How to reinstall Mac OS 10.5.8 on my PGG4 without DVD

Question

How to reinstall Mac OS 10.5.8 on my PGG4 without DVD

My 10 year and 2 month old PowerBook G4 (12") is a dream machine! I'll be retiring it soon but my wife and I use it for lots of eMails and such. Until about a month ago when the screen was going crazy - drop-down menus turning green and opaque… BUT BUT now I booted in safe mode (holding down shift key) and everything is perfect -- like I'm back to February 2005 and it is clear and new…

So this must be a corrupted software issue or something, I say to myself. So-- with the original disks long gone, how can I wipe this 100 gb HD clean and reinstall 10.5.8 Leopard (which I believe is the last Mac OS version that will run on the PBG4?

So can I download 10.5.8 as a dmg and then put it on an external USB2 drive and install Mountain Lion from that drive?

Not sure that will work… I may be able to do this via FireWire 400 if that will work. But where to get a copy of Mountain Lion (my original is lost or in a box in Europe…)

Thanks for any comments!

Steve

Tuesday 29 March 2016

Posted on Mar 29, 2016 9:58 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 29, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Stephen Schulte1

Mountain Lion is 10.8.x, won't work on a G4 or any PPC Mac.

No legal way to download 10.5 Leopard Install Disc/DMG/ISO, sorry.

Firewire Target Disk Mode can work to use another Mac's Optical drive to install if need be.

Leopard requirements/10.5.x...

* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

minimum system requirements

* 512MB of memory (I say 1.5GB for PPC at least, 2-3GB minimum for IntelMacs)

* DVD drive for installation

* 9GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)

Classic/OS9 Apps no longer supported.

http://bobskelley.com/2015/01/04/9-reasons-leopard-keeps-power-macs-real-in-2015 /

Trouble is Apple no longer sells it, check eBay & such for the Retail version, not the Gray Discs...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+leopard+retail+10.5

There are workarounds if the 867MHz CPU is the only hangup...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/leopardassist/

http://lowendmac.com/osx/leopard/unsupported.html

List of Applications Not Compatible with Leopard...

http://guides.macrumors.com/List:Applications_Not_Compatible_with_Leopard

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Answer 2

Mar 29, 2016 12:47 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks and that was me typing too fast-- I meant 10.5.8 Leopard (NOT Mountain Lion…).

OK I will check-out all you wrote but here is now an interesting development: When I start in SAFE MODE -- everything is perfect! So probably we can just run this in SAFE MODE - it is sending and receiving eMail etc.

But there are no startup files or extensions that I can think of which may be causing this. Even the external monitor (when used) shows this so it's not the screen on the PBG4 failing--

In summary: Works great in Safe mode; has these lines everywhere all over the desktop and menubar when I start normally!

So what could this be? Fonts that don't load with SAFE MODE or ??? -- I keep removing things and retrying but only in SAFE MODE is it correct. And then it's perfect!

In non-safe mode I see the lines appearing (like bar codes and q-codes and more weird checkerboards) even before the log-in Screen.

Thanks anyone for any assistance here. And thanks again for the fast reply BDAqua!!

Steve

Tuesday 29 March 2016

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Answer 3

MichelPM

Level 10

81,535 points

Mar 29, 2016 10:03 PM in response to Stephen Schulte1

You can check eBay or Amazon for an OS X 10.5 Leopard OEM retail disc.

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Version-10-5-6-Leopard-VERSION/dp/B000FK88JK/ref=sr_ 1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459314017&sr=8-1&keywor…

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Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Mar 30, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

Safe mode has limited drivers loading. Additional software you may have installed that runs at startup is typically disabled with safe mode. The screen pattern you describe typically is due to graphics chip issues. Safe mode would avoid some of that if you have something that uses the graphics on the machine a lot that only runs when you aren't using safe mode.

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2016 7:19 AM in response to a brody

This is GREAT information - that you so much!

I am currently looking at everything from old Unsanity Haxies to Adobe programs to ASM and other startup items to making sure all desktop patterns are basic… What else can I do? This started mid-January 2016 - I just thought it was the screen going at first - but then it appeared on the 2nd monitor so then I thought "Mother Board going" - so then I tried to do a backup and files would not copy. SO I tried a safe mode start and not only could I now copy all the files / iPhoto libraries etc. -- I could also use the computer as before -- with no weird lines and weird screen patterns appearing. Even the drop-down boxes which before were opaque green - were now 100% normal!

I was thinking of trying to reinstall 10.5.8 -- I downloaded this: MacOSXUpdCombo10.5.8.dmg but don't think I need it. (Also don't think it would work since the PBG4 is already at 10.5.8 -- even if "corrupted" a bit, I don't think the installer would load over the same OS. Plus it may be tricky - might have to do via FW400 or via another Mac in Target mode…)

I am surprised by how much I can do with the PBG4 in SAFE MODE. eMails, Safari, documents… But of course would like to resolve this and keep this great little 12" PBG4 running another 10 years!!

Now about the new MBP-13" is that June 2016??

Thanks!!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Wednesday 30 March 2016

09:18

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 30, 2016 10:43 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

Sounds like the video card for sure.

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2016 11:06 AM in response to BDAqua

OK and after 10 years -- sure I can imagine that-- BUT -- why then does it work absolutely perfectly 100% with no grid-patterns or anything when in SAFE MODE? Doesn't that indicate a software / conflict issue? Or is this more complicated than that?

Thanks for any comments! And this weekend I'll be attempting to clean-up the extensions / 3rd Party software etc. and trying in normal startup mode -- then reporting back here.

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Wednesday 30 March 2016

13:06

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Answer 8

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Mar 30, 2016 11:45 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

The combo update is not a full operating system. However, it does provide you an uncorrupted copy of all Apple official addons to the base operating system it is a combo for.

I.e. 10.5.8 combo includes all the files Apple added to Mac OS X 10.5 after 10.5's release, excluding the main 10.5 system itself. Only a retail 10.5, 10.5.1, 10.5.4, or 10.5.6 disk includes all the 10.5 files that are part of the base system. System specific 10.5 discs with a Mac model of update, oem, or dropin will not work.

For more on what the 10.5 disc looks like and other things about 10.5, see this tip:

http://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2275

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Answer 9

Mar 30, 2016 11:50 AM in response to a brody

Super information here-- thanks very much! Using Macs since 1989 and still have my Mac SE running Mac OS 6.0.4… but learn something almost everyday!

I do believe I don't have to reinstall my OS - rather just try to clean it up a bit! And this could be a combined software/hardware issue.

I will use SuperDuper! to make a fully bootable backup and then try to modify the existing 10.5.8 by removing potentially problematic software/extensions etc. incrementally.

More later this week!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Wednesday 30 March 2016

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