Loading OS X (10.4) on a G4 Digital Audio

[DaveN]

Years ago I bought a G4 (think it was the Digital Audio as I remember I had to buy an after market adapter for the audio) and used it for years including installing OS X. I took a job in another state and gave the machine to one of my brothers who used it for years. I retired and moved back and now by brother gave the Mac back to me but he had to replace the original video card with an ATI card. In the mean time, or as a result, it only works with 9.1. I have a 10.4 installation DVD and in the reading of the preface, it says that to install 10.4 I need to install an original Apple Video card or get an OS X video driver from the manufacturer. However, the instructions don't give a 'what to do next'. step. I found a video driver I think is the right one and downloaded it on my Mac mini.

Anyone know how to insert the video driver into the installation process?

Thanks

Edit: Corrected version to 10.4 Tiger

 

[Amethyst1]

What ATI card is it? Chances are good Tiger will install just fine with it and you can always install the latest ATI drivers afterwards.

 

[DaveN]

What ATI card is it? Chances are good Tiger will install just fine with it and you can always install the latest ATI drivers afterwards.

The name depends on where I look. If I use the Apple Hardware Test DVD 1.0, it comes up as ATI Bluestone_A in the hardware profile. If I look under OS9.1 profiler under devices, it comes up as ATY Bluestone Parent, ATY RV200. I did have the card out of the slot yesterday to look up the part number (forgot where I wrote it down and I didn't remove it again as it was a PIA to get the screw holding the card back in the hole). When I did look it up, I found the driver and the driver I downloaded is radeon-0210.sit. I'm thinking it was Radeon Rage but am not sure.

All that said, the card may not be the hangup. I ran the extended hardware test and encountered a couple problems. In one run, it encountered an error with the firewire ports. I don't have anything plugged into the ports so it isn't the devices. However, I do remember that before I gave the Mac to my brother, I had Firewire problems because one late night I plugged in a Firewire disk with the plug facing the wrong direction. Ruined the disk.

On a second run of the hardware test I encountered an error with the disk system. The errors are:

fire/5/-49993
ata1/6/3 HD:2,0

One more big caveat... I did upgrade the processor when I had it and the OSX install disk says third party processor cards aren't supported. When my brother gave me the computer back, he did have an additional mother board so I'm not sure if my mother board is in there or a replacement. Lots of parts and only a moderate amount of documentation. Looks like I have a inclement weather project to keep me busy.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Amethyst1]

If I use the Apple Hardware Test DVD 1.0, it comes up as ATI Bluestone_A in the hardware profile. If I look under OS9.1 profiler under devices, it comes up as ATY Bluestone Parent, ATY RV200.

RV200 would be a Radeon 7500. Supported out of the box in 10.4.