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dockpipe · May 25, 2003, 12:24 PM

this is what happens when i try to click on the "button to restart and begin installation":

An error has occurred. "start up disk was unable to select the install CD as the start up disk. (-2)

please help me. thank you. i sound so desparate cuz i am a poor desparate doo doo head....

rhombus · May 25, 2003, 02:14 PM

You'll need Mac OS 9.2.2 to install 10.2. You can get it here http://www.info.apple.com/support/downloads.html

Oneota · May 25, 2003, 02:19 PM

Not necessarily. There could have just been a problem setting the CD as the startup disk. Try restarting the iMac and holding down the "C" key, which will force it to boot from the CD.

dockpipe · May 25, 2003, 02:34 PM

Originally posted by Oneota:
Not necessarily. There could have just been a problem setting the CD as the startup disk. Try restarting the iMac and holding down the "C" key, which will force it to boot from the CD.

i did that. and on a more bizaare note...(this is my friends imac) i could have sworn that i had installed 9.2 before. am i hallucinating???!!! the memories keep coming back to me... very hazy... very hazed. is it entirely possible that some freak os feature made it possible for the 9.2 to revert back to 9.1?

THE CASE OF THE DISSAPPEARING 9.2 OS!!!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

macman247 · May 25, 2003, 02:44 PM

I have had that problem before when updating customers computers, but cannot remember what exactly caused that. I would suggest updating 9.1 all the way up to 9.2.2 before continuing, I always do that before an OS X install. I'm also assuming you are using the orignal CDs, as some burnt copies have failed on me before. In our sevice department, we always burn any OS X install disc(s) in OS X using a .dmg and Disc Copy. Also make sure you don't have a firmware password, that might cause switching the boot disc to fail (correct me if I'm wrong). In addition to trying the C key trick, try holding option... that will give you a visual representation of available volumes to boot from (depending on your firmware version).

Angus_D · May 25, 2003, 04:10 PM

Make sure you have installed all the latest firmware updates, too.

Cipher13 · May 25, 2003, 07:21 PM

Exactly which iMac is this?

And no, it is not possible for a 9.2 system to "revert" to a 9.1 system. At all.

I'd suggest you restart and hold down Command-Option-P-R, wait for three chimes, then release. That resets the PRAM. It could fix some problems.

Also, update the "Startup Disk" control panel. I'd say that's the problem... you might be using an old version of it for some reason, and there's a pretty recent update to it (it'll run under 9.1 even though it's intended for 9.2, if I recall correctly).

If not, get a copy of "System Disk", somewhere... it's another version of the startup disk control panel, supplied by Apple... I dunno when or why they stopped using it, but whatever... I prefer it.

Anyway. If you've tried restarting while holding C or Option and you didn't get to Open Boot (with Option) or to the CD with C, then I'd suggest manually selecting the CD as the startup volume with the startup disk control panel and THEN rebooting the system...

android8 · May 26, 2003, 07:54 AM

Originally posted by dockpipe:
this is what happens when i try to click on the "button to restart and begin installation":

An error has occurred. "start up disk was unable to select the install CD as the start up disk. (-2)

please help me. thank you. i sound so desparate cuz i am a poor desparate doo doo head....

U might have to partition your harddrive, so that the first partition is no larger than 8 gb.

What model of iMac do u have?

Garrett Smith · May 26, 2003, 09:09 AM

- I'd suggest you restart and hold down Command-Option-P-R, wait for three chimes, then release. That resets the PRAM. It could fix some problems.

Every time I've done that, it's ****ed my box up. I get the little "?" for a minute before startup. I'm using a mac.

Installing OS X will take at least 2 hours. You need to have all the discs ready and then run updater (or whatever they call it).

In the installer, you must be very careful to check the correct checkboxes. It will try to install every language known to man + tons of unnecessary drivers totaling about 1GB. If you screw up and then press cancel, you'll have to start all over again from the very beginning.

Good luck.

Moose · May 26, 2003, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by android8:
U might have to partition your harddrive, so that the first partition is no larger than 8 gb.

What model of iMac do u have?

Any model of iMac will not require that. That is a requirement solely of "Old World" machines. Only the old beige G3 desktops, beige G3 towers, G3 AIO, and the original PowerBook G3 Series (pre-101/Lombard) computers are both "supported" Mac OS X machines and also Old World.

The original iMac was the first "New World" machine.

Cipher13 · May 27, 2003, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by Moose:
Any model of iMac will not require that. That is a requirement solely of "Old World" machines. Only the old beige G3 desktops, beige G3 towers, G3 AIO, and the original PowerBook G3 Series (pre-101/Lombard) computers are both "supported" Mac OS X machines and also Old World.

The original iMac was the first "New World" machine.

Revision A-D machines still require it.

Moose · May 27, 2003, 09:32 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Revision A-D machines still require it.

Hm. Is that so? My mother has an iMac DV SE and hasn't encountered any difficulty with a 30GB partition.

Pretzel · May 27, 2003, 12:26 PM

Yes the earlier iMac's need to have OSX 'within' the First 8GB of the HD

- might pay to size the partion ~100Mb under 8GB - to be sure