Mac OS X Panther Install - Disk Error

Try this:

Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions

Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now try completing the OS X installation.

If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

What Panther discs did you buy? Do these discs have black labels with a large gray "X" or do they have gray labels (and probably marked as being for a specific Mac model?) If the latter I suspect that's the problem. The discs will not work on your Mac model. If you have black labeled discs check that the word "Upgrade" isn't printed on the label. They will not work either.

In other words these are standard retail discs. Should be a set of three discs with the black label. No "Upgrade" on the label?

When you tried to start up from the installer did you use the disc that was labeled as OS X Installer Disc One? The procedure is:

1. Insert disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. After the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when you see a spinning gear appear beneath the dark gray Apple logo.

Is this what you've tried?

I can only assume there is a problem with Installer Disc One. Do you have access to another Mac on which you can test if the disc will boot a different machine?

Regardless if you can read the disc on a PC it may still be defective. Reinstalling OS 9 would not fix anything because its presence is irrelevant when you are booting from the CD.

I suppose there is the possibility of bad RAM.

Welcome To  Discussions Gavin G!

Is your Mac one of the models referred to in this KB Article?

What size is the Hard Drive, and how much space is available?

You could also use Rember, to test the RAM.

ali b

Hi. It is legal to burn a backup copy of the CD for your own personal use. Strangely enough, sometimes a copy of a CD will work even though the original has gone bad. (I've personally seen this.) I would try that.

HTH,
~FifthWheel