[Zoom]

This story is a bit long, and I'll apologize in advance. But I'm really stuck here - if I can't get this fixed, my iBook is now a paperweight. For the record, it's a dual-USB iBook, 600MHz G3.

Somewhere back in the spring, I was having some problems with Software Update. I think the first one maybe was OS 10.3.3 update, or maybe iTunes, or possibly something else. It's been too long. But the update failed to install - others in the list completed, but this one didn't. I think it got stuck during "optimizing..." and I had to do a hard restart. It seemed to work okay, so I blew it off. I don't think SU worked after that, or maybe it still worked for some things and not others. I know it failed on 10.3.4.

So I decided to try all the usual tricks: repair permissions, download directly from Apple... all failed. My obsession became focused on 10.3.4, I focused on that. It would appear to install, and then I'd get a generic error like "failed to install, try again".

Finally I figured my system was hosed, so I did "archive and install" from my original Panther disk (10.0?), figuring I'll just work back up to 10.3.4 via SU once the system was sane again. It failed the same way. Then I decided to completely wipe and install. Guess what - it failed. Now I have no system on the machine to boot.

Took it to the Apple Store. They tried to install from disk and failed (their CD this time). Eventually, they imaged my HD directly via FireWire. That appeared to work, I was now at 10.3.3 again. I took it home, fired up SU again, tried to install the updates - they failed, same thing. I took it back to the AS and they eventually told me they thought it was a bad hard drive.

So I sucked it up, bought a new 30GB drive, and installed it.

I was all psyched now! That was major surgery, but I did it! Now things would be all better, and I'd have a bigger drive! Popped in the Panther CD, formatted the drive, installed 10.0... and then it failed, again, the exact same way.



In all this installing, I finally found the log file with detailed info, but I can't understand really what's going on. So I thought I'd post here and see if anyone can decipher this.

There are gobs of logs (and I can't think of any way to transfer them off the machine or I would), but here are some of the final ones, transcribed manually...

finalizeDisk
setStatusStringAndNotify
setSuccess
Install Failed
Error detected
Reason: Can't open package /Volumes/iBook HD/Library/Receipts/BaseSystem.pkg (there was an error reading the file Archive.bom).
Installer[108] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignore. exception: Can't open package /Volumes/iBook HD/Library/Receipts/BaseSystem.pkg (there was an error reading the file Archive.bom).
Aborted install.

What the hell does that mean and how do I fix it?

[Brass]

Panther install disk is 10.3, not 10.0.

Sorry, don't know the answer to your question, though.

[Zoom]

Yes, of course. 10.3.0.

[MacGallant]

When you install System Updates in OSX, it leaves a reciept of that installed item in the Library folder in your main directory on your HD, so your computer knows if a particular system software is installed.

Apparently OSX won't let you install the 10.3.4 update apparently has to deal with your previous update install failure problem which either damaged or corrupted the BaseSystem.pkg reciept (which I assume concerns the "core" of the OSX System).

Have you try an "Erase and Install" instead of "Archive and Install? ", "Erase and Install" will completely wipe your drive clean and put a fresh OSX 10.3 System on your iBook. This definitely solves all the software problems with system misbehavior or system corruption.

After "Erase and Install" puts a fresh copy of Pather on your iBook, download the latest OSX Combo updater (presumaby 10.3.5) and you're set to go!

***Never download the "regular" OSX System Updaters from Software Update! They're problematic! Always download the Combo Updaters instead!

[Zoom]

Originally posted by MacGallant:
Have you try an "Erase and Install" instead of "Archive and Install? ", "Erase and Install" will completely wipe your drive clean and put a fresh OSX 10.3 System on your iBook. This definitely solves all the software problems with system misbehavior or system corruption.

Yes, as I said in the original post, I've done both. I actually have a brand new hard drive now, completely new. It still fails.

Could this be a logic board problem?

[JKT]

I don't know if this would be the reason, but are you fully up to date with the iBook firmware? Firmware updaters might be on the Panther install disks - if not, you can download them from Apple. Also, have you tried the combo updater as suggested? Skip 10.3.4 and download the 10.3.5 combo updater directly from the Apple website.

[Zoom]

Originally posted by JKT:
I don't know if this would be the reason, but are you fully up to date with the iBook firmware? Firmware updaters might be on the Panther install disks - if not, you can download them from Apple. Also, have you tried the combo updater as suggested? Skip 10.3.4 and download the 10.3.5 combo updater directly from the Apple website.

How do I do that, exactly? I have no drive to boot from. I may be able to scrounge up an OS boot CD, I guess.

Can you boot from any of the Panther install disks?

I have a G4 PowerMac, how do I create a generic OS X boot CD there that I could use on my iBook?

[JKT]

Originally posted by Zoom:
How do I do that, exactly? I have no drive to boot from. I may be able to scrounge up an OS boot CD, I guess.

Can you boot from any of the Panther install disks?

I have a G4 PowerMac, how do I create a generic OS X boot CD there that I could use on my iBook?

If you have the Panther install discs, you can boot from them by holding down the C key. And you've already stated that you can install all the way up to 10.3.3 - if necessary, just re-install 10.3 and check and update your firmware once you've done that.

Alternatively, if the iBook has FireWire, you could couple it to your PowerMac G4 using a FW cable and boot the iBook in FW target disk mode (after hooking the two comps together, hold down the T key on the iBook as you restart and it will mount the iBooks hard drive on your PowerMac). You could also run Disk Utility to check the iBook hard drive .

[Zoom]

Originally posted by JKT:
If you have the Panther install discs, you can boot from them by holding down the C key. And you've already stated that you can install all the way up to 10.3.3 - if necessary, just re-install 10.3 and check and update your firmware once you've done that.

Alternatively, if the iBook has FireWire, you could couple it to your PowerMac G4 using a FW cable and boot the iBook in FW target disk mode (after hooking the two comps together, hold down the T key on the iBook as you restart and it will mount the iBooks hard drive on your PowerMac). You could also run Disk Utility to check the iBook hard drive .

At one point, yes, I had 10.3.3 installed. Now I can't install anything at all and it's a new hard drive (no OS). The Apple Store guys said they couldn't even image the hard drive the second time I took it back to them, which led them to believe it was a HD problem. Apparently, it's not. I could run the Disk Utility, but since it's a new drive, would that do anything?

Is it possible that I've actually installed newer drivers on the iBook that won't allow me to install an older version of 10.3? Where are the HD drivers stored? Where is the firmware stored?

I might try the FW mode. How does that work, exactly? The iBook boots from the PowerMac's OS? That's probably the way to go. The drive just looks like an external HD to the PowerMac? Can you do this with Ethernet, too? If not, I'll have to buy a special FW cable for this, right?

How do I update the firmware on the iBook from the PowerMac in target disk mode? Where do I get the firmware updaters (link, pls)?

Finally, would anyone recommend something like DiskWarrior or Drive 10 or TechTool Pro for this? Can TTP diagnose logic board or firmware issues?

Thanks for the help, folks. This is tricky stuff. I'm worried the the mobo is screwed up and I'm debating how much time and money I want to put into this. I could get a used iBook with better specs for not much more than Apple would charge to fix mine ($300).

[JKT]

Here's a description of what the firmware is

Originally posted by Zoom:
At one point, yes, I had 10.3.3 installed. Now I can't install anything at all and it's a new hard drive (no OS). The Apple Store guys said they couldn't even image the hard drive the second time I took it back to them, which led them to believe it was a HD problem. Apparently, it's not. I could run the Disk Utility, but since it's a new drive, would that do anything?

If you can boot from the Panther Installer CD, you can go to the Installer menu and run disk utility to check your disk and repair it. If it can't be repaired, you can use Disk Utility to erase the disk again and try re-installing from scratch (once you quit Disk Utility, you'll end up back at the installer).

I might try the FW mode. How does that work, exactly? The iBook boots from the PowerMac's OS? That's probably the way to go. The drive just looks like an external HD to the PowerMac? Can you do this with Ethernet, too? If not, I'll have to buy a special FW cable for this, right?

The iBook isn't booted from the PowerMac - it becomes an external hard drive on the PowerMac and mounts as one on the PM's desktop - you could then use the OS and software on the PowerMac to run some diagnostics (e.g. Disk Utility again) and as an alternative way to attempt an install of OS X onto the iBook - when you run the Panther installer disk on the PowerMac this time, you will get asked for an install destination at which point you can choose the iBook hard drive. This might also be a means to install the combo update as well - once again when you run the installer you could choose the iBook (once it has 10.3.0 on it) as the destination disk for the upgrade.

Also, you can use it as a means to install OS 9 on the iBook (which you may need to get the firmware installed as it happens). I'd try loading it up with OS 9 first and see if it boots from that. (You can simply copy your OS 9 system folder to the iBooks hard drive to install it).

How do I update the firmware on the iBook from the PowerMac in target disk mode? Where do I get the firmware updaters (link, pls)?

You can't do this from the PowerMac unfortunately - you have to have a functional OS on the iBook to update the firmware (and by the looks of it from the link above, you need OS 9 to do it as well). I'm suggesting FW target disk mode as an alternative means of trying to get OS X installed on your iBook.

Finally, would anyone recommend something like DiskWarrior or Drive 10 or TechTool Pro for this? Can TTP diagnose logic board or firmware issues?

As it is a new drive, there really shouldn't be any issues with it. I don't know if those can diagnose hardware issues such as failing mother boards.

Hope this all helps and isn't too confusing!

[JKT]

Just had a horrible thought - I'm not sure if FireWire Target Disk mode actually works without a functional OS on each computer. Only one way to find out I suppose!

You can't do this with ethernet as you need a functional OS to be able to set up the network.

[JKT]

Article on FireWire Target Disk Mode

Bugger, looks like you need a functional OS on the iBook for it to work... give it a shot anyway, it might still work. If it doesn't, then the installer CD and Disk Utility are your only hope at the moment.

One last thing you could do is to get an external firewire housing for 2.5" drives (I assume that is the size of your iBook hard drive) and use your PowerMac to install OS X etc onto your iBooks hard drive in that enclosure, then re-install it into your iBook.

[Zoom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not sure when I'll be able to do this since I need to buy a "crossover" FW cable first, but hopefully I can try these out sometime this weekend.

If anyone else has other suggestions, please let me know.

[msuper69]

Originally posted by Zoom:
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not sure when I'll be able to do this since I need to buy a "crossover" FW cable first, but hopefully I can try these out sometime this weekend.

If anyone else has other suggestions, please let me know.

Any 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable will work. There is no such thing as a crossover Firewire cable.

Also, after reading through the Apple Knowledge Base article on Firewire Target Disk Mode, I noticed that there is no operating system requirement for the target computer while there is for the host.

[Zoom]

Cool. I'll try that and see what happens. Thanks!

Somehow I was thinking that FW cables had A/B ends like USB cables, but you're right, they don't. It's the 6-pin/4-pin thing that made me think that.

[Zoom]

Hallelujah!!!!

Using target disk mode, I was able to install Panther again on the iBook, then run Software Update to install 10.3.5 and all the other stuff I needed!! I'm back, baby!!

This was weird, though. The Panther installer didn't offer any option to choose the target drive before forcing me to restart. I actually had to boot from the stupid Panther disk on my PowerMac to install onto the iBook. Thank God, the iBook remained in target mode when I restarted the PowerMac and I was able to choose it as the target for the install. When the install was over, it actually booted my PowerMac from the iBook! Wacky. It automatically ran SU after the install and suggested the 10.3.5 combo updater (along with a handful of other things). I ran it, and it worked! Okay, will iChat 2.1 failed, but 10.3.5 worked. Once that was done, I booted the iBook itself and ran SU and got iChat 2.1 along with QuickTime and Java.

So, after all that, I appear to be back in business with my iBook, with a larger hard drive!

HUGE thanks to everyone here for the help!

[JKT]

Proper job

Glad to see that it actually did work doing it that way - I wasn't 100% certain it would (I've only got so far as booting to the first stage of installation on a targeted disk as a test, but didn't go all the way, so to speak).

Now you have it up and running, what is your firmware on the iBook? Run Apple System Profiler and under the Hardware section see what the Boot ROM version is. It should be something like 4.1.7 for the iBook (I believe):



Edit: Don't you just love the flexibility of the MacOS for being able to do this type of thing. Not quite as good as Classic where you could just copy it and have it work as a bootable system, but still good

[mrchin]

I've had this difficulty on people's system. You should probably reset your PMU first. On an iBook; if it's Dual USB or Late 2001- no power or battery, hold reset button next to A/V port on left side for 5 seconds. Wait 10 sec, then power it up; any iBook newer - no power/battery, hold option, control, shift and power button for 5 sec, then wiat 10. Boot up.

When booting, boot to your 10.x CD. In Disk Utility, when you go to erase your HD, make sure Zero Data is checked in the options. The Zero is what finally resolves that issue. Once this is done, do a 2nd quick erase, unchecking the Zero option. Then continue with the installation. See how that works.