[saint1959]

Hello all,

I just received a Power Mac G4 400mhz that did NOT have a HD inside. I subsequently installed a Western Digital 250GB Enhanced IDE hard drive. The computer powers up but the screen only shows a folder with a question mark (?) and the Mac logo alternately blinking in the middle of it.

What do I do from this point? How do I proceed in order to install the OS?

The computer also came with DVD Rom drive and Mac OS X Tiger disc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Serge_N_Gin]

I suggest you put the Tiger DVD in the drive and start up your Mac, holding down the "C" key when you hear the Startup Chime. This will force the Mac to boot from the installation Disc which is what's needed here.

Next we need to make sure the new HD is correctly formatted before installing the new OS, so I have included a few links to provide you with some info on the process:

Troubleshooting Mac OS X installation from CD or DVD

G4 Hard Drive Upgrade Guide - Formatting the New Drive

Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X - Tiger

Here is another link re: the Sys Requirements:

Make sure your hardware can run Mac OS X Version 10.4 Tiger

I think that the only G4's that came pre-installed with Tiger were the 2005 eMac and the iBook G4 released in mid 2005 so as yours is a Power Mac, it problably wasn't originally released with OS X installed.

Power Mac G4: How to Differentiate Between Models

The usual practise before upgrading to Tiger on a Mac that was released with a pre-OS X OS installed is to upgrade the firmware. This is very important and if not done can have serious consequences.

Here's some further info on that point:

Mac OS X: Available firmware updates

In your situation however, since your internal HD is new firmware upgrade would be unecessary IMHO, as the hard drive hasn't had a prior installment of a Mac OS on it.

So, it's safe to go ahead and format the HD and then install Tiger. Ensure all peripherals are unattached during the upgrade/install, excepting of course the keyboard, mouse, monitor.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

[saint1959]

Thank you for your thorough reply to my query. I followed the instructions for formatting and partitioning the HD using someone else's Mac. But when I installed the HD onto my G4 400mhz Power Mac, I still get the flashing question mark, thus I can't even boot from the CD.
Again, thank you for the reply.

[dadsgravy]

I think your hard drive is to big for the computer. Here is a link:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...wermac-g4.html

Find your model, then scroll down, click on the specs for the hard drive and that is where I found this quote:

"Can officially support two Ultra ATA/66 hard drives -- drives larger than 128 GB are not supported. It could be configured with up to three Ultra2 SCSI drives at the time of purchase as a build-to-order option."

If you formated the drive and you still have the flashing question mark, the drive being to large is my guess. Either that or the drive is faulty. But I'm positive it is to big. A lot of older macs just can't handle large hard drives.

[Headrush]

The firmware has nothing to do with the hard drive. Its very important for being able to boot OS X that you have the latest firmware installed. Unfortunately to install the latest firmware you need OS 9. (You can't use the classic OS 9 within OS X, you must have a bootable OS 9)

The hard drive size shouldn't stop it from booting. Earlier models do have a limitation of only seeing 128GB, but it will still work. Your only options are to buy an IDE PCI card that will work with bigger drives, or use the drive in a Firewire enclosure. You might want to invest on a USB2 PCI card also as earlier G4 only have USB1. (Get a NEC based one, about $12)

[saint1959]

RE: G4 Power Mac 400mhz.
I apologize for taking so long to update the issue but it took me an equally long time to find a bootable CD of OS 9.
A big thanks to all those who took time to respond to my query.
Indeed, I put in the OS 9 DVD and it booted right away. Although It only recognizes part of the 250G HD but I can't really complain.

I am now trying to upgrade to Tiger or Panther but when I do so I get a flashing earth sign.

[Headrush]

You don't upgrade OS 9 to OS X.
They are completely different and can co-exist on the same HD.

You can hold down the option key at boot time to switch between them.
(Be patient sometimes takes a while)

Can you explain a little more the issue with OS X? Flashing earth?

[Serge_N_Gin]

Before you upgrade to OS X from OS 9 you need to have OS 9.2.2 installed as well as the latest Firmware Updates for your Mac, if any. If you don't check for and install any relevant Firmware upgrade,you could run into problems.

Regarding the Flashing Globe icon, your startup disk sounds like it's set to boot from Network Volume, simply reboot then hold down the Option key when you hear the Startup Chime and keep on holding it down until you see the option to boot from the Tiger disc.

If that fails, try this:

Start up your PowerMac G4 in OS 9 make sure to upgrade to OS 9.2.2 then put the Tiger install disc in the drive and then go to your Control Panel and choose Start-Up Disc.

Make sure your "Network" option is not turned ON.

In OSX the Globe in the System Prefs represents the Network (internet as well). Turn it off and you should be fine.



Upgrading from OS 9 To OS X. (Takes a while to load)

Mac OS X: Available firmware updates




[saint1959]

Thank you! Holding down the option key worked with the OS X disc at start up.
But trying to install OS X I continually get this message: "There were errors installing the software".
Please try installing again. Restart

I'll try to download the firmware upgrade for OS X.

Thank you all!

[Serge_N_Gin]

You're most welcome saint1959.

Why don't you startup from the OS X disc, then navigate to Disc Utilities and format the drive all over before the install? Make sure you have all your personal data backed up first of course!

The impression I'm getting is that this HD is new and you've yet to accumulate personal data/files etc ... is this right? If it is, then just reformat the disc HSF+ and then the Tiger install should just work ..

What OS version is currently installed?

Troubleshooting Hard Drives: Reformatting





[saint1959]

Thank you, Serge (french speaking???)!
The OS is version OS 9.2.1. I have since downloaded 9.2.2.
Still I am getting an error message when installing.

The drive is indeed new. I got the G4 without a HD and subsequently used a 250HD from a Lacie external drive.
OS 9.2.1 is installed and works fine. The problem is installing OS X 10.3.
I did follow your prescriptions but to no avail. If I had any hair left, I'd have pluck every single strand already (lol, lol). Thanks a lot.

[saint1959]

This is what usually happens:
An error message usually after it is almost done installing.
The blue scroll line indeed usually almost to the end, usually at 98%. And then the
dreaded message: "There were errors installing the software.

[Headrush]

Originally Posted by saint1959

This is what usually happens:
An error message usually after it is almost done installing.
The blue scroll line indeed usually almost to the end, usually at 98%. And then the
dreaded message: "There were errors installing the software.

Did you let the installer check your media before starting the install or did you skip it?

Is this a original OS X DVD or a copy?

If you customize the install and only select the bare minimums, does the install complete?

[Serge_N_Gin]

Originally Posted by saint1959

This is what usually happens:
An error message usually after it is almost done installing.
The blue scroll line indeed usually almost to the end, usually at 98%. And then the
dreaded message: "There were errors installing the software.

saint1959, have you tried booting from your OS 9 disc and then launch Disk First Aid on the install disc to test the internal (unmounted at this stage) Hard Disc?

If so, did the volume to be repaired appear in the Disk First Aid window?

If so, did you start the Repair function and at its completion, did Disk First Aid report that the volume appears to be OK or that it was repaired successfully? Or did Disk First Aid report that problems were found but it cannot repair them?

Have you unattached all peripherals besides keyboard/mouse?

OS 9.2.1 is installed and works fine. The problem is installing OS X 10.3.

Are you trying to upgrade to Panter or Tiger? Make sure that if you have a Tiger install disc that it isn't the Intel version as that would definately give you problems if you tried installing it.



[Pixeled]

Was 'recycling' wife's iMac (volleyball version)
SuperDuper'ed the hard disk to external firewire
Booted from external copy
Completely formatted internal using Disk Utility (extended journaled)
Used official Tiger DVD
Clicked on installer
Restarted
Verified media (100%)
installed
got "There were errors installing the software"

tried partitioning the 80Gig drive into 2 40's, same thing

this is the first time *ever* I've seen a Mac refuse an install from the 'shipping' media.
(trying to install OS on iMac from macbook dvd's tends leads to smack-down pretty quickly)

conclusions from evidence:
the iMac boots fine from the external drive, so iMac is functioning 100%
the DVD media verifies, so the DVD drive is functioning 100%

something is causing this _very_late_ failure, and googling the net shows that it's happening all over, too.