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mysteriousal · Oct 31, 2004, 01:09 PM

Hi guys-

I am trying to breathe life into my retired G4 350.

I'm trying to install OSX 10.1, from a disc that came with my quicksilver machine.

The installation seems to go well, until the very last minute when I get a message saying that the installation failled, and couldn't be written... Or something to that effect...

Could it be the small scratches on my CD?

Is there anything I can do to help the situation?

Please help!

al

Mafia · Oct 31, 2004, 01:13 PM

what hardware do you have in the g4?

mysteriousal · Oct 31, 2004, 01:23 PM

Hi there-

Hardware? It has two hard drives, the stock 10GB one, and an 80GB second drive (internal).

There's also about 330mb RAM, and that's all!

I am trying to install on the stock 10GB drive, btw.

I haven't tried installing on the 80GB drive, as it has data on it that I could use. I can overwrite it as a last resort, though.....

lpetschauer · Oct 31, 2004, 06:40 PM

I have a friend who's running Panther on his (I think) blueberry iBook, so a disc problem seems likely.

Captain Obvious · Oct 31, 2004, 07:53 PM

Yes, it could be damaged CDs.
But why in heavens name would you want to run 10.1 on anything? It is far too slow to use on a regular basis. There are pretty cheap copies of Jaguar out there (10.2) and Panther can be had for around $70.

tkmd · Oct 31, 2004, 09:59 PM

Yes make sure to use Panther - its faster. Look for a chip ugrade from here

mysteriousal · Oct 31, 2004, 10:18 PM

Thanks for your replies!

Firstly, I'm going to 10.1 because I already have the disks! My G5 and Quicksilver are at the studio now, so I need my (trusty) G4 at home to work on occasionally (Flash, illustrator) and check mail.

If I get anywhere with this copy of 10.1 then I will surely upgrade to Panther.

Secondly- I tried another possible fix of doing a custom install without all the additional languages.... To no avail...

I think something is seriously wrong- Installation takes a very long time, and always messes up at the last minute. 'Reading' the languages takes a long, lonmg time.

Discs worked fine on my Quicksilver, and my imac. Could it be a HDD problem>?

Please, please help!

Captain Obvious · Oct 31, 2004, 10:57 PM

If you want help you will need to first give us the exact message you get when the installation fails. But it could be the older optical drive just is more sensitive to the scratched media than the other two computers. If that is the case then switch out the drive from the Quicksilver and put it in the sawtooth or Yikes!
But to be honest it is a waste of time to install 10.1 on that thing. The OS is too slow on its own and it will be worse on such a slow G4 with that small amount of RAM. If you are already planning on using Panther on this machine why waste the time installing 10.1? I can see no valid reason anyone should be running anything less than Jaguar when it can be bought under $40 bucks from any number of places.

If you are worried about the HDD being the problem zero it out and reformat it with OSX disk utility. That should be able to find any bad blocks.

Have you upgraded the firmware?

Captain Obvious · Oct 31, 2004, 11:06 PM

I was wrong, under $30 bucks

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Pa...ves&Template=1

Do yourself a favor and forget 10.1

mysteriousal · Nov 1, 2004, 08:20 AM

Thanks for your help, Captain Obvious!

Last night I got a Kernel Panic error whilst trying the smae instalation.

Firstly, the thing bluescreened, and told me to press return to restart.

After that, it gave me about thirty lines of code, with the line "We are hanging here..." at the end!

Very strange.

I have a copy of panther on the disks that came with my G5... Could I try installing from these until I get around to ordering a new copy?

jamil5454 · Nov 1, 2004, 08:46 AM

Can it read DVDs?

Captain Obvious · 09:13 AM

Originally posted by mysteriousal:

I have a copy of panther on the disks that came with my G5... Could I try installing from these until I get around to ordering a new copy?

No, Apple made it so that the install CDs that come with computers since like 99' only work in the same model machine that it came with. So even a Sawtooth G4 install CD will not work in an MDD G4. Needless to say, that G5 DVD will only work in a G5. You need retail install disks.

But that kernel panic is rather odd since you weren't getting it before. Update your firmware, run a RAM checker program (post the results), remove the second harddrive, and then zero the one you are doing the install on. If there is anything like PCI cards that you added on later take them out until you are done trying to install OSX.

If you get that code again copy it down and post it. Someone around here will tell you what it means.

Seriously though, buy Jaguar. In 8 months we all have to pay the $130 for Tiger so consider Jag a small investment to tide you over until then. Panther is great but 10.4 is coming though far out enough that you shouldn't have to use 10.1 until it does. Suck up the thirty bucks and get it or try eBay

DrBoar · Nov 1, 2004, 10:33 AM

Take the other HD to work and install on the Quicksilver
Make images of the 10.1 install CDs an put on that HD.
Take home HD and mount the images. It should install much faster from a HD than CDs.

tooki · Nov 1, 2004, 11:31 AM

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
No, Apple made it so that the install CDs that come with computers since like 99' only work in the same model machine that it came with. So even a Sawtooth G4 install CD will not work in an MDD G4. Needless to say, that G5 DVD will only work in a G5. You need retail install disks.

Absolutely, positively wrong.

For a period up to 1999 (up to but excluding Mac OS 9), the discs were hardware-specific. Beginning with Mac OS 9, they stopped doing that, and no Mac OS X installer has ever been hardware-specific. I know from first hand experience that G5 installer DVDs work just fine all the way back to a blue and white G3 (the oldest Power Mac supported by Panther).

The only thing that IS true is that you cannot use an OS older than what your machine shipped with, so no, you couldn't use a Sawtooth G4's install disc on a MDD G4, because the disc predates that hardware.

tooki

dabigdawg · Nov 1, 2004, 05:48 PM

I concur with tooki - I have actually used the Disc from my G5 on my G4 Yikes! box to install from when i could not find my Regular Panther discs. And I agree with everyone else here stay away from 10.1 not worth the trouble or headaches you will have.

mysteriousal · Nov 1, 2004, 08:56 PM

Many thanks, guys-

I will try installing from my G5 panther disks and let you know the results....

mysteriousal · Nov 2, 2004, 04:25 PM

Well, this is looking really horrible-

I'm getting the same, Very long Kernel panic. Saying:

panic(cpu 0): Unable to find driver for this platform: "PowerMac3,1".

(Then loads of codes and numbers.....)

With this at the end:

Kernel Version:
Darwin Kernel Version 1.4:
Sun Sup 9 15:39:59 PDT 2001: root:xnu/xnu-201.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC

Panic: We are hanging here...

I think I've totally destroyed it....

Please help!

mysteriousal · Nov 2, 2004, 05:20 PM

Fixed it!

The drive needed to be re-formatted before installation!

I'm so dumb!

Thanks all for the help!