mac os x tiger for imac g4 needed

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Level 1

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mac os x tiger for imac g4 needed

Hi,

Some weeks ago I bought an iMac G4 at eBay for my son. The problem is, that the system was not delivered together with the original Mac OS X operating system CD/DVD ... The iMac came pre-installed with Tiger 10.4.11 but the system works instable, so that I would like to re-install the operating system. Where can I get a budget installation CD/DVD? How do I find the correct version, because the offers in eBay differ by "retail", "upgrade", "update", "only for Macbook Pro", etc.?

Thanks a lot for a quick feedback 🙂

Raimund

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), iMac G4 PPC, 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM

Posted on Nov 5, 2011 1:34 PM

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Answer 1

MGW

Level 7

27,047 points

Nov 5, 2011 2:34 PM in response to raipfi

You can only use a retail version of Tiger, or a retail version of Leopard. The grey install discs are machine specific and won't work for you. You might be able to contact Apple and see if they have the install discs for your machine or perhaps they have Tiger or Leopard.

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Answer 2

Nov 5, 2011 3:31 PM in response to raipfi

Indeed; contact Apple customer services with the model and serial number of the G4. They may be able to supply the original discs, although they certainly won't be Tiger: could be 10.1 or 10.2

If buying online, ensure you get a retail version of Tiger - the disc is black with an X on it.

Grey ones are from another computer and won't load, nor will upgrade or update discs.

Miriam says maybe Leopard? I don't think so with the specs you posted. Besides, Leopard discs are expensive to come by - €130 and up.

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Answer 3

MGW

Level 7

27,047 points

Nov 5, 2011 4:26 PM in response to noondaywitch

Thank you, noondaywitch, for validating and echoing my reply, it's alwys nice to know that others agree with one.

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Answer 4

raipfi Author

Level 1

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Nov 6, 2011 3:29 AM in response to raipfi

Thank you noondaywitch for your quick response!

To make sure, that we talk about the same system configuration of the iMac I took a look into the system profiler:

Hardware

800 Mhz PPC G4, CPU-Type 2.1

768 MB SDRAM

Bus-Speed 100 MHz

FireWire 400 MBit/s

Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R1312

60 GB HDD

Operating System

Mac OS X 10.4.11 (8S165)

Kernel Darwin 8.11.0

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Answer 5

raipfi Author

Level 1

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Nov 6, 2011 3:32 AM in response to raipfi

Thank you Miriam for the quick response!

I will try to get support by Apple but I think they will offer only the Leopard-version because this was part of the iMac bundle.

Raimund

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Answer 6

Nov 6, 2011 5:03 AM in response to raipfi

For Leopard;

System Requirements

Min Hard Drive Space: 9 GB
Min Processor Type: PowerPC G4 - 867 MHz
Min RAM Size: 512 MB
Peripheral / Interface Devices: DVD-ROM

So your G4 is slightly underpowered processor-wise. Might work, but it's a bit expensive to find out.

Amazon UK marketplace currently has 10.5 available for £118.95 (about €138).

They also have Tiger from £124 and up (€144).

Pretty expensive really. You may be able to find it cheaper on eBay etc., but beware of what you're getting.

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