G5 (older) How to install DVD other than orig.

[cdancamp]

I have an older G5 PPC with quad processors and I think my DVR is defective and I have a new
external DVD USB but when I install the USB and activate my Mac, I cannot see the external DVD.
Should I disconnect the orig. DVR so Mac can see the external DVD?

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm not positive a USB DVD drive will work, but if it does you will need to boot from Open Firmware

Follow the instructions for booting from a USB stick

http://mac.linux.be/content/booting-open-firmware

 

[warragul]

My G5 2X2Ghz Power Mac arrived with a dead optical drive. I replaced it with an off-the-shelf Pioneer drive and it worked perfectly. You might try moving the external DVD out of its case and into the Mac as only Intel Macs can boot from USB.
Having two DVD drives doesn't seem to bother Macs when booting. Just hold down the C key and either disconnect or leave empty the bad brive.

 

[bunnspecial]

s only Intel Macs can boot from USB.

This is completely and totally false. All PowerPC Macs with AGP-based graphics can boot from USB. It was an advertised feature when the Sawtooth was introduced, and on most USB 1.1 PPC Macs bootable USB volumes can be accessed through the boot picker(option on power up). In the G5 era, you had to use Open Firmware to boot, but it was none the less possible.

 

[MacCubed]

You can boot off of usb, but some of the G5's lack the ud alias in Open Firmware, making it very difficult to do. Your best option is to restore the Leopard DMG to a SATA HDD and boot from there

 

[1042686]

Is he trying to boot from the external CDRW? or is his just not being recognized by the PMG5? I was going to say on my PMG5 (DP2.0Ghz), my LG external super multi-drive works like a champ - model GP10NB20. I didn't have to disconnect anything.

1.) Did you check the cable by replacing with a 2nd different cable?
2.) If it's the regular style drive in an enclosure, try taking it out and installing it directly into the powermacG5 drivebay.
3.) Perhaps you are missing a driver that OSX does not have? Look online for a driver for your DVD drive.

Beyond that, I'm kinda stuck. If this is about booting, then I'm sorry and obviously need more coffee lol

 

[MysticCow]

You can boot off of usb, but some of the G5's lack the ud alias in Open Firmware, making it very difficult to do. Your best option is to restore the Leopard DMG to a SATA HDD and boot from there

This is what I'd do too. If the G5 can read the DVD from the USB drive, then use it to make the restore image.

After that, it's just a matter of picking that partition to boot.

 

[cdancamp]

Thanks for all the info. I will try and use that to get the DVD to work. If not, I'll be back!
Hey guys I probably only need to transfer all my files to a new HDDR but when I select
transfer files all that happens is a window that just stays open with a (supposedly) log
that depicts progress but never changes. I let it run for 20 hours and still nothing. Any ideas?

 

[Altemose]

I have used a Targus USB DVD drive to install Tiger on a 900 MHz iBook G3, without any sort of interaction with OpenFirmware. It is USB flash drives and hard drives that may need the OpenFirmware commands to be entered. Some of my USB drives actually work just fine without needing the commands.