cannot install tiger

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
okay so i have a mac mini and had problems so im trying to install tiger with the disc included and i get the message that says "cannot install on this computer." its the original disc so i dont see why it wont work. can someone help?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    tag me backtag me back Posts: 121member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    okay so i have a mac mini and had problems so im trying to install tiger with the disc included and i get the message that says "cannot install on this computer." its the original disc so i dont see why it wont work. can someone help?



    Perhaps you have an ppc disc on an intel mac? Have you used the disc successfuly before?
  • Reply 2 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i have never used the disc befor. its a PPC mini. this is the disc that came with it too
  • Reply 3 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    i have never used the disc befor. its a PPC mini. this is the disc that came with it too



    Hmmm ... can you be a bit more specific? Your PPC Mini came with a Tiger restore disk? What did you do up to the eorror message coming up? You should be able to boot from the CD in any case to reinstall the OS, but what kinds of problems have you been having with your computer?
  • Reply 4 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i wanted to upgrade to OSX server. my friend gave it to me to install, its most likely not legit. i had all these strange errors so I thought I would just reinstall but i put the disc in and then all of a sudden i wasnt able to log in anymore and it would just hang on the apple loading screen. when id try to install tiger, like i said, it would say it cant be installed which really confused me. its the original disc so im like wtf...its useless. i partitioned it and tried everything i thought of but it still doesnt like the disc
  • Reply 5 of 19
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    The pirated Tiger Server may have borked the firmware.



    Boot into Open Firmware by holding down command-option-O-F during boot.



    type



    reset-nvram

    reset-all



    at the prompt.



    Then you still may need to format the drive after backing up. When the DVD boots to the "Choose A Language" screen, choose "Disk Utility" from the menu and you can erase and format the drive.
  • Reply 6 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i just tried it. i reformated it afterwards and everything. still no luck but thanks
  • Reply 7 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    i just tried it. i reformated it afterwards and everything. still no luck but thanks



    Can you remember exactly what the error message says? It could be an update disk that requires you to have a copy of OS X installed before you can use the disk.



    EDIT: Also, restore disks typically only worth with the specific type of computer they shipped with. For example, I couldn't use my iMac G5 restore disk to install Tiger on my iMac G4...
  • Reply 8 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i dont remember the exact name of the error but i dont have to worry about it anymore. i just borrowed os x from my friend who just downloaded it. the one i had was for the mini...it even came with the computer so i dont know why it didnt work. its sad that i cant use the actual software apple gave me to restore my system but i can install a pirated version of osx fine...
  • Reply 9 of 19
    dgnr8dgnr8 Posts: 196member
    I had a similar problem with a refurbished iMac G5



    It was sent with panther installed with a Tiger disk to up grade with. I just did a full install with Tiger even with the Apple tech on the phone.



    It would load the os sometime and sometimes not. When it would load I would get to the user info screen and it would crashed. I called Apple to return it and come to find out they sent me the wrong restore disk. I bought a PPC and they sent a an intel disk. Soooo... The way to tell if you have the intel disk is on the disk it will say "CPU Drop In". If your disk says that you have Tiger for intel
  • Reply 10 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    this is a refurbished mac mini. me and my friend were thinking the same thing (that they sent us the wrong discs.) im looking at the discs now but dont see "CPU Drop In." I see a "this software is part of a hardware bundle purchase - not to be sold seperately" and it says mac mini right on it. could they still be the wrong discs or am i just doing the install incredibly wrong somehow?
  • Reply 11 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    this is a refurbished mac mini. me and my friend were thinking the same thing (that they sent us the wrong discs.) im looking at the discs now but dont see "CPU Drop In." I see a "this software is part of a hardware bundle purchase - not to be sold seperately" and it says mac mini right on it. could they still be the wrong discs or am i just doing the install incredibly wrong somehow?



    Okay, rehash everything for me one more time (sorry about this, I just wanna make sure I understand what you're saying...)



    You purchased a refurbished Mac Mini (from where and when)



    You got a Mac OS X 10.3.9 System Restore Disk witht he computer from whoever your purchased it from



    You were trying to update your system with this disk and it gives you an error message saying it can't be done from that disk.



    Is this correct? Is this a DVD or CD (I'm pretty sure it'll be a CD...)



    It could be the wrong disk. People sell system restore disks on eBay all the time and unless you're lucky, it's probably not going to work on your computer because they're specific to a certain type of machine (I've heard they are even computer specific but I seriously doubt it and I lack proff from Apple that this is the case...)



    Anyway, rehash everything for me and we'll see if we can get it going for you...
  • Reply 12 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i purchased the mini through apple.



    its version 10.4.2



    i was trying to install a clean install after i repartitioned it



    its a DVD
  • Reply 13 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    i purchased the mini through apple.



    its version 10.4.2



    i was trying to install a clean install after i repartitioned it



    its a DVD




    You should have a disk that says restore or something like that on it and the version of OS X that is included. If not, then you don't have the right disk.



    You may try booting from the DVD, restart and hold down D till the Apple logo pops up, give it a few minutes to boot off the DVD, partition your drive and see if it lets you install.



    But yeah, double check the disk, because all the system restore disks I've EVER had for a Mac include the computer name, system restore and then the OS version.



    The restore disk locks you in and is not a full retail copy of Tiger. It just restores your system to the factory default configuration, people usually do this when they get ready to sell their machine and their is already a copy of OS X installed, since you've partitioned and there's no copy of OS X available, this could be why it's telling you you can't use the disk. The upgrade copies of the OS Apple ships to customers if they buy a new computer a short time before a new OS release operate this way...



    Let me know what happens when you try booting from the DVD
  • Reply 14 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    yeah it could just be that its a restore disc and only upgrades. that would make sense because i repartitioned it. im not gonna bother messing with this anymore. im just gonna install the downloaded copy and hope that doesnt mess anything up...thanks for all the help guys. i give up on the original disc though
  • Reply 15 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    yeah it could just be that its a restore disc and only upgrades. that would make sense because i repartitioned it. im not gonna bother messing with this anymore. im just gonna install the downloaded copy and hope that doesnt mess anything up...thanks for all the help guys. i give up on the original disc though



    Well, good luck to you! One last thing you might do is call Apple where you are and tell them what's going on and see if they can offer you any help.
  • Reply 16 of 19
    jettingjetting Posts: 31member
    i tried that but "noooooo im not an applecare memeber" and i really dont feel like paying like 150 for it lol. id have to go to the applestore which i might sometime but idk how i would explain how i installed a bootleg version of tiger lol
  • Reply 17 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jetting

    i tried that but "noooooo im not an applecare memeber" and i really dont feel like paying like 150 for it lol. id have to go to the applestore which i might sometime but idk how i would explain how i installed a bootleg version of tiger lol



    Yeah, you get 90 days of phone support and a year for hardware defects, but if they sent you the wrong disk, it shouldn't matter ... they should still be able to answer that question for you over the phone. I'd demand that they do, actually. They also wouldn't know if it was a bootleg copy or not if you took it to a store ... OS X isn't serialized, so there's no way for them to know how many times you've used a certain copy of the disk ... best of luck to you in your endeavour ... let us know how it turns out for you and if you need any more help...
  • Reply 18 of 19
    tag me backtag me back Posts: 121member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AgNuke1707

    Yeah, you get 90 days of phone support and a year for hardware defects, but if they sent you the wrong disk, it shouldn't matter ... they should still be able to answer that question for you over the phone. I'd demand that they do, actually. They also wouldn't know if it was a bootleg copy or not if you took it to a store ... OS X isn't serialized, so there's no way for them to know how many times you've used a certain copy of the disk ... best of luck to you in your endeavour ... let us know how it turns out for you and if you need any more help...



    Server IS serialised. Not that it's on there. I mean, hasn't everything been erased now?
  • Reply 19 of 19
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Tag Me Back

    Server IS serialised. Not that it's on there. I mean, hasn't everything been erased now?



    Yeah, I didn't see where he said he was trying to install server ... he's repartioned so everything is gone anyway
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