Using FW on an Imac running 10.5 to install 10.4 cds on an eMac

[LostInHB]

Okay here's a weird one
I have an eMac with a dead CD drive that I had updated to 10.4 using CD's (not DVD). Now that eMac will not boot up, but will open in Target mode. I also have an iMac running 10.5 that I connected to the eMac so that i could run disk utility and repair the eMacs disk, which I did but it will still not boot up.

Is it possible to use the install CDs I have for 10.4 using the iMac running 10.5 optical drive to reinstall 10.4 on the eMac? Which computer would i put into target mode? Is it even possible to do since I would have change disks during the install (it's 20 cds) Which computer gets restarted using the disk? remember the eMac will only open in target mode
I have read many posts on different forums which has only confused me more, I am afraid of screwing up the iMac, so any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MagicBoy]

You can't reinstall the OS on a PowerPC machine from an Intel Mac via Target Disk Mode. You'd need to find another identical (or very similar) PowerPC Mac.

Can you borrow/beg/steal an external USB/Firewire optical drive from someone?

 

[d88co88]

You can't reinstall the OS on a PowerPC machine from an Intel Mac via Target Disk Mode. You'd need to find another identical (or very similar) PowerPC Mac.

Can you borrow/beg/steal an external USB/Firewire optical drive from someone?

Yes you can. I did it from my MacBook to my eMac and it works great!

 

[MagicBoy]

Yes you can. I did it from my MacBook to my eMac and it works great!

Might possibly work if you put the Intel Mac in Target Disk mode and the eMac can see the optical drive, although the trainer on the course I was on swore blind it wouldn't!

Definitely won't work the other way round if you try and install to the eMac HDD from the Intel Mac as the architecture is different.

 

[LostInHB]

I should have mentioned that both macs are PPC.

 

[chrismacguy]

If both are PPC it will work just fine OP - all this about the OS installer relying on architecture is claptrap - otherwise how come my 10.4 FireWire drive can boot any G3, G4 or G5?

 

[MagicBoy]

If both are PPC it will work just fine OP - all this about the OS installer relying on architecture is claptrap - otherwise how come my 10.4 FireWire drive can boot any G3, G4 or G5?

G3-G5 are the same basic architecture - PowerPC.

10.4 installation media is single architecture only. PowerPC discs won't work in an Intel and vice versa.
10.5 (retail) does both from the same DVD.

 

[chrismacguy]

G3-G5 are the same basic architecture - PowerPC.

10.4 installation media is single architecture only. PowerPC discs won't work in an Intel and vice versa..

I know this *points at the huge numbers of Macs I have scattered around my house*- however the posters above were claiming that a G5 cant install on a G4 for instance, which is just ludicrous.