iBook G4 problems!

[dereklol]

So i picked up a ibook g4 of my friend, i bought it for 300 bucks and made her a website.

The problem is that the drive in it only reads DVD's and not CD's. I put virtualPC on it and ran XP and tried to load a CD in it and it gave me nothing the drive was just called C DVD drive (i'll get the model name for ya later)

So she had 10.4 on it and thats what i need to run some apps, i didn't know the difference when i got it and did a fresh reformat and put the 10.3 version on it that i have the DVD's for. I have the ISO's for the 10.4 disk and i have a copy of the OS on four CD roms. How about can i get this new OS installed? can i run it in virtualPC? (i doubt it) I have a firewire cable and a PC thats firewire compatible it's just the cord i have is BIG to SMALL.


SUMMARY: how to install 10.4 cds on my ibookg4 with a cd drive that only reads DVD's. (and some help on fixing the drive )

 

[BenHoleton]

If it won't read cd's, you won't be able to load your copy of Tiger on it. You have a couple of different options. 1) Buy another copy of Tiger (which you don't want to do) 2) Since you already own a legit copy of Tiger, borrowing someone else's DVD copy should be a legal alternative, or 3) There's a wonderful company called Tech Restore (http://www.techrestore.com) that will get you a new Super Drive for $230, which includes overnight shipping each way and the labor charges. A combo drive is $200. You also can get a hard drive upgrade at a reasonable price while you're at it. I have used their service in the past and have been extremely satisfied. Good luck!

 

[dereklol]

I would just rather buy a new laptop they pay a fourth of the price for a new disk drive. thanks though

Since he gave me the disks do you think i'm able to burn a CD image onto a DVD?


i don't understand why mine 10.3 would be on DVD and his 10.4 on CD's sounds like they took a step back haha.

 

[volvoben]

You can use firewire target disk mode, but it will only work with another mac (and a regular 6 pin to 6 pin firewire cable). if you don't have access to another mac anywhere, you'll have to find a dvd or fix/replace the drive.

An external cd drive might be able to work, firewire or usb 2.0, but it's not easy (especially usb, and i'm still not sure you can install an os from it) and using another mac is much much easier AFAIK.

Edit: also, tiger only came on DVD, but you could pay another $10 or something and get CDs.

 

[dereklol]

I bought a cheap ide to usb connector from a local pc store and it wouldn't read the disk. maybe it was the connector though... i was offered 500 for the ibook so i'm thinking i'm just gonna sell this one and buy a macbook. thanks for the help everyone if you have anything else to say i will check back!