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Best way to install an OS in this situation - and which OS anyhoo?

I have an early 2008 Mac Pro that's new to me, it doesn't have a Mac OS installed (the previous owner just had Windows installed - BOO!😝).


I've installed a new blank HD in this 2008 Mac Pro for a system drive, and it's jsut sitting there ready for a snazzy new OS. 😁


I have a Snow Leopard install disk that the previous owner supplied. When I load it into the optical drive bay and hold option at startup I get the disc selection display, I select the install DVD, things start spinning, but soon it hangs on a graphically corrupted looking Apple logo screen. I've left it overnight like that just in case, but of course it was still just sitting there like that.


Hey I don't even know if that's a good way to install the OS though. I do have a PPC G5 sitting here and am thinking I could install an OS from it to the newer machine via firewire?


Or in a real pinch I could put that blank new HD in my G5, install an OS on it, then put it back into the newer Mac Pro....?


Then there's the question of do I install this pesky Snow Leopard, then upgarde to Mountain Lion, or go straight to Mountan Lion or WHA?? 😕 This Mac will be used for audio production.


Thanks.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 8 core, 2.8 Ghz, 16 GB RAM

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 11:25 AM

Reply
19 replies

Jan 25, 2013 11:31 AM in response to Bejeeber

Give this a try:


Booting From An OS X Installer Disc


1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.

2. Restart the computer.

3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.

4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo

appears.

5. Wait for installer to finish loading.


If you still have a problem then start considering possible reasons:


  1. Distorted video may mean a defective GPU.
  2. The Snow Leopard DVD is defective or dirty.
  3. The optical drive's laser is dirty.


You cannot boot an Intel computer from a PPC version of OS X such as for your G5. Don't bother with it.

Jan 25, 2013 12:02 PM in response to Bejeeber

Confirm what graphic card it has.


ML can work, some do just fine, but a number of people went back and stuck with 10.6.8: they need PowerPC and Rosetta, power management seems better and fewer issues.


If you won't use Windows but have a Windows DVD then nuke and zero the drive totally first, then boot from Mac OS 10.6.x DVD.


G5s just the OS being present is trouble enough, as said, it won't boot or load at all.


And you should zap PRAM from cold boot to clear up nvram.


Try the DVD w/o any disk drive inside, just slide it out while shutdown, it should be able to boot the DVD that way just fiine.

Jan 25, 2013 12:49 PM in response to Bejeeber

Mac Pro
Date introduced


Original Mac OS X included
(see Tips 1 and 3)

Later Mac OS X included
(see Tip 1)

Mac OS X Build(s)
(see Tip 2)

Mac Pro (Mid 2012) Jun 2012 10.7.3 10.8 11D2001, 12A269
Mac Pro (Mid 2010) Aug 2010 10.6.4 10.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.3 10F2521, 10F2554, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001
Mac Pro with Mac OS X Server (Mid 2010) Aug 2010 10.6.4 10.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.3 (Server) 10F2522, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001 (Server)
Mac Pro (Early 2009) Mar 2009 10.5.6 10.6 9G3553, 10A432
Mac Pro (Early 2008)

Jan 2008

10.5.1

10.5.2, 10.5.4

9B2117, 9C2031, 9E25
Mac Pro

Aug 2006

10.4.7

10.4.8, 10.4.9, 10.4.10, 10.5

8K1079, 8N1430, 8N1250, 8K1124, 8P4037, 8R3032, 8R3041, 9A581, 9A3129


.


So a 2008 model that is working correctly should boot any genuine Apple, pressed, silkscreened, "Full Retail" DVD after 10.5.1


.

Jan 25, 2013 4:03 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks tons everyone,


Sheesh, starting to fear now that I still have graphics card issues while trying to get this thing up and running, despite having recently ordered and installed this one from macvidcards:


Nvidia GT120 for 2008 & up Mac Pro Dual DVI


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-GT120-for-2008-up-Mac-Pro-Dual-DVI-DaVinci-Resolv e-Runs-2-30-/230840996693?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160


I've tried holding C on startup a few times and these were the results:


Gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear appears fine, and sits there doing that for a good while, while I hear the optical drive being accessed, then at one point the gear stops, and all goes graphically to ****, where either the apple logo gets a horizontal dropout running across it with some fluttery/sketchy looking vertical noise, or the screen goes to blank gray on the top 1/3, black on the bottom 2/3. The sound of the DVD being read soon thereafter stops.


Once during this process I got a "no signal input check video cable" message.


I believe I have ruled out these:


  1. The Snow Leopard DVD is defective or dirty.
  2. The optical drive's laser is dirty.


.....because when I boot with Windows from the Windows drive that is still in there - knowing that this is not a Windows video card I have installed - I get the same sort of results: the "Starting Windows" screen with it's hi-def *throbbing* logo graphic looks perfectly fine, and even the next admin screen comes up perfect sometimes. Then the graphics become corrupted and it flashes a DOS looking screen with stuff like 'preventing damage' and 'attempting to reset the display driver' before it re-boots itself.


When I had a windows vid card still installed Windows booted fine.


I've zapped the PRAM from cold boot to clear up nvram.


Also, have tried both reseating the graphics card in it's slot 1 and moving it to slot 2


Will try the DVD w/o any disk drive inside Hatter, if you think that is still worth trying.

Jan 25, 2013 4:10 PM in response to Bejeeber

The hardware could also be defective. Remember that OSX accesses parts of your logic board Windows cannot even see to ensure it's on real Apple hardware. Failures with these parts of the board would cause completely unpredictable results and also explain the reason that the last user has only installed Windows (which would have required deliberatly deleting a OSX partition after the installation and thus severing backup options - frankly a silly thing to do)

Jan 25, 2013 4:17 PM in response to Bejeeber

I don;t see why things would be any differnt. If you have another Mac, it may be smarter to install to another Mac and then take the hard drive across. If you have no Macs that can take a full sized SATA hard drive and no enclosures knocking around then you may dismiss this idea to a 'if nothing else works' move, but if not it's probably the most reliable way to do so.


BTW have you tried booting from your laptop in target disk mode to see if it isn't an issue with the Apple parts of your Mac or the drive itself?

Jan 25, 2013 4:46 PM in response to Bejeeber

If you are booting a Mac Pro from an Appropriate genuine Apple "full Retail" DVD later than the version I mentioned above, the DVD is an "Incorruptible" source of software.


The Mac Pro uses Error Correcting Code Memory --single errors are corrected on the fly with no slowdown and double-bit errors halt with a Kernel panic. It's not a Memory Hardware problem. Mac OS X runs with memory protection on -- attempts to write out-of-bounds cause a kernel panic with Memory Protection Fault or Page Fault. The software is not going crazy.

all goes graphically to ****, where either the apple logo gets a horizontal dropout running across it with some fluttery/sketchy looking vertical noise, or the screen goes to blank gray on the top 1/3, black on the bottom 2/3.


Those are graphics Hardware issues, not signs of software problems,

Jan 25, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Kappy

I dont know if you have coverd this already but I am trying to help my son who is an ER doc. His Imac internal HDD died and he has been running 10.5 from an external. I persuaded him to get 10.6 and he tried installing it (after an overnight session in the ER!) and after holding the C etc. it got to 20% and hung. I suggested he try a reset by removing power etc. but he has a ? on screen which I believe means it cant find the internal HDD. Apart from replacing the internal which he should have done a year ago (but apple wanted about $500 to do it!) is disk utility likely to be available from the external which he may have messed up by now with the aborted install attempt? If not, any other suggestions? If you ARE in vancouver you should know that we are freezing here in Montreal!

Jan 25, 2013 10:21 PM in response to Bejeeber

Bejeeber wrote:


Or in a real pinch I could put that blank new HD in my G5, install an OS on it, then put it back into the newer Mac Pro....?


In case you are not aware, software written for the G5, known as PowerPC applications, requires Rosetta to be installed for it to work in emulation on the newer Intel CPU Macs. Snow Leopard has this as an option install (I also recommend you install QuickTime 7 if you go with Snow Leopard).


If you go up to Lion or Mt. Lion, you will lose Rosetta and its ability to run these PowerPC apps.


Do you have any plans to continue to run this software on Lion or Mt. Lion, and if so, which apps are they (so we can advise you appropriately).

Jan 26, 2013 1:07 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

I do have a heckuva lot of software in the form of audio/music apps, much of it as plug-ins that I use in Logic.


And I do hope to be able to open and run still fully functioning versions of my past Logic 8 projects, plug-ins and all.


Here's some of my software I'll need to keep running, most (or all?) of which I believe there are Intel versions of, which I won't be aver$e to upgrading to:


Vienna Symphonic Library

Sample Manager

Redmatica EXS manager Pro

Retrospect 6

Audio damage Discord 2

Audio damage Replicant

Audio damage Vapor

AudioEase Altiverb 6

AudioEase Rivber Run

Camell Audio CamelPhat

Camell Audio CamelSpace

Melodyne Plug-in Celemony

digitalfishphones blockfish

Amplitube X-Gear

Amplitube 2

Amplitube Jimi Hendrix

IK Multimedia Sampletron

Line 6 Gearbox

Line 6 POD farm

Native Instruments Absynth 3 and 4

Native Instruments Komplete 5

Native Instruments Stormdrum

Native Instruments Symphonic Choirs

Native Instruments EWQLSO

PSPaudioware Mix Pack

PSPaudioware Nitro

Sofftube Tube Delay

Prosoniq Morph

Waves L1

Vicomsoft FTP client

Jan 26, 2013 5:56 AM in response to Bejeeber

Logic itself will work fine in OSX, but beware that I have heard running Logic 8 in 0.7 or later is a pain and unsupported.


As for your plugins. there are a few I know have issues.


EWQLSO's built in plugin interface is PPC only and uses EWQL PLAY or Kontakt on intel Macs. It ill be fine for making new stuff but you will lose the ability to just open up old files (you will have to load the new plugin and load the patch/ program the settings again). Absynth 3 I think has similar problems and fails L9 verification too.


I can confirm every other one works (with updates) except the follwing which I have not used or seen used:


Sample Manager

Retrospect 6

Audio damage Replicant

Audio damage Vapor

AudioEase Rivber Run

digitalfishphones blockfish

Amplitube X-Gear

Vicomsoft FTP client

Best way to install an OS in this situation - and which OS anyhoo?

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