Want to use good old iMac G4 (powerMac 6,1) with 10.4.11, after it sat in storage for years. Booted from original internal HDD and ran fine.
To expand storage, bought "compatible" OWC SSD with Startech interface board, removed original HDD per iFixit instructions, cloned to SSD, reinstalled and the iMac only boots to the folder/? and Macos icon. If I boot with Option key I get a reload and right arrow button icon only (Startup Manager?).
Tried to boot with C key and original install Disk using both internal and external CD drives, same result. Boot with D key for hardware test also gives ? Folder.
iMac starts in Target Disk Mode and I can see the SSD and its files.
All together, I tried cloning 3x, with CCC6, CCC5, and SuperDuper! 2.7.1, which should have produced a 'bootable clone' but same result.
I've used same basic process to update other Macs and it worked. What is going wrong here? The SSD is properly connected and has power to it since I can see it in Target Disk Mode. It's just not recognized by the computer on booting.
I had also inserted a new under-baseplate RAM module but removed it and replaced with original Apple RAM, same result.
Reset PRAM (new battery installed) several times, tried command R for recovery and shift for single user mode, same result. In frustration, I lightly swept my fingers over the keyboard and some text on a light screen came up offering I could type "mac-boot" or "shutdown" and enter, so I typed "mac-boot" and got again ?/Folder.
I'm not keen to take the iMac apart again, wondering if there is some startup step I should be doing or something I can do software wise from another device to make the SSD bootable.
I supposed worst case I can reinstall the original HDD and hope for the best, making regular backups for the day the nearly 20-year old HDD dies and then... But I am trying to find a way to see if the original HDD will boot the iMac via Firewire but haven't found in my boxes of old HDs an enclosure for it, so have no way to connect it now to try.
I hope someone has some ideas I can try to get this to work.