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Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
I have a Powermac G4 Quicksilver and it has a blank HD in it, how can I boot from CD and install the OS?
 

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
First you need Leopard or earlier. Snow Leopard doesn't work in any machine with a PPC processor:

Apple said:
General requirements​

  • Mac computer with an Intel processor
  • 1GB of memory
  • 5GB of available disk space
  • DVD drive for installation
  • Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
  • Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
So, with the proper DVD inserted and no OS on the HDD, just turn on the machine and it should boot from the OS DVD. If it doesn't you may need to hold down the Option key prior to the gray screens that appear shortly after power-up. Some machines in the past required you to hold down the "C" key - I dunno about the G4s.
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
I am trying to install OS 8.1 because all I have in there right now is a CD Rom so OS 8.1 goes on a CD. I have other OSs, any way around installing OS 8?
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
Whenever I turn it on, i just shows the Mac folder with a ? on it and it keeps flashing, it wont boot from CD
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
Also, if i hold down the option key, it takes me to a blue screen with a arrow and a refresh button on it, nothing else.
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
so you think i should try and install os 9.2 then? it wont boot from any cd, but you can hear the cd drive spining
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
I have the DMGs and I am burning them to a CD, any special way I should be doing it? I cant install anything larger then 9.1 yet since it only has a CD drive right now. I want to get a OS on here so I can then start upgrading everything. (DVD drive, memory, etc.) Also, I have a empty 250GB HD in there, is that going to be a problem?
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
Here are the specs of the computer. I got it from a friend and it had no HD in it, so im trying to install any mac OS right now.

Powermac G4 - Quicksilver
733MHZ
512MB & 128 MB memory
250GB HD
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
What i am trying to do here is put the highest posible OS on it, and make it run iTunes for my apple tvs. So i am trying to make an iTunes server pretty much. Just need some help/advice on how to get it up and running.

Thanks!
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
yaaa!!!! I got it to boot from the CD now, but its not finding any HD. Do i have to initialize the HD? is so how do u do that? And the HD is 250Gb is that a problem?
 

IronFixXxeR

macrumors member
Jun 20, 2009
62
0
Austin, Texas
Make sure the HDD is set to master.

Are you installing OS X on it? Once you boot from CD you can select disc utility from the top of the menu and format the drive before you install the OS.
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
It is set to master, and I am trying to format the HD but keep getting this error, why??

POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
yes but no1 seems to know anything. i am using SL and its a WD internal 250 HD. There is no firmware update or anything to it. Any suggestions?
 

leighonigar

macrumors 6502a
May 5, 2007
908
1
Snow leopard? Is that what you said? That shouldn't even boot. 10.4 will install on your computer, you can get that on CDs. 10.5 can be installed but you need to hack it about as it 'required' an 867Mhz + CPU to install.
 

Unverrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2008
100
0
USA
no no i am using snow leopard on my imac, but i am trying to format this other HD to put in my G4. But everytime i try and format the HD it comes up with this error....

Partition failed with the error:

POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory


i need help formating my HD for a mac because right now it wont format as anything
 

leighonigar

macrumors 6502a
May 5, 2007
908
1
I can't comment on that error. I'm going to assume you've done a thorough Google. You should be able to partition and format a working drive in your PM, boot from the 10.4 CD then open disk utility from the 'utility' (iirc) menu.
 

Eric S.

macrumors 68040
Feb 1, 2008
3,599
0
Santa Cruz Mountains, California
Did you look at the pointer I gave you earlier? Other people are experiencing the same problem, it may be drive firmware. There's at least one solution there that worked for a couple people - under Windows reformat as NTFS, then under Mac OS reformat again as HFS+.
 

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
How big is the HDD? Don't G4 controllers have a size limit like Windows did? If so you may need to partition it on another machine or something first. <shrug>
 
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