[themurph]

Hi
I have an Imac G4 flat panel,and the DVD drive isnt reading dvd discs ,though it will read CDs.
I went and bought Panther and oh dear its on a DVD disc and so i cant install.

I bought a lacie external 16x dvd usb 2 drive,which didnt come with any mac software so is not supported according to system profiler.

When i place my Panther disc in External drive i click install,then im asked for my administrator password. I enter that and when restart is happening i hold down "C" as i would with restore discs and OS X ....nothing...........

Is there something simple i can do to install panther...or is it impossable,or what........

i am a total novice and would appreciate any help...

thanks

murph

[seanc]

Try holding down the alt key instead at power up. This should bring up a list of bootable volumes, one of which should be your external drive.

[Helmling]

Originally Posted by themurph

Hi
I have an Imac G4 flat panel,and the DVD drive isnt reading dvd discs ,though it will read CDs.
I went and bought Panther and oh dear its on a DVD disc and so i cant install.

I bought a lacie external 16x dvd usb 2 drive,which didnt come with any mac software so is not supported according to system profiler.

When i place my Panther disc in External drive i click install,then im asked for my administrator password. I enter that and when restart is happening i hold down "C" as i would with restore discs and OS X ....nothing...........

Is there something simple i can do to install panther...or is it impossable,or what........

i am a total novice and would appreciate any help...

thanks

murph

Have you tried cleaning the lens on the DVD drive? I have a 17" G4 iMac with a SuperDrive and the drive was behaving erratically for months, but a $20 cleaning kit from RadioShack fixed me right up.

[themurph]

Originally Posted by seanc

Try holding down the alt key instead at power up. This should bring up a list of bootable volumes, one of which should be your external drive.

Hi Seanc. Thanks
I can get the image of install disc on the Yep if i hold down Alt i got the arrow that curves up and over to the rightt,The Hard disc,and
an Image of the OS X panther install disc and the arrow curser that points right.....

Now what?
I can get the image of the install disc on the desktop without alt anyway.

I clicked on the Install image..nothing instant happened,so i clicked on the straight arrow curser image and then the apple image came up,but then it turned into a circle with a line running through it,like a no smoking sign wityhout the cigarette.

Im assuming this means no way hose

[seanc]

Try double clicking the install one, and leaving it for a while. It may just be slow.
Another thing to try is setting you're startup disk to the external drive from within os x.

[themurph]

Originally Posted by Helmling

Have you tried cleaning the lens on the DVD drive? I have a 17" G4 iMac with a SuperDrive and the drive was behaving erratically for months, but a $20 cleaning kit from RadioShack fixed me right up.

Hi Hemling. and Thanks
I guess thats the way to go...I have a friend who buys broken playstations really cheap.He says they are not really broken,its just folks who smoke dont realise that this in the long run will effect the lense.Then when cloudy no longer read the discs.......

Clean them up and fine....

Im not really a pull things apart and fix them type of guy.......
Do you know of any sites that show in pictures how to access the inside of a G4 flat panel for those vital jobs....

thanks

patrick

[seanc]

I think the cleaning kit comprises of a cd you put in. It has brushes on the bottom
No need to dissasemble the computer.

[JIMSTEAME]

If you are still stuck I have two recomendations:
1. Go to an APPLE Store if one is near you and ask for help at the Genius Bar. They will REALLY help you and for free if it's a software problem.
2. If your DVD is still the problem call APPLE to learn how to get a CD Panther disk for $10.00. They do provide this service.

Re #1:
I took my iMac 350 slot load with 9.2.2 and an sucessful loading of 10.2 (which was OK) and 10.3 which was not to the APPLE Store and said HELP! (This is after Apple phone tech struck out even though my Mac was 18 months beyond warrenty: they tried and said it's a firmware problem!) Apple Store Genius Bar couldn't fix the firmware problem after many attempts so they solved the problem by loading OS 10.3.9! Two visits over two days and 4.5 hours and I walked out with OS 10.3.9 and my bill was ZERO, NADA. This experince is commom at APPLE Stores: heck it's the rule!

[cleanup]

Originally Posted by JIMSTEAME

2. If your DVD is still the problem call APPLE to learn how to get a CD Panther disk for $10.00. They do provide this service.

What the hell? You can get a retail copy of Panther for ten dollars?

[Edit] I think you've got it wrong. Apple offers Tiger on CD provided that you purchased a retail box of Tiger from them, and provided that you fill out an order form with a cheque for ten dollars, and return the DVD. As far as I know, Apple does not offer this for Panther (perhaps they did before), and they don't offer retail copies of Panther anymore. My understanding of the situation is he purchased Panther on DVD second-hand, from someone else.

[JIMSTEAME]

Originally Posted by cleanup

What the hell? You can get a retail copy of Panther for ten dollars?

[Edit] I think you've got it wrong. Apple offers Tiger on CD provided that you purchased a retail box of Tiger from them, and provided that you fill out an order form with a cheque for ten dollars, and return the DVD. As far as I know, Apple does not offer this for Panther (perhaps they did before), and they don't offer retail copies of Panther anymore. My understanding of the situation is he purchased Panther on DVD second-hand, from someone else.

Sorry. You are correct; I was thinking of a Tiger article I recently read.

However, my advice concerning Apple Store stands.

[tooki]

Panther was only on CD in retail. Tiger is on DVD with the option to exchange for CD.

tooki