Can't Install Tiger on G4 PowerPC

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have an older 533 MHz PowerPC G4 (11.3) tower with 1.12 GB SDRAM running 10.3.9. Bus speed is 133 MHz. It works perfectly. Tonight I replaced its built-in CD burner with a DVD reader/burner that I had sitting around. Replacement went fine and it fired right up.



I then attempted to update the OS with a factory version of Tiger which I have sucessfully installed on two other computers. After updating all firmware, I selected "English" and then selected the destination disk. All was normal until it just sat there checking the destination disk with no movement of the progress bar. After about 15 minutes I got a message that said somthing to the effect of "software failed to install. try again". After three attempts, I aborted the process.



Documentation states a requirment of at least 3 Gigs of space on the hard drive to install the new OS. I've got just over 6 Gigs of space available. According to the system requirments published by Apple (Read Me First), the software should be compatible with this computer.



Anything stand out as an obvious problem?



Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    rob05aurob05au Posts: 348member
    You would be better off installing on a clean formatted drive which should install without any problems.



    What size is the drive and what is on it? e,g. any other system installed
  • Reply 2 of 5
    10.3.9 is the current OS. There are two seperate storage drives, 38 Gig & 72 Gig. The OS is running on the smaller drive.



    Re-formatting the drives makes perfect sense, however, I'm a little hesitant to do that because I've never done that before. I have pleanty of back up drives, so that's not the issue. I can back everything up, I do that often, but here's the problem (and don't laugh)... I'm not sure how to put the stuff back on the computer without making my life a living hell.



    I'm guessing that I save the user folder to another drive. Then I re-format the 38 Gig drive and do a clean install of the new OS. Then, do I move the user folder back to the proper spot and overwrite the new user folder? Or do I install all other software seperately and put back elements from the user folder? My biggest consern is getting Mail back to where it was. Last time I tried to move Mail preferences and contents to another computer, it was a nightmare. None of my mailboxes were remembered and my mail was completely unsorted and incomplete.



    I'm sorry for rambling...and I haven't even had my coffee yet this morning!
  • Reply 3 of 5
    rob05aurob05au Posts: 348member
    Backup verything you need from the 38gig reformat and run all available updates.



    Now before putting anything back lets know because if you put the whole user folder back in will overwrite the Home/Library folder which will cause issues.



    If you use ichat, yahoo messanger, Audim lets know and I will help you get things back to the correct places so everything will work correctly for you.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    Usually when that happens is due to failing RAM.Try using Memtest.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    I reformatted the drive and did a clean installation. It works fine, but, of course some of my previous setting (especially mail) are a bit funky. Getting back to normal.



    Thanks Guys!
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