Ok, so I have an older G4 PowerBook that currently has Panther on it. Since it's a PPC I kept the partition table the same and not GUID for intel macs. I wasn't able to get it to boot from the leopard retail disc so I installed it via target mode from my intel imac. Once the install is done I reboot the powerbook and it just sits there flashing the folder with the finder icon and question mark. I used disk utility on my imac to make sure the hard drive was ok and it was, but the powerbook won't see it's own hard drive as a startup disc. I have even tried the same thing with Snow Leopard and Tiger as which I get the same results, what am I doing wrong???
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Can't boot after leopard upgrade on PowerBook
- Thread starter I3eXa
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I think you need to have the disk partition set to GUID, irregardless of it being an intel Mac or a PPC mac. Its more of a OSX thing then a hardware issue.
Plus did you do an install or manually copy stuff over. I'm guessing that pulling stuff over from an intel mac would having specific powerbook drivers absent.
Sounds like you might have been trying to boot up off your other mac's installation disk which you can't since it checks to ensure you are not pirating the software. While its possibly too late to buy leopard, I'd say head over to the apple store and pick up a copy. Amazon may also have it for sale as well.
Plus did you do an install or manually copy stuff over. I'm guessing that pulling stuff over from an intel mac would having specific powerbook drivers absent.
Sounds like you might have been trying to boot up off your other mac's installation disk which you can't since it checks to ensure you are not pirating the software. While its possibly too late to buy leopard, I'd say head over to the apple store and pick up a copy. Amazon may also have it for sale as well.
Honestly I don't *know*, but I'd be surprised if installing via target mode from an Intel iMac had worked because it would be setting everything up for a computer with completely the wrong hardware (it might work if you were installing from another similar model though - I don't really know).
What happened when you tried to boot from the leopard disk? Was it just leopard that wouldn't boot, or will all CDs not boot? I don't know about the G4s but I know on some of the G3 powerbooks if they stopped booting from CD when holding down C then a PMU/NVRAM reset apparently did the trick. In the case of my particular G3 PowerBook it doesn't work, but I can still use OS 9's Startup Disk Control panel (with the CD inserted in a normally booted environment) to tell it to reboot from the CD.
At this point I'm not too sure what to suggest to actually get a functioning sorry, unless you have an original 10.2 or 10.3 (or whatever disk the machine came with) and it will boot from that. If it won't even boot for that, then I'd google accordingly, and try the various resets.
If you are able to get *any* functioning Mac operating system version installed then even if holding down C doesn't work, you MAY be able to do the OS X equivalent of my Mac OS 9 work around for my non-CD booting G3 PowerBooks... boot from the leopard disk by inserting it in a normally booted environment, and using the Startup Disk preference pane (I think - it's a while since I used any mac other than an OS 9 G3 PowerBook) to select it, then rebooting.
Sorry I can't be any more help. Best of luck.
I don't know directly from personal experience with a G4, but I *think* that is the exact opposite of what Disk Utility.app states. I believe it states that you must you Apple Partition Map for booting a non-Intel Mac, as I recall. I do not have a copy to check though, so apologies if I'm misremembering.
I'm not using the restore disc from another computer it's a retail legal copy of Leopard. But when I selected it from the startup disc menu, the powerbook restarted and just passed it up and came back into panther. If I boot the mac with C held down it just sits at the same screen with the flashing folder..
pretty sure you're right since the an older PPC mac won't see a guid partition mapped hard drive to boot from
Restart the computer a couple of times after you upgrade.
Have had several PPC Mac Minis, Powerbooks, ibooks, iMac G5s, run Leopard with no problem.
Make sure your ram is maxed out.
Have had several PPC Mac Minis, Powerbooks, ibooks, iMac G5s, run Leopard with no problem.
Make sure your ram is maxed out.
Ram is maxed out at 1.25GB and i have restarted a few times but it just sits at that screen. I do have the powerbooks original (panther) restore DVD as well, so i've installed that with no problem after these failed attempts with leopard.
It may be worth now trying the startup disk preference pane thing I suggested earlier. No guarantees, but I can't think of any reason why it *shouldn't* work.
unfortunately I have tried that and still doesn't show up....I'm not stupid and know what I'm doing but for some reason I can't get this darn thing to work. I got the powerbook for free so maybe I guess I'm just gonna leave it as is and sell it on craigslist....
The only other thing I can think of is your hard drive is dying and acting erratic. I don't believe you need to go from Panther to Tiger and THEN Leopard, though I could be wrong. My Powerbook's original OS was Tiger, so I have no experience with going from Panther and skipping Tiger to Leopard.
Did you try a complete erase and install or just an upgrade?
I'd go for the complete erase and install.
If you still have problems, I have a sixty gig drive (Out of my 12" Powerbook 1.5ghz) that might work. I can preinstall Leopard on it.
If you have the original drive in an older Powerbook it could be the drive is failing and giving you this sort of trouble. If it is Panther OS original that means you have a circa 2004 or earlier powerbook. That is a very old hard drive now, if this is indeed oem.
Yes I have tried an erase and clean install and also upgrading. How much do you want for the 60GB shipped to 83815? And is it IDE, cause that's what I need? I actually took the hard drive out yesterday (long story, thought it was sata and wanted to try an install with it in my ext. drive bay) and the drive is OEM, and the powerbook had never been touched or taken apart at all.