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PowerBook G4 Ti help?

AphoticD said:
It could be some sort of compatibility issue with Firewire TDM between the more modern and older tech.

Did you have any luck with the USB method? I have previously installed Tiger via USB stick on an iBook G3 and Lombard, so I imagine the TiBook would handle it just fine. I dedicated an old USB 1.1 rated 4GB drive which I found in my old bits and pieces from about '04 and it has been consistently reliable as a Tiger install drive.
Click to expand...
I found a USB 2.0 drive Catalina on my 2017 MBP could not restore an image to the drive, so I tried the older 2011 MBP with High Siera Which worked.
I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong with the commands (I tried a few different ones in from the link you shared) but no dice.
 

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aaaaplay said:
I found a USB 2.0 drive Catalina on my 2017 MBP could not restore an image to the drive, so I tried the older 2011 MBP with High Siera Which worked.
I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong with the commands (I tried a few different ones in from the link you shared) but no dice.
Click to expand...

Maybe try
Code: 
boot usb0/disk@1,\\:tbxi
 
AphoticD said:
Maybe try
Code: 
boot usb0/disk@1,\\:tbxi
Click to expand...

So I've tried that again and it still states
Code: 
can't OPEN
.

I tried again with a different flash drive with no success, is it the way I'm creating the boot usb that is incorrect?

I'm using Disk Utility, using restore and selecting the DMG as the image.
 
aaaaplay said:
So I've tried that again and it still states
Code: 
can't OPEN
.

I tried again with a different flash drive with no success, is it the way I'm creating the boot usb that is incorrect?

I'm using Disk Utility, using restore and selecting the DMG as the image.
Click to expand...

The disk utility method should be ok. Try adding the partition number as described in this post;
forums.macrumors.com

Trouble Installing Leopard (10.5) via USB

I don't think the 12" PowerBook had the ability to boot from a USB drive at the multi-boot screen. You could try dropping into Open Firmware by holding command-option-O-F at boot then; dev / ls - to show a list of devices You should see one of your usb devices (probably on the second page...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
AphoticD said:
The disk utility method should be ok. Try adding the partition number as described in this post;
forums.macrumors.com

Trouble Installing Leopard (10.5) via USB

I don't think the 12" PowerBook had the ability to boot from a USB drive at the multi-boot screen. You could try dropping into Open Firmware by holding command-option-O-F at boot then; dev / ls - to show a list of devices You should see one of your usb devices (probably on the second page...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...

I followed that and tried a few different things (see image below) but I continue to get the same errors. Could I have a bad copy of Tiger?
4B697017-6074-4110-A509-3968ED471F11.jpeg
 
You could try another method which I’ve used before;

1. Put the TiBook into FireWire TDM and connect to the MBP
2. Partition the TiBook’s drive with 2 (or more) volumes. You’re going to restore the Tiger install onto a partition of the HDD, so make it about 5GB or so and the remainder will be for your startup volume.
3. Ensure Apple Partition Map is set - not GUID.
4. Restore the install iso onto the new smaller partition.
5. Eject and reboot the TiBook.

It should then boot into the installer and you can choose to install onto the larger volume.

Once installed, you can erase this partition and use it for another OS or if you really want to merge the space, you can go back into TDM and use Disk Utility in the MBP to remove the partition and merge the space non-destructively.
 
Even simpler; Installing from the disc via the MBP should work properly now that you’ve resolved the RAM fault issue... your perseverance will eventually pay off!
 
AphoticD said:
Even simpler; Installing from the disc via the MBP should work properly now that you’ve resolved the RAM fault issue... your perseverance will eventually pay off!
Click to expand...

I’m fast growing tired, it’s stuck again. The DVD drive keeps spinning up, should I leave it?
I’ve created a partition but need to to do it on the PowerBook as the MacBook couldn’t reformat it via Target Disk.
 
Good news, I installed OS X but bad news. It won’t let me past the internet connection type screen, it just loops me back to the welcome video and the same set up screens. Any ideas on what to do?
 
Can you not say "no internet" and proceed? You can press command-q to skip the registration stuff afterwards.
 
Amethyst1 said:
Can you not say "no internet" and proceed? You can press command-q to skip the registration stuff afterwards.
Click to expand...

I have tried that and Ethernet. Once I’ve selected that option the screen goes blue and the welcome video loads and then it loops back to the country selection screen.
If I try Command-Q then a pop-up box appears explains I need to create a login account.
I’ve tried safe mode the exact same situation happens except it doesn’t play the video each time.
I’ve also tried rebooting into the install disk and repairing the disk. Same result.
Could I create an account somehow? Like in single-user mode?
any ideas?
 
It seems like the installation is somehow damaged...

I think I have gotten to the bottom of what the issue with USB boot might have been...

I tried following your process to restore from .iso using Disk Utility in High Sierra and I can concur that the USB drive created is non-bootable on the TiBook.

Disk Utility seems to ignore the partition map of the iso and restores straight onto partition 0, which might be fine for booting Intel Macs, but is no good for PowerPC booting.

An alternative method, which creates a bootable Tiger USB (via OF) on High Sierra is to use the dd command via Terminal.app;

1. Insert USB drive on your High Sierra Mac
2. Get the disk number of the USB drive
Code: 
diskutil list
You’ll see a list of all attached drives including partition numbers. Note the disk number of the USB device, e.g disk2
3. Then restore the iso image to the USB drive;
Code: 
dd if=/path/to/Tiger.iso of=/dev/diskX bs=1m
(Where X is the disk number acquired earlier)

It took some time to complete, but I was then able to remove the USB from the newer Mac and inserted into the USB port closest to the power input on the Mercury TiBook.

I then booted into OF and successfully launched the installer with;
Code: 
boot usb0/disk@1:3,\\:tbxi
 
Last edited:
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AphoticD said:
It seems like the installation is somehow damaged...

I think I have gotten to the bottom of what the issue with USB boot might have been...

I tried following your process to restore from .iso using Disk Utility in High Sierra and I can concur that the USB drive created is non-bootable on the TiBook.

Disk Utility seems to wipe out the partition map of the iso and restores straight onto partition 0, which might be fine for booting Intel Macs, but is no good for PowerPC booting.

An alternative method, which creates a bootable Tiger USB via Open Firmware from High Sierra is to use the dd command from Terminal.app;

1. Insert USB drive on your High Sierra Mac
2. Get the disk number of the USB drive
Code: 
diskutil list
You’ll see a list of all attached drives including partition numbers. Note the disk number of the USB device, e.g disk2
3. Then restore the iso image to the USB drive;
Code: 
dd if=/path/to/Tiger.iso of=/dev/diskX bs=1m
(Where X is the disk number acquired earlier)

It took some time to complete, but I was then able to remove the USB from the newer Mac and inserted into the USB port closest to the power input on the Mercury TiBook.

I then booted into OF and successfully launched the installer with;
Code: 
boot usb0/disk@1:3,\\:tbxi
Click to expand...
So the method that worked for me to install was to use the DVD drive of the MBP via target disc, boot into the installer on the PB. Then using disk utility I copied the contents of the burnt DVD a partition on the HD of the PB. I then installed using that, it got stuck but I was able to reboot and use the upgrade option to complete the install.
Re-reading over what I’ve done there are two red flags for me.
1. Could High-Sierra create a DVD suitable for a PowerPC or do your findings only apply to bootable flash drives?
2. Something may have gone wrong when I chose to upgrade rather then install fresh.
I’ll have one more go at installing it from the HD hoping this time that it will not stall.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Can you not say "no internet" and proceed? You can press command-q to skip the registration stuff afterwards.
Click to expand...

FYI, after updating to 10.4.11 the register over internet and or wifi works perfectly. I did this multiple times, though not sure where it ended up, maybe some Apple rep saw it and laughed.
 
Macbookprodude said:
FYI, after updating to 10.4.11 the register over internet and or wifi works perfectly. I did this multiple times, though not sure where it ended up, maybe some Apple rep saw it and laughed.
Click to expand...
And how does this help the OP who can't complete the first-boot wizard, much less update to 10.4.11?
 
aaaaplay said:
Re-reading over what I’ve done there are two red flags for me.
1. Could High-Sierra create a DVD suitable for a PowerPC or do your findings only apply to bootable flash drives?
2. Something may have gone wrong when I chose to upgrade rather then install fresh.
I’ll have one more go at installing it from the HD hoping this time that it will not stall.
Click to expand...

I imagine the disc burn will be fine. Disk Utility appears to do some clever things when it comes to Restoring which caused issues.

Yes, I would try to reinstall again from HDD and if that fails, go back to creating the bootable USB drive using dd and then boot from OF. I tested this particular method (as posted above) last night on a 400MHz Mercury TiBook with 768MB of RAM and a 10GB HDD. The installation went without a hitch.

I had previously created my .iso file from a direct rip of the original Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger retail DVD (using Disk Utility to create a "CD/DVD Master" which I then renamed to "tiger.iso")
 
AphoticD said:
Woohoo! Well done mate 👏

What a mission!

The screen looks nice and bright for its age. Most of my older TiBooks have backlights that have yellowed and dulled.
Click to expand...

thanks for all your help!

mid say the display looks as good as it does because it been mothballed for at least 10 years, if not longer due to the original logic board. I’d say the casing got cracked during that time as well, as the top case was replaced in 2003 according to the date stamps.

the logic boards also have some variation to them as well.
56285D7A-0BE6-4944-9D58-12E97AED954E.jpeg
 
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