OSX won't install on my new HD

[Tempoe]

I have an older Powerbook g4 alum that I just put a new HD in. When I insert the OSX DVD it just pops back out again. (Its about 4 or 5 years old so it might just have a CD drive, I never remember watching a DVD on it, but I doubt it, I think they all had DVD drives) It works fine on my imac though. So I hooked my laptop up to my imac as a firewire drive and hoped I could install the OSX from my imac but it won't come up as a firewire drive either, is that because there is nothing on it and its not formatted? What else can I try? Thanks!

 

[JediMeister]

If it's not a retail OS X disc or the one which came with your PowerBook, it will likely behave this way. If you are taking your iMac's install discs and placing them into your PowerBook, it will not work.

 

[Tempoe]

Ok, thanks, Its a retail OSX Leapord 10.5 disk I was trying to use, I think I have the original disk somewhere but its a super old version I guess, then I upgrade it with this disk? also do you know if the reason the laptop won't come up in firewire mode is because there is no OS on it, should it not appear in my startup disks even if its blank?

 

[JediMeister]

Retail discs do not require an OS to be present on the computer system it's being installed on, only upgrade discs do. So you don't need to locate your original system discs, but trying to boot to them would tell you if the issue is with your drive or something else. I did a bit of research and there were some PowerBook G4s, the 12 and 15-in varieties, which shipped with Combo drives, which means they can't burn DVDs even though they can read and boot from them, so it's not that you don't have a compatible drive in your system. I think you need a valid OS for the disc to mount in FireWire mode on another computer, but if the disc works on your iMac you should be able to select the PowerBook's internal drive as the install destination during the installer.

 

[NEBaghead]

Retail discs do not require an OS to be present on the computer system it's being installed on, only upgrade discs do. So you don't need to locate your original system discs, but trying to boot to them would tell you if the issue is with your drive or something else. I did a bit of research and there were some PowerBook G4s, the 12 and 15-in varieties, which shipped with Combo drives, which means they can't burn DVDs even though they can read and boot from them, so it's not that you don't have a compatible drive in your system. I think you need a valid OS for the disc to mount in FireWire mode on another computer, but if the disc works on your iMac you should be able to select the PowerBook's internal drive as the install destination during the installer.

Problem is you can't install from an intel Mac to a PPC Mac in target mode. If you have a firewire external drive you can restore the image to that drive and boot from it and do the install. Booting from USB isn't possible on a G4.

 

[JediMeister]

Good point, forgot about the architecture differences...I still say that trying to boot to the install discs will point the finger at a possible optical drive issue. I'm not sure what to think though if it'll boot to the original install discs and not the 10.5 disc though.

 

[Tempoe]

Problem is you can't install from an intel Mac to a PPC Mac in target mode. If you have a firewire external drive you can restore the image to that drive and boot from it and do the install. Booting from USB isn't possible on a G4.

Thanks to both of you, I have an external Firewire drive so I could try that in the morning, but what do you mean "restore the image" ?