool. System 9.2.2 does seem to be a bit snappier in command responses.
Dave
6400/200 Performa
Sonnett 300mhz/1MB Upgrade card
OrangeMicro U2W and FW card
ATI VR video card/8MB
...buncha other stuff...]

[ Hey, I wanted to let you know it installed great! I installed it yesterday on my Performa 6400/180 and everything went very well.
The only complaint I have is having to change the resolution using the monitors control panel. I tried with the control strip to switch to 1024x768 and the screen bowed. I noticed it was displaying it at 75hz instead of the 60 that it calls for. So I switched it using the control panel and all is well. (I'm using a Applevision 1710 display).
So far so good. It seems to be very stable. I haven't run too many games, just Tombraider II, and it seems to be working quite well.
I'll keep you up to date on how I do.
- Carl]

Not everyone was able to try the app though. The biggest issue is that it only works if you have OS 9.1 already installed and have the 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 .smi files located on your computer. The app will not work with updates located on CD's, full OS installer CD's, or through the Software Update Control panel. You must have the updater files on your hard drive.

[Thomas,
Just read the info re the OS9 Forever site. I'd just been looking at that myself and one thing not mentioned is that the 'Helper' only works with the 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 upgrades, not the 9.2.1 install CD. This lets me out as an 80Mb download is not on over a modem.

Regards,
Alec]

There are multiple file downloads for OS9.2.1 but not OS9.2.2 on Apples site. The 9.2.2 update is 21.3MB and the OS 9.2.1 update is 82MB or 6 smaller files.

11/2/2002 OS9 Helper on my 6400!: Since so many readers had great success with OS9 Helper I decided to try it myself :) I didn't follow my own suggestions by installing while booted to a CD or installing to a backup partition but instead I just installed it right on top of my currently running OS. Needless to say the install went perfectly! I am now running OS 9.2.2 on my 6400 with the Vimage G3 320/1M card just fine :)

To install, all I did was download OS 9.2.1 and OS 9.2.2 .smi files to my desktop. Then while booted to OS 9.1 I ran OS9 Helper and told it to install OS 9.2.1. It then hacked the installer and started it up. After the install completed and I rebooted to now OS 9.2.1, I then ran OS9 Helper again and told it to install OS 9.2.2. It hacked the installer again and then installed OS 9.2.2. After I rebooted I was now happily in OS 9.2.2 :) no issues at all. No PRAM zapping needed and the Vimage card works fine. One thing I should note is that my 6400 had a fresh install of OS 9.1 and Vimages drivers as I wiped the drive clean awhile ago. So its possible that third party apps have caused the slight hiccups that other owners have had while trying to install OS 9.2.2?

One thing no one mentioned to me was that the Mac bootup splash screen now has a little blurb about you running OS 9.2.2 OldWord Support in the lower right corner of the Mac image. That way you know how that OS was installed :)

Caution upgrading to OS 9.2.2 if you depend on a lot of older apps!: Walter sent me his experience with OS 9.2.2. Basically the install went very smooth but he found some older apps that just don't work anymore :( Thanks for the info Walter. In general, this should be a concern with any OS upgrade.

[Tom,

I meant to email you earlier about this, but have been so busy I haven't had a chance. I did try the Mac OS 9 Helper and, in fact, was successful on both the 6400s I tried it on. I brought both up to 9.2.2. I ran into a show stopper, though.

But, first things first. The installs were both as smooth as butter. Before installing, I updated my Retrospect backups of the System Folders, just to be safe. It turned out to be a wise move.

I noticed the bootup process took a tad longer after 9.2.2 was in place, but it proceeded without incident on both machines. I then proceeded to test all the various software applications I normally run. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until I hit Mac Write Pro. Now, understand that I also use Office 98, and most of my newer documents are done in Word 98, but I have thousands of documents in MacWrite Pro format, some of which do not easily translate over to Word 98 using MacLinkPlus. I had the same problem on both machines on which 9.2.2 was installed.

I tried everything I could think of, including a complete reinstall of MacWrite Pro, removing some of its components, especially the XTND things, experimented with the AddIt stuff, etc. Nothing helped. For some reason, 9.2.2 (and I presume 9.2.1) running on the 6400s breaks MacWrite Pro. For me, that was the show stopper. After restoring the old 9.1 system on one of the machines, updating the HD drivers with the older drivers, and rebooting, all was back to normal, with the single exception that bootup takes more time...specifically, once the desktop appears, the wait is longer before all drives are mounted. Aside from that, I'm back to normal.

However, one of the installs of 9.2.2 was on an external drive, and I have kept that intact. When running 9.2.2, the 6400s seemed to have a slightly more snappy feel to them, but I'm not sure if that was real, or just my wishful thinking. I did not run any benchmarks. My hunch is that MacWrite Pro wasn't the only application that might have been broken; it was just the one I ran into first.

No problems with Retrospect Desktop 4.3, FileMaker Pro 4.0v3, Conflict Catcher 9, Toast 5.x, Quicken 2002 Deluxe, Office 98, Hermes II (my bbs application), MacKennel (my fidonet mailer), BBEdit, Netscape 4.7.x or 7.x, Internet Explorer 5, Fetch 3.0.3, AOL, Keep It Up Classic 2.5, Quit It, DataComet, GroupWise, OffHook, Sonnet Crescendo 1.4.7 extension (or any other extensions I have on my system), MacLinkPlus Deluxe, Norton SystemWorks, DiskWarrior, etc. ClarisWorks 4.0 worked fine, too, but no, it isn't a good substitute for the more feature-laden MacWrite Pro, at least for me.

So, while it was definitely a thrill to try out OS 9 Helper, and I was amazed at how smoothly it worked, I'm back to 9.1 until or unless I can figure out a way to make MacWrite Pro work under 9.2.2. The primary machine I tested is a 6400 with L2 G3 300/1MB Crescendo card, xclaim 3D+ video acceleration, comm slot II ethernet (Farallon), 136 MB RAM, 120GB 7200 RPM WD IDE HD, 6.4 GB 5400 RPM SCSI, stock CD -ROM drive, etc.

It would be great to have a compatibility list for applications that do and don't seem to work on the 6400 under 9.2.2. If I could find a way to make MacWrite Pro work, I'd probably switch back!

Walter]

11/20/2002 MacWrite Pro does work in OS 9.2.2: On my previous update, I noted one user had issues with MacWrite Pro not working after he tried OS9 Helper to get his 6400 up to OS 9.2.2. Keith writes that he has tried OS9 Helper and his MacWrite Pro still functions fine. Thanks Keith. Perhaps there is some other conflict on the last readers Mac?

[Hi,
I saw the comment about MacWrite being "broken" on a 6400 running MacOS 9.2.2. Just wanted to say that I used MacOS 9 helper to install 9.2.2 on top of 9.1 on my 6400 with Sonnet G3 400 card (actually the 500 model but it runs at 400 in the 6400). Installation was easy and every worked afterwards, including MacWrite Pro! I have the British 1.5 version and so far everything has worked no problem - no reinstallation or anything.

Just my 2 eurocents worth.
Keith]

Older ATI cards may have issues with newer ATI extensions! 3/11/03

Albrecht wrote with a problem he was having with his built in ATI video on a 6500 after upgrading to OS 9.2.2. It turns out that ATI's older video (Rage II based) on the 6500 is not completely compatible with newer drivers available in the latest OS? Thanks Albrecht.

[Hello Thomas, first of all: thanks a lot for running such a great and useful site. With help from the 6400zone I turned the 6500/275 from my employers trash into a powerhouse featuring:

sonnet G3/500
128 MB of RAM
maxtor 60 gig hd
farallon 10/100 ethernet
MacOS 9.2.2
Sonnet Tango USB/FireWire
Front USB/FireWire connectors (thru ProLine upper drive bay bezel)

finally I came across a problem I couldn't solve by just getting the information from somewhere inside your zone.

Lately quicktime behaves strange:
some time video would stutter (never had audio stuttering though) another time it would run smoothly but colors would be messed up another time resizing the playback window would result in lots of vertical flickering green noise some time the green stripes show at "normal" size", some times they don't - and they're always there at VCD playback

none of this is reproducible. Every boot up seems to bring its own surprise :-(

there was a time, when all was fine, but I have made so many changes since then (MacOS 9.2.2; QT 6; adding the tango card etc.) and unfortunately I can't recall which one was the bad step.]

I asked him to try older ATI drivers then what OS 9.2.2 installed and that seems to have done the trick!

[Hi tom.
You did it again.
After your kind reply I browsed my backup archives and tried two older sets of ATI extensions on my machine. The ones which came with MacOS 9.0.4 finally cut the mustard. Almost, that is. Extensions manager reported "ATI Video Accelerator" missing, although it was present in the extension folders. "never argue with the extensions manager" is one of my mac-mottos, and so put the MacOS 9.2.2-version of "ATI Video Accelerator" back into the extensions folder, rebooted - and violá:
smooth QT6 playback is here again! small windows, large windows, full screen and VCD (i use FreeVCD), different codecs (sorensen, even Avid Cinema) - no hanging and no more flickering green lines!

This is the winning extensions set:
ATI 3D Accelerator 4.9.7 (MacOS 9.0.4)
ATI Driver Update 1.5.3 (MacOS 9.0.4)
ATI Graphics Accelerator 4.9.4 (MacOS 9.0.4)
ATI Rage 128 3D Accelerator 5.8.1 (MacOS 9.0.4)
ATI Resource Manager 2.4.8 (MacOS 9.0.4)
ATI Video Accelerator (MacOS 9.2.2)

albrecht]

Issues with USB PCI cards in OS 9.2.2? 4/3/2003

I have heard from several people that are having issues with USB once they update their 6400 to OS 9.2.2 using OS9 Helper. I asked each to make sure they had the USB drivers installed and which version is installed. I haven't heard back yet but I did run across this very topic on MacInTouch today. Funny how the same topics seem to start on all the Mac help sites at close to the same time :) Anyway, it looks like there is an issue with USB PCI card support in the USB drivers from OS 9.2.2? Here is some info I found on MacInTouch's web site.

[Several of the faculty/staff Macs that I maintain at our university have had the same problems with USB PCI Adapter cards and upgrades to 9.2.2. I have developed a work around that I thought might help John and others. Below is the documentation I wrote for our techs here (modified slightly for Macintouch readers).

Install MacOS 9.2.2.

Go into your Extensions folder and move out the following extensions: USB Authoring Support, USB Device Extension, USB Software Locator and USBAppleMonitorModule. Put them on the desktop, you will need them later.

Install the Apple USB Adapter Card Support 1.4.1 software.

Move to the Trash the following extensions: USB Authoring Support, USB Device Extension, USB Software Locator, and USBAppleMonitor. (You won't be able to delete them because they are "in use.")

Drag the extensions you removed in step 2 back to the extensions folder.

Restart the computer & empty the trash.

This procedure seems to put back the missing pieces/old versions that allowed the MacOS to use a PCI USB card. While I can't confirm that it will enable every USB device, I can state that it has worked with many USB devices I've encountered including: floppy drives, zip drives, mice, keyboards, wireless optical devices, and USB cameras.
Steve]

[....saw your recent update that gave an Apple link for how to fix this. I think I can provide more details.

Here is what needs to be done in order to retain USB functionality in laptops such as the WallStreet (USB only via the CardBus). The following has worked on my machine twice...and literally just last week after I had a processor card replacement upgrade from the wonderful repair folks at pbparts.com...who keep my WallStreet in working order.

First...download USB Adaptor Card Support 1.4.1 and install by double-clicking on the .smi icon.

Then, from within the Extensions Manager... disable HID Library 1.5.9 (an extension) disable USB Device Extension 1.5.9 (another extension) disable USB Software Locator 1.5.9 (the third extension)

Restart...and you're off-and-running.

The folks who sold me my PCMCIA-USB card (MacAlly) are the source of this fix, which enables functionality of the card within system 9.2.
StLSports]

Both fixes require the download and install of Apples USB Adaptor Card Support drivers version 1.4.1 available here. What's interesting is that the page says that these drivers are not for Macs with built in USB ports as those computers already include support for the built-in ports as well as USB PCI cards. I don't know why the OS 9.2.2 drivers wouldn't work with USB PCI cards if it supports both built-in and PCI cards, but that seems to be the case? Maybe not all of the needed drivers get installed if there are no built-in ports to begin with? Below are the drivers I have in my OS 9.2.2 install on my Dual 800 QuickSilver. Notice I only have version 1.5.6 of the main USB drivers but version 1.5.9 is listed in the letters above? Either that's a typo or somewhere people are getting newer drivers then what comes with OS 9.2.2?

HID Library 1.5.6

USB Authoring Support 1.1.2

USB Device Extension 1.5.6

USB Printer Sharing Extension 1.0.2

USB Software Locator 1.5.6

USBAppleMonitorModule 2.1

USBHIDUniversalModule 1.0.5

If anyone has USB PCI cards working in OS 9.2.2, please email me your USB driver version numbers. Thanks!

4/24/2003 Update on USB card support issues is OS 9.2.2: Its unanimous. You must have version 1.5.6 or older of the USB drivers to have USB PCI card supported. The only way to even get newer drivers is to use a full install CD of 9.2.2 as the updaters only have version 1.5.6. So this may not be a real issue for us since our Macs must use the updaters via OS9 Helper app to install OS 9.2.2. But if you are having trouble with your USB devices and Apples System Profiler sees the card and does not show any USB ports, it's time to check what version of the drivers you have. Its perfectly fine to remove all the USB drivers (installed by Apple) and then use the 1.4.1 USB card support install found on Apples web site if you like. It works just fine in OS 9.2.2 Or if you have older drivers on another Mac you can move them over to the troubled Mac. I want to thank everyone that sent me info on this subject!

TV/Video issues in OS 9.2.2 4/24/2003

Tom wrote that he is having problems getting video to input to his system after using OS9 Helper to upgrade his system to OS 9.2.2 If anyone has a suggestion, please email me. Thanks.

[Hello Thomas.
I haven't surfed through in awhile and I was reading your forums on the 9.2.2 install to see if anything new had come along. We all know by now that OS 9 helper is definitely tried and true. I use it on all my "old word" machines now without any cliches...well just one...
After installing 9.2.2 on a 6400/200 w/ stock processor and 136 ram, I lost the video in capabilities and TV ability of the apple video player app.. I was using an old apple video in card & the TV tuner card( no out) and not the avid cards. Since watching TV was the only thing I still used the 64 for I just went back to 9.1. I finally parted the 64 out last week (see the parts forum) but I'm wondering if anyone ever resolved this issue or came up with a hack? I encountered the same issue with my 8600 after going up to 9.2.2. The video application works but it keeps telling me my machine doesn't support video or Svideo. The 8600/300 machV (aka Kansas) was at one time "the" video machine made by apple. I do have an ATI Xclaim VR card coming this week, but it seems to be a little redundant to even have to use it. Especially since I have another machine I prefer to use it with. Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I'm thinking the problem is either with 9.2.2 itself or the install on unsupported machines (or os9helper?) figured if someone found a way around it or a hack, it maybe a benefit to those of us using 9.2.2 on any unsupported PCI macs.
THX
Tom]