unable to boot from alternate disk, plz help

[sk8dada]

i own iMac g5 1.9 ghz with 10.4.11. runs well except for Superdrive doesn't work, so i have external DVD burner i use through USB 2.0. purchased retail 10.5 and want to install. i insert disk, double click on install, after i click on "restart to install", it just boots from my main HD. I then hold option to choose start disk, it only shows my main HD. I then go to Preferences->system->startup disk and try and boot from diferent disk. it only lists network and current hd. it doesnt give me option to choose anything else. I then figure it's faulty disk, so i insert my original 10.4 restore disk and try and boot using same methods, same thing.

I then try using REMOTE INSTALL MAC OS from my intel mac mini in attempt to network boot in order to install using the 10.5 disk in the mini's drive (the same way you would install new OS on Mac Air. So i created a network, connected 2 machines, and rebooted my G5. my G5 didn't even recognize it upon booting. it still just saw the current internal HD with 10.4.11.
Everything works fine as far as hardware for my G5 (except for internal Superdrive). This is my daily computer. i've not had any issues until now. All i want to do is install 10.5 on my g5 imac. I did not purchase this from apple so there's no way to get phone or tech support. i'm tempted to pay apple to install this, but i thought id ask you guys here b4 i spent any money.

any advice or help would be great. thx, -Matt

 

[BlueRevolution]

PowerPC Macs can't boot to USB drives. However, you can do this:

1. Connect the Mac Mini to the iMac with a FireWire cable.
2. Reboot the iMac, holding T until a FireWire icon appears on its screen. It should appear on the Mac Mini as an external drive.
3. Using Disk Utility on the Mac Mini, format the iMac's hard drive with two partitions. They should both be at least 6 GB, but they won't be permanent so it doesn't matter if they're bigger.
4. Insert the Leopard retail disk into the Mac Mini's optical drive.
5. Using Carbon Copy Cloner, clone the Leopard disk onto the second (bottom) partition of the iMac.
6. Eject the iMac drive on the Mac Mini, then disconnect the FireWire cable and restart the iMac. You can now turn the Mac Mini off if you like, as you won't need it again.
7. Hold the option key as the iMac starts up and select the new partition with the installer on it.
8. Use the installer to install Mac OS X onto the first partition that you created with the Mac Mini.
9. Once your install is complete, restart to the newly-installed partition and use Disk Utility to delete the second partition with the installer on it and resize the remaining partition to fill the entire drive.

 

[Toby Goodbar]

you beat me to it! i hit reply and scrolled down to see his post and saw you had the answer already.

 

[sk8dada]

lol

very nice, bravo sir. i'm trying it now...