installing OS X with an external USB cd rom

[phreakout13]

Hi all!

I have an older bondi blue, tray loading iMac and I want to install OS X (Panther). It may seem like a simple task, but my internal CD drive is broken (I got my mac on eBay). My USB drive can read CDs, but I can't run my OS X CD as a startup disk with it. When I tried, I had to zap my PRAM (cmnd., opt., p, r). I know I'm a newbie and you all probably hate me, but I need your help! Feel free to e-mail me a solution.

thanks,
Jeff

[Macpoops]

Well your exterior USB drive is not only slow because of it's USB interface but it cannot be used as a startup disk AFAIK. You need a firewire external drive or a replacement for the internal

[question fear]

So would the lacie d2 firewire cdrw work?
I am going through a similar issue, as my internal drive recently broke.
-carly

ps here is the product link: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7832LL/A

[Sun Baked]

I think the bondi iMac and the B&Ws wouldn't boot from USB -- it was a feature added to the firmware of later machines (probably AGP and slot loaders).