Two different versions of Mac OS 9.1 Software Install CD: using the older version with newer G4s causes problems

Eric Benfer (Systems Administrator at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab) writes of an unexpected problem involving two different versions of the Mac OS 9.1 Software Install CD that shipped with Power Mac G4s he recently received:

"We just purchased seven identically configured Mac G4s (Dual 533MHz). Although one order was placed for seven identical G4s they came in two separate shipments about two weeks apart. The first shipment came with Software Install CD OS version 9.1 CD version 1.0.1. The second shipment came with Software Install CD OS version 9.1 CD version 1.2.

I setup the first G4 with a new system and all of the standard desktop/web publishing apps we use. As I have done successfully in the past, I created a disk image of this system to use as my template for all the other G4s. The first three installs went fine. I simply copied the image over to the newly reformatted drive. These were the first three shipped to us.

When the second shipment arrived I reformatted one and copied the disk image. However, when I booted, the video displayed several artifacts during startup. When the Finder came up the video was shifted to the right about six inches and wrapped around to the other side of the screen. I tested another G4 by using the disk image and got the same results. Apple’s Hardware test CD showed a hardware problem with the VRAM of both systems. This threw me for a loop since booting from the system CD seemed to cure the screen shift.

This problem persisted despite reformatting and reinstalling the system from the system CD version 1.0.1. I was not aware of the differing CD versions at that point. The fix came when I used the latest 1.2 CD version of the system software."

We do not yet know what files that differ on the two CDs may account for this.