Booting from an external DVD drive to install Tiger

Hello Everyone, I had this same problem trying to install Tiger from an external firewire drive onto my iMac G3. It is easily solved by restarting holding down Command, Option, Shift and Delete. This forces your computer to boot from the external DVD drive. I can't remember if it is the left or right hand side Shift key so you may need a couple of tries to get it to work but I have used this method on at least four occasions and it really does work.

Hello Heidi, O.K. wrong verb. It's an command and it works and does no harm. I haven't tried with Leopard as my old iMac CRT works brilliantly with Tiger and I understand that G3 processor Macs are not supported for Leopard. Good Luck

Ok, I gave myself a few moments of peace to think of that ...
1- the problem occurs when I boot, so the OS is "innocent"
2- when I load the start up menu (with the option key held down) I see both of the drives (HD and External Firewire DVD drive), so it can't be a "power" problem...
3- when I insert a DVD (movie for example), the drive reads it when connected via USB 2.0 and doesn't via Firewire, so the drive is unable to read (or reads slowly)? a Driver problem?
4- when I shutdown the iMac with the external drive connected via the USB port, the drive shuts down too, while it doesn't when it's connected via the FW one...

To me it's a driver problem.. Any idea?

Today I had a talk with a guy working for an Apple Authorized Reseller and he told me he already installed Tiger from an external USB drive (while holding the C button).
Is it sci-fi or is there a way to "force" a Mac to boot from a USB 2.0 interface (which will save my life)...

Hedi ®:

Is it sci-fi or is there a way to "force" a Mac to boot from a USB 2.0 interface (which will save my life)...

Not even sci-fi; pure fi. What will save your life is getting a Firewire enclosure, removing the drive from the USB enclosure and installing it in the FW enclosure.

Cheers 🙂

cornelius

imac007,

I posted that info, in My Reply HERE.

So I believe that is the procedure being used.

ali b

I also had the idea to zap the PRAM, when I try to boot here is what happens:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1203080&tstart=0

Is this a FireWire or USB drive? Your Mac cannot boot from an external USB drive.

According to Cornelius' instructions you should already be booted on the Install disk to run Repair Permissions. At that point you simple have to install Tiger, not reboot.

Note that, to use the External DVD Drive, you must "...insert the DVD into it and restart your Mac while holding the “Option” key."

Here is a video, it is more descriptive...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQs2n1vxpkw

I apologize the [ is a typo. The last command is just reset-all

Your solution seems to be interesting, but the verb "force the Mac" is annoying... Look at all these people who finally installed Leopard and having a lot of problems...
Or am I wrong?

You have to have an Intel Mac to be able to boot from a USB drive. Earlier than that only Firewire will work, and you have your mac down as a G5.