[macgyvr64]

I'm working on a buddy's Titanium, putting a new 60GB 5400 RPM hard drive in it to replace the old 30 GB. I took the old drive out, checked the master/slave settings, checked the new drive's, installed the new drive, and went to boot off a Panther CD to do an install, and the machine only boots right up to where you would see the spinning gizmo..only it stops right there. Every time. When I boot up off the CD, then switch to Command-V right after it takes, I get the verbose startup off the CD. It mentions something about AppleRS232Serial, "connector or machine incorrect". And stops there with no further messages.

The weird thing is, when I put the old 30 GB drive back in, the same thing happens. That would have me believe that the logic board or something is damaged. But if I boot off the CD withg NO hard drive attached, it goes right to the installation setup like it should.

Somehow, the mere presence of a hard drive causes it to fail. What's up with THAT?

[pipflypip]

You probably touched the wrong places when replacing the hard drive. The internal bits of these machines are very sensitive. When I replaced a hard drive on my old TiBook I manged to destroy my screen, even though i was super cautious (luckily, AppleCare still cared for me..)
Seems like your machine needs to see a doctor...

[chipchen]

try booting off a drive from firewire. or, try installing panther on one of the HDs, then insert it back into the machine. It may be the cable.

by the way... what are you going to do with the used 30 GB?