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G4 iBook with no OS - Help!

W

Wickintime

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2018
88
27
Melbourne, Australia
After a change of heart I've just re-assembled my white i-Book (G4, mid 2005, 1.33Ghz). Unfortunately I had wiped the drive prior to disposal. It powers up to the flashing '?' as there is no OS on the drive. How can I load one? The optical drive spins and I have an original copy of OS 10.5.4 but when I load it, it just spins and eventually stops.

I also have a 2012 iMac on Catalina, a superdrive, and a Firewire-USB adaptor on order. Would firewire Target Disc work and how would I configure it?

Any ideas?
 
Wickintime said:
After a change of heart I've just re-assembled my white i-Book (G4, mid 2005, 1.33Ghz). Unfortunately I had wiped the drive prior to disposal. It powers up to the flashing '?' as there is no OS on the drive. How can I load one? The optical drive spins and I have an original copy of OS 10.5.4 but when I load it, it just spins and eventually stops.

I also have a 2012 iMac on Catalina, a superdrive, and a Firewire-USB adaptor on order. Would firewire Target Disc work and how would I configure it?

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Is this a retail Leopard DVD, or a gray disc? If it is a retail one, and the built in optical drive of the iBook isn't working;
FireWire target mode should work. I believe the 2012 iMac still has FireWire 800? Connect the machines together with a FireWire 800/400 cable (or use the proper adapters). Put the Leopard DVD into the iMac, and boot it while holding "T". Then start up the iBook while holding "option". It should show the Leopard DVD in the iMacs drive.
 
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Project Alice said:
Is this a retail Leopard DVD, or a gray disc? If it is a retail one, and the built in optical drive of the iBook isn't working;
FireWire target mode should work. I believe the 2012 iMac still has FireWire 800? Connect the machines together with a FireWire 800/400 cable (or use the proper adapters). Put the Leopard DVD into the iMac, and boot it while holding "T". Then start up the iBook while holding "option". It should show the Leopard DVD in the iMacs drive.
Click to expand...
Does TDM allow the disc in the optical drive to be seen as well? I never knew that >.>
 
Thanks for those responses. My Leopard disc is a retail version, not a copy. The 2012 iMac doesn't have a built-in disc drive but I have the apple one which I use via USB. I assume this will work?

I expect the firewire-usb adaptor in the next few days, so I'll update you asap.
 
Wickintime said:
I expect the firewire-usb adaptor in the next few days, so I'll update you asap.
Click to expand...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but FireWire to USB adapters don't generally work that well because it requires a translation of protocols.

Can the G4 iBooks boot from USB with OF? In theory it would be possible to boot from USB with the DVD drive.
 
Here’s an easier solution:

Connect the iBook in target disk mode to the iMac. Partition the iBook using disk utility on the iMac, make sure to use APM as the partition scheme. Create two partitions, the first one being the largest for your OS, the second being around 8-9GB. Just download Leopard from the Macintosh garden, mount the image, and clone it to the small partition on the iBook.

The iBook should be able to boot from that, and install like normal to the other partition. You can either keep the installer on there as a “recovery” or just remove the partition, which is why I say make it on the end of the drive and not the beginning. Leopard supports live partitioning so you will be able to remove it later if you wanted to.
 
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Hi Guys, Thanks for all your advice.
In my final checks before embarking on the above, I discovered that the CD drive flexible connector was damaged where it enters the connector bracket on the mother board. I was unable to find a replacement, so it was out with the magnifier and a toothpick! After about 20 mins of careful re-aligning I gingerly clipped it into the bracket and it worked!!

I now have 10.4 loaded and I'm a happy bunny.

Thanks again!
 
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