Clean install of Panther? Office Setup Assistant will not boot

Question

Clean install of Panther? Office Setup Assistant will not boot

Hi All

I have installed Panther 10.3 over 10.2.4. To do this I purchased the install disks for Panther 10.3 off ebay; this was because I bought my Powermac (also off ebay) but unfortunately it did not come with OS installation disks.

When I received the 10.3 disks the first (of the three) states that it is an 'Install Disk', but it also states underneath that that it is 'Update Disk'. I remember installing this on my computer, and it did not give me the option (on restarting and then holding down the C key) to format the hard-drive and then re-install with a fresh OS. How can I do this? Will these (update) disks allow it? I did try to re-install using these disks over the top of the 10.3.9 I have now updated via Software Update, but it would not allow me to since there was a more up-to-date OSX on the destination drive.

The reason I want to install with a fresh OS is because I think the underlying OS still affects the overall architecture. I could be wrong here, but in the ATA Device Tree, where the hard drive is detailed under System Profiler, the File System is 'Journaled HFS+' and the BSD is 'diskOs9'; is this correct?

The main problem this is causing is when I have been trying to install MS Office 2004 recently using the 'Office Setup Assistant'. The Assistant bounces in an attempt to load, but then stops and cannot run. I have consequently had to drag and drop Office into the hard drive, and it works, but numerous features are missing (i.e. Spell Checker), and I am unsure how to connect them all manually.

So, this could either be an OS problem or a MS Office problem, I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks

Dave

Powermac G4, 400MHz, 256, 18Gb Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 7, 2006 2:29 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 7, 2006 4:02 PM in response to David Moore18

Hi David

As far as I can recall [and it could have been os 9 (so I could be wrong)] the installation of Office is not done using an installer program but by dragging the folder containing the applications and anciliary files over onto your hard disk.

The Set up Assistant is just that, it helps you to set up not install.

This may be of some help (or not)

Eurion

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Answer 2

Mar 7, 2006 5:25 PM in response to David Moore18

Hi David,

I'm having problems following your efforts so I'll state some procedures for a normal upgrade.

First, an upgrade set of disks are not full install. The cost of those disks is significantly lower since the license is with the original install disk. Since you did not have an original install disk the upgrade disk will limit your options to upgrading an existing installation. If you erase the installation you have you won't be able to get anything. So don't attempt to erase anything at this point.

Your options are to purchase a full install set of disks for Panther and sell the upgrade disk you have or to purchase a full install of Jaguar, install that and then use your upgrade disks to get to Panther.(This may be the cheaper option). Once you have a full install set of disks, you will be able to erase and reformat the hard drive and still get an operating system on your computer.

In either event, make sure that before and after installing Jaguar/Panther and the combo updates you repair permissions. Especially if you do anything with Jaguar. Permission issues can and do affect the ability of programs(like the office assistant) to operate correctly. Also, note that I said use the combo updater. It is a separate download from Apple. Using the Software Update panel for system updates can be problematic. The combo updaters are better.

For your ATA bus on the boot drive the HFS+ journaled is correct. I'm not sure what "the BSD is 'diskOs9'" means. BSD is the kernel that X runs on but why that would be in your ATA device tree is a mystery. Was this on the hard drive when you got the comupter? Perhaps the seller had a partition with BSD on it.

Hopefully when you get the above sorted out, the Office insaller will work as it should.

Jaguar can be purchased on ebay or here

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/software/

Combo updaters are from Apple. Here is 10.3.9

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1039.html

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2006 11:20 AM in response to Carl Jerris

Hi Carl

Thanks for the detailed response, much appreciated.

You have confirmed my fears that I was sold an upgrade set of disks and not a clean install set (oh the joys of ebay). Now since the HFS+ is correct I am unsure if there is any need to clean install OSX for the sake of the Office Setup Assistant (after all, Office appears to run perfectly, it just states that Spell Checker is not installed on my machine when I try to use it). This is even more the case since I intend on buying a MacBook Pro as soon as funds permit (I may order within a week or so); I will then be able to install Office on there and this Mac will be mainly used for browsing.

Whilst I am waiting for the MacBook I guess the question I am asking is how do I install the rest of Office so that the Spell Checker (and anything else) works? If you cannot answer this, where would I be able to find out do you think?

For future reference also, what are and how do I repair the permissions?

Thanks for the tip on Combo Updaters, I will perhaps employ this method when I get my MBP.

Many thanks again,

Dave

Powermac G4, 400MHz, 256, 18Gb Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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Answer 4

Mar 9, 2006 12:38 PM in response to David Moore18

I'll take the easy question first.

To repair permissions, open Disk Utility in the utilities folder.

It will scan your hard drive/s and list them to the left. Select the boot drive, select First Aid tab and you will get a window that allows you to repair permissions. Don't bother with Verify Permissions.

Just click it and let it run. It will take from a couple of minutes to 10 minutes depending on the speed of your mac and the installation you have.

It is possible that this will allow the spell checker to run or allow a reinstallation to put it on your hard drive. X has a built in spell checker and it is possible that the Office Suite interfaces with that spell checker. If this does not help then I would see if there is a MS Office forum maintained by MS like Adobe has for their applications.

There are forums that specialize in Office but I have no experience with them.

Here is one.

http://www.macfixitforums.com/php/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=OfficeX

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