Help installing OS X on iBook G4

doctorbighands · Apr 4, 2009

I have original install discs for OS X 10.1 and 10.3 (Panther). There is one 10.1 disc and three Panther discs. The Panther CD labeled "Disc 1" says "Upgrade Disc" on it. Does that mean I have to have another version of OS X installed in order to use it?

The 10.1 CD won't boot. I hold down option at boot, and it doesn't even show up.

The Panther CD 1 gets me as far as the dreaded circle-slash.

How on earth do I get OS X installed on this machine?

I managed to get Linux installed on this machine without a hitch. Why is it so much harder to install a _native_ operating system?

Any help you can offer will be appreciated. Thank you.

Frustrated,
-Nick

SkyBell · Apr 4, 2009

doctorbighands said:
I have original install discs for OS X 10.1 and 10.3 (Panther). There is one 10.1 disc and three Panther discs. The Panther CD labeled "Disc 1" says "Upgrade Disc" on it. Does that mean I have to have another version of OS X installed in order to use it?

The 10.1 CD won't boot. I hold down option at boot, and it doesn't even show up.

The Panther CD 1 gets me as far as the dreaded circle-slash.

How on earth do I get OS X installed on this machine?

I managed to get Linux installed on this machine without a hitch. Why is it so much harder to install a _native_ operating system?

Any help you can offer will be appreciated. Thank you.

Frustrated,
-Nick

Well, it won't load 10.1 because, IIRC, it originally came with 10.3. And you can't load 10.3 because those are just upgrade discs.

Hrududu · Apr 4, 2009

Cassie said:
Well, it won't load 10.1 because, IIRC, it originally came with 10.3. And you can't load 10.3 because those are just upgrade discs.

There is a way to make a regular install disc from an upgrade disc. First you need to create a copy of the 1st 10.3 install disc onto your computer. Once you've done that you need to delete the file that checks for a previous install on the iBook. Once you've done this, re-burn a copy onto a CD and bingo! You have a real install disc. I've done this with 10.3 upgrade CDs. To find this file, do the following:
Open the CD and open the System>Installation>Packages>Essentials.pkg (right click, select "Show Package Contents" >Contents>Resources> and then delete the file called "CheckForOSX.

doctorbighands · Apr 4, 2009

Hrududu said:
There is a way to make a regular install disc from an upgrade disc. First you need to create a copy of the 1st 10.3 install disc onto your computer. Once you've done that you need to delete the file that checks for a previous install on the iBook. Once you've done this, re-burn a copy onto a CD and bingo! You have a real install disc. I've done this with 10.3 upgrade CDs. To find this file, do the following:
Open the CD and open the System>Installation>Packages>Essentials.pkg (right click, select "Show Package Contents" >Contents>Resources> and then delete the file called "CheckForOSX.

This sounds wonderful. The only problem is that I only have access to Windows and Linux machines; I've just tried to view the disc contents on both, and neither one will show the contents. ARGH!!

If only I had access to a functional Mac, I could do this. I guess I'm going to have to wait.

Thank you, though, for the tip. I do really appreciate it.

Hrududu · Apr 5, 2009

If you have an OS 9 computer, you can access the files in 9 too. Good luck with everything.

doctorbighands · Aug 8, 2009

Okay, so I finally got my hands on a full retail version of Panther. I was excited, thinking I could FINALLY get OS X installed on this blasted machine. I inserted the disc 1, let it try to boot, and...

...circle slash.

What is the deal here? Any help is very much appreciated.

kryptonianjorel · Aug 8, 2009

Hmm, does the CD spin up at all? I'm leaning towards there being a problem with your CD drive. Try holding Option when you turn it on, and see if the computer can see that you have a CD in.

circle-slash typically means that a boot/system file cannot be found. Shouldn't be a problem because they are on the install CD, but if it's only looking at the HD, the of course it will circle-slash

doctorbighands · Aug 8, 2009

I know there's nothing wrong with the optical drive, because I used it to install Linux.

The disc spins up when I press and hold C (or when I hold Option and select the disc), I see the apple logo, then I see the circle-slash.

kryptonianjorel · Aug 8, 2009

Ok, I was doing some searching on your problem. Someone suggested resetting the NVRAM. when you boot hold apple-option-p-r and wait for everything to start. let go of the keys after the 3rd chime

doctorbighands · Aug 8, 2009

kryptonianjorel said:
Ok, I was doing some searching on your problem. Someone suggested resetting the NVRAM. when you boot hold apple-option-p-r and wait for everything to start. let go of the keys after the 3rd chime

Hmm...I tried this, and I still get the circle-slash. Thank you for the suggestion, though!

kryptonianjorel · Aug 8, 2009

Well my friend, I am out of feasible ideas. The only things i can think to do now are:

1. Use another mac to install 10.3 to a firewire drive and try to boot it with that
2. Download a copy of 10.3 or 10.4 and see if you have the same problem (for testing purposes only!!)
3. Replace the logic board

Of course, if you want to waste the time you can go to an Apple Store and see what they think

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