Installed Leopard on G4 Bluescreened, then Infinite Pinwheel, No Finder

[teamgibbs]

Hello,

I installed Leopard on my old G4 Quicksilver (last one they made). Got the Bluescreen of death. Did the delete Application Bundle thingy through my iMac as instructed by Apples support pages. Now it takes forever but the G4 makes it to the login then desktop (just wallpaper, no bar on top, no icons), the pinwheel just spins and spins. Rooting around I discovered the dock was hidden there but I have no finder/desktop icons (No HD or other misc. icons) just a constant pinwheel. I can launch some of the apps like Mail which is strange anything that needs the finder or desktop dissapears (example I asked the dock to show me documents in the finder and poof nothing happens). I ran the software update, made it to the list of updates I needed but it gets stuck pinwheeling so it doesn't actually download the updates. I tried reinstalling, I did and Archive and Install (preserved settings...) and am stuck with same result. Even zapped the PRAM.

I'm at a loss, I've scoured forums and can't find anything else to try. Thanks for your help ahead of time.

 

[TEG]

Try holding down Shift at startup. Beyond that, I'd blow the whole system away as start from scratch loading Leopard.

TEG

 

[teamgibbs]

Shift brings you into "Safe Mode" correct? What exactly does that do? I've tried that, saw the little red Safe mode (I think) appear above the login but nothing has changed, no effect on the outcome. Is there something else I should be doing in the mode?

Anything else? Magic button combinations?

The very last things I want to be doing is a total wipe/rebuild/install. I have to much stuff on there to give up yet. I can pull that stuff over doing the tethering trick right? I can actually copy stuff of the HD to another machine?

 

[HLdan]

Did you do a complete erase and install? On a machine that old if all you did was Archive and Install or upgrade that would be a big mistake.

 

[teamgibbs]

I did not do an erase and install because I wanted to preserve everything on the machine. That is the last thing I want to do. I was only after an upgrade.

Anyone, anyone got a miracles to spare?

I'm just confused why I can get all the way to the desktop and not see icons? Like I said I can run an App like Safari but can't go outside of say the dock. The little wheel just spins and spins on the desktop.

Can I salvage something like my Adobe programs without having to reinstall them if I do a clean install? Silly Question? I already the archiving bit.

Sorry I keep adding to list list of craziness. Is there nothing I can root around in the old computer while tethered that might free up my computer from what might ail it.

 

[HLdan]

I did not do an erase and install because I wanted to preserve everything on the machine. That is the last thing I want to do. I was only after an upgrade.

Anyone, anyone got a miracles to spare?

I'm just confused why I can get all the way to the desktop and not see icons? Like I said I can run an App like Safari but can't go outside of say the dock. The little wheel just spins and spins on the desktop.

Can I salvage something like my Adobe programs without having to reinstall them if I do a clean install? Silly Question? I already the archiving bit.

Sorry I keep adding to list list of craziness. Is there nothing I can root around in the old computer while tethered that might free up my computer from what might ail it.

The upgrade was your mistake. You've had that machine for a long time with a lot of stuff on it that will have issues with an upgrade install of Leopard. The only "clean install" that exists is erase, reformat and install. You will continue to have problems if all you are after are workarounds. There are many theads here with people that tried to shortcut their way to install of Leoapard from their old Mac OS install and have problems. A lot of older Adobe apps are not compatible with Leopard.

 

[teamgibbs]

Thanks for your help guys.

I've own six Macs in my day and this is the first to actually bite me. Not sure how this is my fault either as you kindly put it (sorry I don't work at an Apple genius bar) I was only following the instructions/compatibilities provided to me by Apple prior to installation. The only "work around" I am looking for at this point is a way to salvage some of my files before I do that. The computer will not let me see the HD (only select files, desktop, iApp related files but not folders I created (no they are not locked either) Weird huh? I can search for file names I know are there but do not come up found.

Any thoughts?

 

[TEG]

If you have another Mac to use, you can put yours into Target Disk Mode (hold 'T' at startup) while having the two systems connected with a firewire cable. This should allow you full access to the entire system to back up files. Otherwise, If you really need the files, I'd almost suggest buying a new primary hd, installing it, putting Leopard on it, then using your old one for Time Machine once you recover the files you want.

TEG

 

[Xavier]

This is why it is important to create a back up of the files on your computer before you do an install of any OS.

I didn't have problems upgrading my G4 MMD to Leopard, but I made a back up just in case things went down hill.