Re-installing OS X Tiger 10.4.3 on iMac G3

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Level 1

4 points

Re-installing OS X Tiger 10.4.3 on iMac G3

G3 iMac Indigo 20GB HDD, 640MB RAM
OS 9 on 3GB Partition
OS X Tiger 10.4.3 (Retail version) installed on 17GB Partition through external Firewire DVD drive (firmware updated was installed via OS 9 before install)

I am now trying to wipe the OS X partition and reinstall from the DVD.

This is what is happening during the install. I am doing a custom install with no print drivers and no language translations. I am however, installing X11 component. Plan to use this iMac as a server as I got a new MacBook.

Installing Base System Part 1
Installing Essentials
There were errors installing the software. Please try installing again. Restart.

I have tried this re-install many times. Its not working.

I tried to use the Firewire Target disk mode and install from the MacBook but I think the Tiger Install DVD is saying that OS X cannot be installed on the MacBook (intel vs PPC I guess).

Tried to wipe clean and do the install and sometimes it goes all the way till Installing BSD Subsystem and I get the same error.

I used the Utilities/Disk Utility and on the OS X Partition tried a Repair Disk and the disk is okay.

Any help on installing Tiger again on the partition is appreciated. Thank you.

iMac G3 500 Mhz Indigo Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Dec 12, 2006 4:59 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 12, 2006 6:29 PM in response to skallu

Hi skallu;

May I welcome you to the Apple Discussion Forums.

The Intel version of OS X from your MacBook will not work on the G3 iMac because it is PPC based hardware. You will need to have the install media for Tiger in order to install OS X on the iMac.

Allan

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Answer 2

skallu Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2006 12:39 PM in response to Allan Eckert

Thank you Allan for the welcome message.

I am not having any problem with my MacBook at all.

The DVD that I purchased last Nov, 2005 is a PPC version and I had it installed on the iMac last year. Now, Dec 2006, I am trying to re-install Tiger on the same machine using the same DVD. So its not a UB/PPC version of Tiger issue.

That version of Tiger on iMac was working perfectly till 2 days back until I did a wipe of the OSX partition and tried to reinstalled. Now I am stuck with only OS9 working on the iMac and would appreciate any help on getting OSX to install on the iMac as it used to.

There was no specific error message other than posted in my previous post. Hence, its getting me nowhere.

Thank you,
Sanjay (Sorry, I left my name last time)

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Answer 3

Dec 13, 2006 2:22 PM in response to skallu

Hi skallu;

After going back and reading your original post again I see the error of my ways. I read it to fast the first time and got sucker in by your mentioning of the MacBook there. Sorry.

Hopefully maybe someone else will see you post and jump on board but with the information you have given us, I don't have any more ideas. Sorry.

Allan

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Answer 4

mAC/DC

Level 1

45 points

Dec 13, 2006 3:05 PM in response to skallu

It sounds like the installer DVD disk might be the problem.

However try this.

If you have an external HD that you can clear the data on. You can use your MacBook to via Disk Utility perform a restore of the installer DVD to the HD. This will make the HD boot-able with the installer. Even though the MacBook is Intel and your iMac is PPC this should work. You can then boot the iMac from the ext HD and perform the installation.

The MacBook has a newer more powerful DVD drive and might be able to read the disk even though the DVD might have a defect strong enough to fail on the iMac.

IMHO. Overall I think a better solution would have been to boot off of a ext HD. Then make a disk image of your OS X partition on the iMac. Then repartition the iMac with one partition and restore that backup image to the new partition. That has the benefit of having everything you had on there before with no need to re-install. Unless you wanted to perform a reinstallation no matter what.

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Answer 5

skallu Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2006 7:24 AM in response to mAC/DC

Sorry for the late reply. I could not try your suggestion yet as I have a stye on my eyelid. I shall keep you guys posted on the developments.

Thank you.

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Answer 6

skallu Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2006 1:20 PM in response to mAC/DC

The installer DVD may not be the problem as I had preserved it very well in the Retail Box. Also I used Lacie d2 DVD drive for the install via Firewire.

I tried the first suggestion.

1. Formatted a 120 GB HDD
2. Used Disk Utility to create a dmg disk image of the Tiger DVD and used Restore functionality to restore the dmg image to the new Hard Disk
3. Tried to install from the external HDD (After changing the Startup Disk via OS 9)
4. Got the same error as before.

This was another attempt that I made.
1. Tried to install from the external HDD onto another partition of the same external HDD
2. Got the same error as before.

I hope this experiment may help in the diagnosis or solution to this problem.

Thank you,
Sanjay

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