Disk images failed to mount: not recognized.

No, Apple didn't change anything to get you to buy something. You sound like you have a hardware or software issue that is affecting the ability of the Disk Utility to mount images.

Note these tips for upgrading, and if you are unable to upgrade using these tips, I suspect a hardware or software issue somewhere:

http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html

Caches are the first suspect. You might want to try creating a second administrator account and install from that.

Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Rayzbo,
You may be surprised what can change under the hood to make things different. RAM can fail at anytime. Hard disks can fail at anytime. Discs which become overfull can lose directories attributes, or when you force shut down instead of use the Apple menu to shut down can lose directory attributes. And third party software installers can ruin permissions which need to be repaired. 9.2.2 can have many INIT conflicts, Type 41 errors, Type 11 errors, and directory errors too as well as a dialup that automatically dials when you don't want it too. No operating system is perfect. Let's work on resolving whatever issue is causing your problem, and not try to blame the bigger picture when all that will do is get you to assume worse than is true.

Rayzbo,
See if there is a firmware update for your machine.
I've had to do this on a couple of our older Dual 1000 G4's.
Here you go:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117>