# failure on exit(9972)



## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

Have g4 quicksilver running 10.3
video card was radeon 9800 pro mac,fan on card broke,card overheated,card is toast.Replaced with same card but when tried to start up just got flashing question mark.company sent a test card so I could download software for card but same thing happened,flashing question mark, so I started up using my install and restore disk and went to disk utility,tried to repair disk but could not. this error message was displayed:underlying task reported failure on exit(9972)Anything i can do or do i need a pro?
thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

It could be when the card died, it took out the motherboard too, I've seen it happen. The flashing question mark is a sign that the Mac can't find an OS to boot from. Did you try reinstalling the OS (Archive and install option in the OS installer)?


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## Jaygyver (Nov 4, 2010)

On the replacement cards, if the flashing question mark was on top of a red image (or picture) of a video card on a BLACK background then it couldn't find a video card. As in, not connected or no POWER.

Don't forget they take an external power supply unlike the old card that took the power from the motherboard.
Make sure you plugged in the power cord to the card itself. If you did, then make sure the power CONNECTION is tight. On one of mine the power wire (the red wire) in the plug head was loose and it actually started to melt the wire on the card at the plug-in area.
I just checked the connections themselves and tweaked the connectors on the plug to make it fit better. I think I just expanded the male connectors to make a tighter fit.

On the "failure on exit"...warning, I'm guessing maybe when you started up from the DVD it might not know the difference and just gave another version of the same warning?

Both of the fans went out on our 9800's on our G-4's. I caught the first one and put a 3rd party cooler on it but the one on mine died and remembered it was under warranty and they sent another one, with the same stupid fan. I bought them at the same time and they went out within about 3 month of each other. About 2 1/2 years after purchase.

At least that's what happened to ours, hope it helps.....


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

Tried to reinstall OS but just got message that there were errors in installation and needed to restart.Now all I can get is an apple logo with a spinning disk.Not sure how to proceed.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

The next step is to swap the hard drive and try to install again. If it fails, swap the DVD drive and try again. If that fails, try a different install DVD. If failure again, swap the data cables for the hard drive and DVD drive. By swapping I mean replace with new or known working. If all four fail, then it's time for a new Mac.


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## Jaygyver (Nov 4, 2010)

Well if you can read the error messages i guess the video card works OK.

I just did a Google/Yahoo search for "failure on exit(9972)" and came up with this link, it sounds like a software problem at the system level. Your HD MAY have died at the same time you had troubles. 
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=613279

Basically it sounds like you should throw in another HD like sinclair_tm mentioned and try re-installing the OS again. Double check the connections on the HD and DVD cables at the very least.
It doesn't matter how old the old HD was, it happens even with new ones.


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

Thanks for all the info,guess ill try swaping in a new HD.
Suppose this means ill lose all my data but thats life eh?
Nothing on there critical,was going to upgrade my HD soon anyway:laugh:


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

Was researching replacement HD and came to discover that I can get a max of 128g,is that correct?
have a g4 quicksilver,what is the best value for a new HD.
thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Yes, of those models did have the disk size limit, but there are ways around it. Which Quicksilver model do you have (CPU speed) as some didn't have the limit. If you can find any IDE hard drive that mall, it will work. Any larger will also work, but you will only be able to use the 1st 128Gb of the drive, and the rest will not be seen or used. As for your data, if you can get the OS installed on a new drive, you may be able to still see and mount the old drive to copy info off of it.


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## Jaygyver (Nov 4, 2010)

Don't forget that they still make PCI cards for larger HD's for the earlier G-4's, either internal or external.
Now you can use the faster SATA drives with a SATA PCI card.
Or use a Firewire external drive as Firewire doesn't have a limit, but some of the external "housings" do have a limit on how big a HD it can use depending on manufacturer. In the 750+ gig range, just check the fine print if you get a bare enclosure without the HD included.

But answer sinclair_tm first, you don't want to waste any money before you find out if it works ok.


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

OK,got a new HD and installed it but when I tried to install os could not see as desination so I ran disk utility and erased then tried again.
This time I could see it but it told me that I couldn't choose that as my destination so I restarted my comp and can't get the installation disk to reload,I start my comp while holding down the c key but nothing happens,just get a grey screen, can't hear my player working at all and it's fairly new,I also checked all the cables.
Any ideas?

Thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Hold down the option key at startup and see if the disk shows up.


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

when I hold down the option key during starting start up I get a screen with two box's,on the left is a half circle ending in an arrow,on the right is an arrow pointing right and in the upper left hand corner is a little spinning clock,I can move the clock with the mouse but cannot interact in any way with the box's.
It just seem's to freeze like this,tried it several times.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

The circle arrow is a refresh button, and the other arrow is what you click to boot after selecting the icon of the boot device. Being you didn't get any boot icons, the Mac isn't seeing any hard drives or DVDs with the OS on them. Do you have another DVD drive that you can swap with to try?


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

This is my only dvd drive.Can hardly believe it's broke since it's only couple years old,could this be related to my first video card overheating?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Well, my point in trying another drive is thus, if it fails to work, just like the new hard drive has, I'd say that the IDE controller on the motherboard is shot, or one of the bridge controllers anyway, thus rendering your Mac a large paper weight.


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## arty1 (Jan 5, 2011)

If I did get a new motherboard where is a good place to get one and are upgrades available for my comp?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Well, you can't get a new motherboard, only used one, as they don't make them any more, so ebay is pretty much the only place to look, and you'll never know what shape they are in. Speaking from personal experience as far as upgrading goes on a G4, your money is much better spent on a new or Apple refurbished Mac Mini. A Mini takes up a whole lot less space, will make the G4 feel like it sits still, is quieter and doesn't get as hot. Plus it'll allow you to run current software.


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## Jaygyver (Nov 4, 2010)

You can do a search on the web for the mother board but to tell you the truth just buy another QS, or whatever, Power Mac and just use the other one for spare parts. You can buy the whole computer now for about the same price as the mother board and what ever else that may have fried.
If you still need OS-9 for older programs then go on Apples web site and check out which of the later G4/G5's will still boot into OS-9 and still take the 9800 card. I think the late MDD's were the last ones to be able to actually boot into OS9. OS-9 in "classic" was supported up until the later G-5's if i remember right. Classic will not work in any of the Intel computers.


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## kydruid (Jan 2, 2011)

sinclair_tm said:


> The circle arrow is a refresh button, and the other arrow is what you click to boot after selecting the icon of the boot device. Being you didn't get any boot icons, the Mac isn't seeing any hard drives or DVDs with the OS on them. Do you have another DVD drive that you can swap with to try?


It sounds to me like the hard drive was formatted for an intel mac. You should try reformatting again with the disk utility again and make sure it's set up for PPC. 

Check this page for more info 

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1600

It may not show any options for PowerPC directly, but you should be able to find them in the disk utility in the same area.


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