Ibook G4 (screen shows folder with (?) question mark

[Mikey323]

Hi,

i have this G4 from a friend of mine but it has problems. It powers on and everything however it loads to a screen with a folder/question mark.

He also told me the cd drive doesn't work either (great)

I've removed the harddrive from the mac already.

He gave me a retail copy of 10.5 on a disk but how can i install it since the cd drive doesn't work? He lost is original install disks so he bought this instead.

Im a windows person so i dont have much experience with macs

Is there a way i can hook the hard drive to my windows computer as an external HD and install the OSX 10.5 from my windows PC to the mac harddrive? I have 2 comps with Vista and Win7.

I've greatly appreciate the help.

Thank you

 

[Nameci]

A 10.5 installer is a dual layer DVD drive. You should a DVD drive that could read a DVD-DL in order to install the OS. And of course you need a hard drive installed on the machine.

No you can't install it from a pc.

If you have another mac you can install it to a hard drive on the target mac by using target mode.

 

[Mikey323]

A 10.5 installer is a dual layer DVD drive. You should a DVD drive that could read a DVD-DL in order to install the OS. And of course you need a hard drive installed on the machine.

No you can't install it from a pc.

If you have another mac you can install it to a hard drive on the target mac by using target mode.

I tried to search for a drive replacement for his ibook but all i can find is combo drives which says CD-RW-DVD-ROM.

I tried to find specs of the ibook drive online but unable to locate them. Even thou i know the ibook drive is not able to burn DVD-DL disks, is it able to Read and install 10.5 since its a DVD-DL?

If it can read and install 10.5 i might as well just get another CD drive and install 10.5

Unfortunately i dont have another mac to use. I also read somewhere that target mode cant be used with PowerMac G4's i know this is a Ibook but doesn't it fall into the same category?

If I am able to get another Mac and if Target mode does work. How do i install 10.5 with target mode? From what i read target mode is to transfer files from 1 mac to another.

 

[Nameci]

I cannot tell the specifics until we know the system information on the ibook, like cpu... those information.

I guess you can replace it with a superdrive.

 

[mike457]

I believe you can use firewire target mode.

The easiest method would be to borrow or buy an external DVD player. These are pretty cheap nowadays, if none of your friends have one they could lend you.

If you do borrow a Mac, it needs to be a Power PC model; I don't think you can install from an Intel mac to a PPC mac, though I may be wrong. You would power up your G4, holding down the T key. You should then see a firewire symbol on the screen. Connect your Mac to the borrowed Mac using a firewire cable. Your G4 will now show as an external hard drive on the borrowed Mac. Put the install disk in the borrowed Mac, and it will give you a choice of where to install the OS. Make sure you choose your G4, and let the install run.