How to Install Leopard on G4 with no DVD Drive

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Level 2

220 points

How to Install Leopard on G4 with no DVD Drive

I have a G4 Quicksilver Dual 1GHZ and the internal optical drive is dead and I need to install OSX Leopard on the Computer

I also have a MacPro early 2008 Dual 2.8Ghz.

for the life of me I can't figure out a way to install Leopard onto the old G4.

I have tried the following

- Connected the G4 to the MacPro in FW Target Mode and installed Leopard via the Mac Pro.. the G4 won't boot from it, I guess Leopard installs only the necessary files to boot the MacPro and not the G4?

- Tried using the Optical drive from the MacPro conected to the G4 in Target mode, but the G4 doesn't see the install DVD in the MacPRo drive.

- Tried partitioning the G4 connected to the Mac Pro in Target mode, and did a "restore" of the Leopard DVD to the G4 hard drive. For some reason, the G4 still won't boot from it!

I'm now at a complete loss of what to do.

G4 Quicksilver Dual 1 GHz, Mac OS X (10.2)

Posted on Aug 22, 2011 6:53 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,225 points

Aug 22, 2011 7:00 PM in response to Tony Barone

The second method with the Install Disc in the MBP, the MBP booted into Target Mode, the MDD booted with the Option/alt, should work, unless it's a Grey machine specific Install Disc, which are all also only Intel.

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Answer 2

Tony Barone Author

Level 2

220 points

Aug 22, 2011 7:11 PM in response to BDAqua

The Leopard Installer DVD is for PowerPC, but like I said, when I have the G4 in Target mode to the MacPro, the installation works fine, but for some reason the G4 still won't boot from it. I tried holding Option at startup, it doesn't show any drives.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,225 points

Aug 22, 2011 8:58 PM in response to Tony Barone

like I said, when I have the G4 in Target mode to the MacPro, the installation works fine, but for some reason the G4 still won't boot from it.

But the MBP only installs the MBp/Intel version perhaps, what Format & partition scheme is reported from the MBP for the G4's Drive?

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Answer 4

Tony Barone Author

Level 2

220 points

Aug 23, 2011 4:39 AM in response to BDAqua

Apple Partition Map... originally it said GUID after I re-formatted, but I made sure to re-do it as Apple Partition Map.

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Answer 5

Tony Barone Author

Level 2

220 points

Aug 23, 2011 4:44 AM in response to BDAqua

I'm not clear on what you're saying here. It may be what my theory is...

Is the MacPro, which is Intel, installing the Intel Version of Leopard and not the PPC/Intel information?

I don't understand why doing a restore of the Install DVD to the G4's Hard Drive doesn't work. It should start up from it, shouldn't it?

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Answer 6

Tony Barone Author

Level 2

220 points

Aug 23, 2011 6:07 AM in response to BDAqua

What makes this whole ordeal even stranger is that the G4 will boot off it's internal DVD drive from the Leopard Install Disk, but when installing Leopard, it craps out about halfway saying it couldn't verify something on the DVD.

I've tried the Apple Hardware Test DVD and it loads, but the mouse pointer is frozen so I can't click on anything.

The startup chime is fine, and like I said, the internal HD appears on my other computer in Target mode, I just can't get the G4 to boot from it... but the G4 does "see" the internal drive because when starting from the Leopard Install DVD it lets me re-format it and such with Disk Utility, and will install the OS until about halfway through.

Do you think its a hardware problem?

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,225 points

Aug 23, 2011 9:49 AM in response to Tony Barone

Whew, it is very strange, might be Hardware.

Have you tried reducing the Install options, like fewer languages, Fonts, Apps, etc to see if it maybe finishes?

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Answer 8

Tony Barone Author

Level 2

220 points

Aug 23, 2011 9:52 AM in response to BDAqua

yeah, I tried reducing the install options. I'm going to see if I have an earlier OSX version I can try installing, or try booting it from my even older G3 Pismo in Target mode or something.. just to see if I can get the thing started up,

I would think if its a hardware problem that it wouldn't even boot the install DVD

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

239,225 points

Aug 23, 2011 12:39 PM in response to Tony Barone

Well, some hardware problems won't show up until it heats up enough, or until a certain spot in RAM is needed, or certain multitaskung things are taking place.

One way we used to test CPUs & RAM on macs was to create a huge DMG while pplaying iTunes & running Power Fractal.

Do you have AHT for that G4?

Boot off your Apple Hardware Test Disc , then run the extended Apple Hardware Test. Your model would have a separate AHT CD.

Here's the list and downloads for AHT for some G4 models if you don't find yours, some G4s only have it on the Original Install Disc...

http://www.info.apple.com/support/aht.html

The Memory test can really only be trusted if it finds a problem, not if it doesn't find a problem. 😟

Memtest OS X...

http://www.memtestosx.org/joomla/index.php

Rember is a freeware GUI for the memtest ...

http://tech.kateva.org/2005/10/rember-freeware-memory-test-utility.html

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