Problems installing Leopard on a Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5...help!

Hello Michael, sorry for taking ages to respond!

Well, the replacement DVD arrived and this is what happened. I have 2 hard drives in my G5. The one which has Tiger is called Untitled, and this is the one that has been giving my trouble as described above. Basically, I couldn't install the replacement DVD and update Tiger on this drive - same problems with the DVD verification stage not completing and telling me to clean my DVD etc.

Anyway, I thought I would have a go at installing the replacement DVD on to my second drive, called Spare, as I don't think there was any system software actually installed on this one. This time though, when it got to the verification stage, I skipped it, and success!! It actually installed and so I have Leopard back again, but on a different hard drive! So now I have one hard drive with Tiger and one with Leopard. Only trouble is that my design software was installed in the Tiger drive (Untitled), so when I try and open them in the Leopard drive (Spare), they won't! So, I'll have to reinstall them on the Leopard drive I guess.

I don't understand why I can't update Tiger with this replacement DVD, I haven't tried skipping the DVD verification stage yet on the Untitled drive, perhaps it would update if I tried that. I may give that a shot as soon as I've got my design software on the Leopard drive. I'm assuming if the Untitled drive (with Tiger) screws up during another installation attempt, the other hard drive with Leopard should be unaffected?

Thanks for reading!

Adam

Hello BDAqua, thanks for your feedback on this! When I get back to my G5, I'll try to verify the Leopard install disk with Disk Utility, on 10.4.11. If there are problems on Disk Utility, then I'll refrain from attempting another install, and probably look for another disk.

Regarding your comment about the optical drive having problems. Thing is, if I successfully installed Leopard on a 1.6GHz G5, then shouldn't it also install fine on a Dual 2.3GHz? Are you saying there are optical drives which can't handle dual layer DVDs? I suppose it's possible they've put in an optical drive which can't handle a Leopard install.

Anyway, I'll check out the verify on Disk Utility, just perhaps things will be all right now that I've upgraded to 10.4.11!

Thanks

Hi MichaelLAX, thanks for the comment. That's what I was thinking, that I should have just been able to re-install Leopard again (over Leopard, and not Tiger). My last failed installation attempt, was over 10.4 (basic Tiger), but now I have 10.4.11, so was wondering if that will somehow aid the installation of Leopard.

I'm going to try and verify the install disk with Disk Utility.

Thanks

Hi everyone, the DVD I have has all the leopard graphics on it (black, with the galaxy), came in a box with manual etc, I think it is retail, no grey anywhere.

The other day I verified my Leopard DVD in 10.4.11 disk utility, and got 'volume passed verification', so I decided to have another go at an install. As usual, the Leopard DVD works fine up until the checking installation DVD part, where it gets to about 50% and a message appears saying 'there was a problem reading your disk, carefully clean the disc and try reinstalling'! Gave it a clean with a CD micro-fibre cleaning cloth (hope that was okay), tried installing again, and the same message appears!! Anyone have any ideas to why this is happening please? Like I said, I used the same DVD to install Leopard on my previous G5, so I don't understand why the problem now.

I don't know if this helps or not, but I tried verifying the disk permissions of the install DVD in disk utility (when started up from the DVD), and the message said 'Error, the underlying task reported failure on exit'. Could that be relevant to anything?

Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions please? I'm worried about getting another install DVD, in case that fails as well! From what I have wrote, do you think the problem lies with the DVD or the optical drive?

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Hi MichaelLAX, thanks very much for the help!

So, by the sound of it, you think my problem is with the DVD and not the actual optical drive (as the message tells me to clean the DVD)? I'm just worried that the optical drive has a problem, as that's a load more hassle which I don't even want to think about!

I'm going to have a go calling Apple UK and asking for a replacement DVD. I assume these DVDs are brand new, so if that doesn't install, then I know for sure that my optical drive has a problem.

It's such a headache, all these issues, I just can't seem to be able to have peace on a G5 anymore, and get on with some work! It's like I'm braced for another problem at any minute!!

Thanks

Hi Michael,

I installed Tiger from a DVD fine, and the Leopard DVD does work up until the Disk verification part, so going by these things, it's pointing to a fault with the DVD and not the optical drive.

I called Apple UK, and although they said they do not make Leopard disks anymore, they very kindly offered to print me one and send it free of charge! So, if this fails, then there must be some sort of an issue with the optical drive. I'm hoping this will resolve the matter.

Can I ask you? I did actually install Leopard about 2 years ago, on an old G5 which is now gone, so the DVD did work back then. Is it possible that my current G5's optical drive somehow did something to the DVD which is causing the non-installation issue, because it doesn't make sense why it worked 2 years ago and not now. The DVD has just been kept secure in its case. When I examine the DVD though, it does actually have quite a lot of marks on it (caused by the previous owners though).

Thanks

Hi Michael, when you say alignment of my DVD drive, do you mean with the positioning of the DVD (when I've put it in the drive) in relation to the part of the drive which does the actual reading? So, if perhaps, the DVD was moved a fraction (when in the drive), it might actually complete the installation?

Anyway, other DVDs seem to work fine, so I think I'll just wait and see what happens when the new DVD arrives, and I'll let you know. I'm hoping this DVD will install, as I'm getting a bit fed up of Tiger, many web sites don't work properly with the Safari which is on it.

Thank you