PowerMac G5

[HunterCupp]

Hello, all!

I've recieved a PowerMac G5 without a hard drive. I have a ton of spare drives laying around and I thought I could use one of them to resurrect this machine.

The only machine I have near to wipe/format the drive is a Windows PC. I am not sure what I have to do to make the drive compatible with the G5.

I have created a bootable USB with Tiger to run once I've formatted the drive. I have tried running the USB on the G5 already with no success. It didn't seem to recognize the USB.

I also have only Windows keyboards at hand. I tried using one to open the optical drive (F12 at startup), but nothing happened. I can't seem to get any of the commands to work.

There appears to also be no startup chime. (I have no speakers installed, but I recall the chimes being internal.)

When I turn it on, I get the 'No OS' flashing icon, as expected. The fans also seem to get quite loud after a couple of minutes.
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Sorry for the scrambled post, I'm quite tired at the moment.

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Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[HunterCupp]

From another post-

Sorry if this is to old of a thread to reply to but I was having the same issue on my G5.

Turn the machine off. hold down the power button. You should hear a tone and it will reboot/chime again but keep holding the button and the G5 will boot into the Open Firmware.

From there type "reset-nvram", press enter, then type "reset-all", and then again press enter. It should reboot and begin to accept key presses/commands again.

Doing this will wipe the stored time/date, volume setting, and monitor resolution.

I have done this without a change as well.

 

[Altemose]

What format is the current Tiger image in (.dmg, .iso, .cdr, etc.)?

 

[HunterCupp]

What format is the current Tiger image in (.dmg, .iso, .cdr, etc.)?

Hello, Altemose.

The image is in a .dmg format. After opening the .dmg, 5 disks appear on my desktop. I partitioned and formatted an 8GB USB stick through disk utility, and then used the 'Restore' feature to put the first disk onto the USB.

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[Altemose]

Hello, Altemose.

The image is in a .dmg format. After opening the .dmg, 5 disks appear on my desktop. I partitioned and formatted an 8GB USB stick through disk utility, and then used the 'Restore' feature to put the first disk onto the USB.

Thanks,
-Hunter

I have found two things in my experience. Certain USB drives just are not ever going to work properly as bootable media. I have a SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB drive that won't boot a PPC Mac, but a PNY drive will. Another thing that I have noticed is that sometimes Disk Utility will not properly restore the drive but Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper will.

 

[HunterCupp]

I have found two things in my experience. Certain USB drives just are not ever going to work properly as bootable media. I have a SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB drive that won't boot a PPC Mac, but a PNY drive will. Another thing that I have noticed is that sometimes Disk Utility will not properly restore the drive but Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper will.

Altemose,

I have used this USB as an OSX install USB for a MacBook Pro before (using the same method), so I believe that it should work in this case. Unless G5s react differently, that is.

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[Altemose]

Altemose,

I have used this USB as an OSX install USB for a MacBook Pro before (using the same method), so I believe that it should work in this case. Unless G5s react differently, that is.

Thanks,
-Hunter

That one Cruzer drive works fine on my MacBook Pro but fails on my G5. I think it really is a weird game to play. Try restoring with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to discover if this is a restore issue.

 

[HunterCupp]

That one Cruzer drive works fine on my MacBook Pro but fails on my G5. I think it really is a weird game to play. Try restoring with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to discover if this is a restore issue.

Altemose,

Will do. Trying now.

I should reply with the results in about 5-10 minutes.

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[Altemose]

Altemose,

Will do. Trying now.

I should reply with the results in about 5-10 minutes.

Thanks,
-Hunter

Sounds good...

By the way, you do not have to address just me. Any member can chime in and help on a thread at any time.

 

[HunterCupp]

That one Cruzer drive works fine on my MacBook Pro but fails on my G5. I think it really is a weird game to play. Try restoring with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to discover if this is a restore issue.

Altemose,

I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the USB. I had come across an error about using the USB to boot with Intel Macs, but considering I'll be using PPC Mac, I don't think it should be an issue.

There still appears to be no change. I still just get the 'No OS' icon.

Thanks,
-Hunter

EDIT: One moment! It appears that I forgot to set the USB's partition scheme to 'Apple Partition Map'! It has been on 'Master Boot Record' (DOS/Windows) instead! This could have been the issue! Let me try this again...

 

[Altemose]

Altemose,

I've used Carbon Copy Cleaner to restore the USB. I had come across an error about using the USB to boot with Intel Macs, but considering I'll be using PPC Mac, I don't think it should be an issue.

There still appears to be no change. I still just get the 'No OS' icon.

Thanks,
-Hunter

EDIT: One moment! It appears that I forgot to set the USB's partition scheme to 'Apple Partition Map'! It has been on 'Master Boot Record' (DOS/Windows) instead! This could have been the issue! Let me try this again...

Restoring on an Intel Mac generally sets it to GUID or MBR. You need APM.

 

[HunterCupp]

Restoring on an Intel Mac generally sets it to GUID or MBR. You need APM.

Altemose,

Fantastic! We're getting somewhere!

Here's another issue; I don't have a formatted hard drive! I have plenty spare drives, although I can only format them over my Windows machine. What now?

Thanks,
-Hunter

EDIT: I had forgotten that I had plugged in the unformatted hard drive prior to turning the G5 on! I'm using Disk Utility to erase, format, and partition the drive now!

 

[HunterCupp]

38 minutes to erase...

Time to play the waiting game...

 

[Altemose]

Altemose,

Fantastic! We're getting somewhere!

Here's another issue; I don't have a formatted hard drive! I have plenty spare drives, although I can only format them over my Windows machine. What now?

Thanks,
-Hunter

EDIT: I had forgotten that I had plugged in the unformatted hard drive prior to turning the G5 on! I'm using Disk Utility to erase, format, and partition the drive now!

Just hit Utilities --> Disk Utility. Select the drive on the left, hit erase, enter a name (usually "Macintosh HD") and hit Erase. Disk Utility will automatically format it as Apple Partition Map.

 

[HunterCupp]

Just hit Utilities --> Disk Utility. Select the drive on the left, hit erase, enter a name (usually "Macintosh HD") and hit Erase. Disk Utility will automatically format it as Apple Partition Map.

I've made it through the first disk and now need to insert the USB with the second disk written to it.

I have just used the same software to restore the USB again, but with the second disk.

I am getting this popup. Can I make it manually read from the USB?

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[weckart]

Did you restore from a CD or the full DVD? If a CD, then you need to either insert CD2 into the Superdrive or to restore CD2 to a USB pen drive and mount that in another USB port. Tiger comes on 4 CDs or 1 DVD.

If you can boot into Open Firmware, you can open the Superdrive by typing

eject cd

at the Open Firmware prompt. Gently push in the tray to close.

 

[Altemose]

I've made it through the first disk and now need to insert the USB with the second disk written to it.

I have just used the same software to restore the USB again, but with the second disk.

I am getting this popup. Can I make it manually read from the USB?

Thanks,
-Hunter

Generally, one would restore a DVD image in its entirety to the drive. Somehow you have CD images of Tiger which were rather rare. Is there a reason you cannot install directly from CD?

 

[HunterCupp]

Did you restore from a CD or the full DVD? If a CD, then you need to either insert CD2 into the Superdrive or to restore CD2 to a USB pen drive and mount that in another USB port. Tiger comes on 4 CDs or 1 DVD.

If you can boot into Open Firmware, you can open the Superdrive by typing

eject cd

at the Open Firmware prompt. Gently push in the tray to close.

Hello, weckart.

I did a restore from what I believe to be the CD (see my previous photos). When I insert the physical second CD, the G5 doesn't seem to read it properly. It works on the first, but for each disk after, it reads "Please insert the "Mac OS X Install disk 2 (or 3 or 4)" disc to continue installation" on startup and ejects whatever disk I put in.

I am able to open the tray by pressing F12 on my Windows keyboard.

Thanks,
-Hunter

----------

Generally, one would restore a DVD image in its entirety to the drive. Somehow you have CD images of Tiger which were rather rare. Is there a reason you cannot install directly from CD?

Altemose,

Yes, there is a reason. (See my previous post in response to weckart)

That is why I am attempting to write and boot them through USB.

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[SuperKerem]

Generally, one would restore a DVD image in its entirety to the drive. Somehow you have CD images of Tiger which were rather rare. Is there a reason you cannot install directly from CD?

If one has a legitimate copy of OS X but the disc is not working, is it still illegal to download the disc's contents from the Internet and burn them to another DVD? I mean, you would still have the license to use it and it would be basically the same as making a copy of what you already have...

 

[Altemose]

Hello, weckart.

I did a restore from what I believe to be the CD (see my previous photos). When I insert the physical second CD, the G5 doesn't seem to read it properly. It works on the first, but for each disk after, it reads "Please insert the "Mac OS X Install disk 2 (or 3 or 4)" disc to continue installation" on startup and ejects whatever disk I put in.

I am able to open the tray by pressing F12 on my Windows keyboard.

Thanks,
-Hunter

----------



Altemose,

Yes, there is a reason. (See my previous post in response to weckart)

That is why I am attempting to write and boot them through USB.

Thanks,
-Hunter

Make sure that you are booting from one type of media. Don't boot from a restored USB of disk 1 and then insert an optical disk with Disk 2. Is your G5 having issues reading optical disks? For some reason, every time I get a G5 it always has a dead or dying optical drive that I end up replacing. I wonder if yours is on its way out...

If one has a legitimate copy of OS X but the disc is not working, is it still illegal to download the disc's contents from the Internet and burn them to another DVD? I mean, you would still have the license to use it and it would be basically the same as making a copy of what you already have...

According to my understanding, the license is tied to the media. If your purchase the original Leopard disk, the license is tied to that disk. Downloading an image would be illegal due to the fact that it violates the EULA to begin with, as it is being made available across a network. I know Intell can enlighten us much better on the licensing of OS X better than I am able to.

 

[HunterCupp]

Make sure that you are booting from one type of media. Don't boot from a restored USB of disk 1 and then insert an optical disk with Disk 2. Is your G5 having issues reading optical disks? For some reason, every time I get a G5 it always has a dead or dying optical drive that I end up replacing. I wonder if yours is on its way out...

Altemose,

I'll was trying to do it all from USB sticks, but it would never work with any after the first install image. It just never read the USB.

I'm not sure if it is having issues with reading disks or not. If I'm guessing based completely on what has happened so far, I'd say that it probably has some issues.

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[weckart]

Are your discs a full complete set? Do the disc numbers (691-xxxx) follow in sequence? You could try using a Windows utility like Poweriso, which can read HFS volumes and open/burn DMG images to make new copies of your disks with a newer optical drive if you think the performance of your Mac's Superdrive is marginal.

 

[Altemose]

Make sure that you are booting from one type of media. Don't boot from a restored USB of disk 1 and then insert an optical disk with Disk 2. Is your G5 having issues reading optical disks? For some reason, every time I get a G5 it always has a dead or dying optical drive that I end up replacing. I wonder if yours is on its way out...



Altemose,



I'll was trying to do it all from USB sticks, but it would never work with any after the first install image. It just never read the USB.



I'm not sure if it is having issues with reading disks or not. If I'm guessing based completely on what has happened so far, I'd say that it probably has some issues.



Thanks,

-Hunter

I have never seen someone take a Tiger CD set or even a Panther CD set and restore it to a USB to install from. DVD images in their entirety can be restored to a USB and work fine but I am not sure the installer thinks to look for another disk on a USB and not an optical drive. I wonder if unchecking everything in the installer will install only disk 1? Perhaps someone can chime in with that info.

I would restore the images to new optical disks and install off that. It will be far more reliable than trying to get USB installation of CD images working.

 

[HunterCupp]

I would restore the images to new optical disks and install off that. It will be far more reliable than trying to get USB installation of CD images working.

Altemose,

I've just done this, and it works!-

Except it doesn't.

This time, the disks are read and all appear to work, however, when the G5 reboots, the startup chime is heard, but nothing else happens. The screen is dark, and the fans become quite loud.

I turned the G5 off for a few minutes and came back to it. I turned it on, this time I didn't get a startup chime, but I got video. Unfortunately it only showed the 'No OS' flashing icon, once again.

Not really sure what the problem is. Hard drive issue?

Thanks,
-Hunter

 

[MagicBoy]

Probably worth completely erasing the HDD, recreating the HFS+ partition and trying again. If that fails, then it's likely a hardware issue. Oh and make sure the scheme is set to APM. If it's an old PC HDD it might be set as MBR.