iMac G4 issues

[dojonate]

So I pulled out my 800 MHz G4 the other day to force update to Leopard. I booted it into Target Disk Mode, wiped the hard drive, and copied my PowerMac G4 (1.25 GHz)'s hdd using Carbon Copy Cloner. I then ejected the iMac and attempted to boot up. It powered up, but instead of showing the grey Apple logo, it showed the error folder that flashes between Finder and a '?'

I tried booting it from the disc drive too, but it won't even open. I get the impression that the iMac is not recognizing anything on the IDE cable. What should I do now?

Is the problem software, or hardware? How do I fix it either way?

 

[Intell]

You may want to check what kind of wipe you did to the drive. Make sure its of the AMP partition type and not GUID.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

I've done this exact same thing numerous times over the years. Just a few questions for you:

1. Did you wait a while & let it finish booting ?
2. Does your machine meet the specs for Leopard ?
3. When setting up the cloning, did you check the box to make the cloned copy bootable ?

The flashing ?? mark just means that it could not find a bootable system folder right away, but normally after a few minutes, it will find the new install & finish booting.

Then you have to open system prefs & select the boot drive & lock it to that preference, after that it should boot normally......

 

[mmomega]

Did you try and boot the machine into Tiger or what other OS you had on it before. If so I don't know why all of a sudden the computer wouldn't read from the IDE cable anymore...weird.

Maybe double check your install or try installing Tiger to see if everything works then go at Leopard again. I know it takes a while but it would rule out IDE failure.

Also, I haven't personally tried it as my G4 is a 1GHz iMac.
With sufficient RAM I don't see why it would not run on it. Think the HDD could be going?

I did find this:

Apple states the following basic Leopard system requirements, although, for some specific applications and actions (such as iChat backdrops) an Intel processor is required:[52]
Processor must be any Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 MHz and faster)
DVD drive (for installation of the operating system)
At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM (1 GB) is recommended for development purposes)
At least 9 GB of disk space available.

Processor type and speed are checked during installation and installation halted if insufficient;

however, Leopard will run on slower G4 processor machines (e.g., a 733mhz Quicksilver) if the installation is performed on a supported Mac and its hard-drive then moved to a slower/unsupported one

 

[fhall1]

The 800MHz WILL run Leopard....I had to use "Leopard Assist" http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26562/leopardassist to be able to install it, but it works fine.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Wait...you're trying to boot with a system taken from another Mac? Not gonna work.

First...what system was the 800MHz Mac running previously? Depending on that answer a firmware upgrade may be necessary.

To get a Leopard-only system on the 800MHz Mac, you'll have to install Tiger, then run "LeopardAssist" (Google it) with a Leopard Install disk (Generic) ready to go in the drive (DVD).

 

[chrismacguy]

Wait...you're trying to boot with a system taken from another Mac? Not gonna work.

That just isn't true. In general Mac OS X will boot on any compatible Mac. The reason the 800 G4 won't boot it isn't the OS install. (As an example of OS Xs resilience, I just booted my PowerBook G4 off of my PowerMac G4s HD - Thats a 1.67Ghz G4 off of the HD inside my PowerMac G4/450 running 10.5.8, installed using the G4/450 and Leopard Assist).

 

[BrianBaughn]

That just isn't true. In general Mac OS X will boot on any compatible Mac. The reason the 800 G4 won't boot it isn't the OS install. (As an example of OS Xs resilience, I just booted my PowerBook G4 off of my PowerMac G4s HD - Thats a 1.67Ghz G4 off of the HD inside my PowerMac G4/450 running 10.5.8, installed using the G4/450 and Leopard Assist).

I suppose my answer was too "absolute". I was really thinking about the particular problem and the models involved (800MHz/7445 G4 iMac & 1.25GHz/7455 G4 PowerMac)

So...how do you know that "The reason the 800 G4 won't boot it isn't the OS install"?

 

[Intell]

Wait...you're trying to boot with a system taken from another Mac? Not gonna work.

First...what system was the 800MHz Mac running previously? Depending on that answer a firmware upgrade may be necessary.

To get a Leopard-only system on the 800MHz Mac, you'll have to install Tiger, then run "LeopardAssist" (Google it) with a Leopard Install disk (Generic) ready to go in the drive (DVD).

Mac OS X isn't like Windows. One can clone or copy an OS bootable drive between two or more Macs without an issue. You can take a 10.4.11 install from a iMac G3 and put it into a PowerMac G5 and it will boot.

The iMac G4 model never had a firmware upgrade.

LeopardAssist is only needed during the installation phase. Once that is complete, the vanilla OS will run without a problem.

So...how do you know that "The reason the 800 G4 won't boot it isn't the OS install"?

Because the PowerMac's bootable hard drive was cloned with CarbonCopyCloner. CCC is very good at what it is designed to do. It's likely that the iMac G4 isn't looking in the right places to boot from or the OP used the wrong partition type on the iMac's drive.

 

[chrismacguy]

So...how do you know that "The reason the 800 G4 won't boot it isn't the OS install"?

Because the install itself boots fine on another Mac, and CCC is exceptionally good at what it does. In over 500 clones I haven't ever had it fail to clone perfectly.