How to boot Mac OS X Tiger directly from DVD drive (iMac G5 w. superdrive)

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How to boot Mac OS X Tiger directly from DVD drive (iMac G5 w. superdrive)

I have a iMac G5 20" (first generation) with superdrive and wireless keyboard and mouse.
The update from Mac OS X 10.4.3 to 10.4.4 totally screwed up my iMac na dit doesn't start up anymore. The screen either stays black, or the utmost the grey screen with the Apple logo appears.

Now I would like to boot up my iMac from the DVD-drive (superdrive) with my Tiger installation DVD and do an "archive and install". But how can I do that?

Thanks for any help.

iMac G5, 20", 1GByte RAM, superdrive Mac OS X (10.4.4)

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Jan 19, 2006 12:35 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

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85,366 points

Jan 19, 2006 4:07 AM in response to Tenforward

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

First off, I don't think the update did that. Verify your keyboard and mouse have fully charged batteries. If your data isn't backed up, get Prosoft Data Rescue from:

http://www.prosofteng.com/

and an external hard disk, and attempt to recover your data first.

Use Option key booting (you may need a wired Apple keyboard to do that):

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178

As for the gray screen, see this article:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464

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Answer 2

Tenforward Author

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Jan 19, 2006 4:57 PM in response to a brody

thanks for your tips.

My batteries of my wireless keyboard and mouse are fully loaded. But since they connect later in the OS X startup process, holding the Option key or "C" key during startup doesn't work for me to make my iMac booting from the DVD drive.

Is there no other way to make my iMac boot from the DVD drive? I guess, Apple should have thought about a solution for iMacs with wireless keyboards

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Answer 3

Fatih

Level 2

305 points

Jan 19, 2006 5:23 PM in response to Tenforward

Hi Tenforward,

Shortest way, to use usb keyboard and mouse of your iMac, if it's still there.

Fatih

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Answer 4

Tenforward Author

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Jan 19, 2006 8:15 PM in response to Fatih

Is it possible to use a PC keyboard with the iMac G5?

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Answer 5

Fatih

Level 2

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Jan 20, 2006 1:12 AM in response to Tenforward

Hi Tenforward,

I have no any idea if a Win keybord is compatible with Mac hardware.
But, I mean the USB keyboard that came with your iMac.

Fatih

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Answer 6

Tenforward Author

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Jan 20, 2006 7:46 AM in response to Fatih

Fatih, I bought my iMac with wireless keyboard and mouse, so I don't have a USB keyboard. 😟

Tenforward

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Answer 7

a brody

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85,366 points

Jan 20, 2006 12:32 PM in response to Tenforward

No solution that I'm aware of for wireless. MacAlly also makes boot sequence shrotcut compatible keyboards. You can make it boot from the DVD drive if you can boot off the hard drive and select Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Startup Disk. Of course if your hard drive is unbootable, you are in a catch-22 situation.

The problem for wireless is to make it able to detect the wireless device as the first step in the boot sequence.

Given that Mac Mini's were the first Macs sold without a keyboard and marketed as able to connect to PC keyboards, I can only surmise that some PC keyboards can do it. Remember the Alt key on most PC keyboards transposes to become the Option key when connected to a Mac. See if that works. If not, then I'd contact your local Apple reseller to get a wired keyboard that works.

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Answer 8

Tenforward Author

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Jan 21, 2006 1:03 AM in response to Tenforward

well, now after many tries, it somehow became now posible to startup from the DVD drive by pressing "C" key on the wireless keyboard! I'm not sure why it didn't work when I tried it the first few times. (the batteries were fully loaded and I didn't change them in between.)

Anyway, thanks for the help so far... even though my problem is not solved yet. 😟
After booting from the Mac OS X Tiger installation DVD, I run the disk utility to repair permissions, after this I tried to repair my harddisk, but it failed. repair disk is telling me:

"First Aid failed
Disk utility stop repairing "Macintosh HD"
because the following error was encountered:

The underlying taks reported failure on exit"

I tried to make make an "archive and install", but this is getting aborted.
Now, before re-formatting my HD and doing a complete reinstall, I would like to do a backup of my personal files to my external harddrive.

How can I do this?
Is it possible to use the Finder when I start up from the Mac OS X Tiger DVD?

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