Can't boot Classic from installation disk/stuck in Assistant loop

I have a Mac G4 on which I recently (and foolishly) decided to install the OX 10.0.4. The computer now is stuck in a loop in which it goes to Assistants (there are none to specify) and refuses to let me do anything else, including Force Quit, logout, or even shut down the machine without pressing the power button. I have even unplugged it and let it sit for a couple of hours with no effect. It will not boot from the installation disk of 9.2 by holding C at startup. I held down Ctrl and C at startup and arrived at a cursor and black screen, but I don't know what to do with that other than type exit and allow the computer to continue startup and its infernal loop sequence.
I have a G5 on which I'm running 10.4, so all I want to do is return to my happy world of the Classic environment on my G4. Any assistance will be helpful.

jeffripple,
1. About getting out of the Setup Assistant:
• Will the Command + Period keys stop the Setup Assistant? (This is from OS 9. On some machines, that key combination will open or close the tray.)
• Is there a Quit option under the File Menu at the top of the screen?
• Is there an Assistants item in the Menu bar at the top of the screen?
2. About getting the machine to boot from a CD:
• What happens if you press Option - Command - Shift - Delete during startup to bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)?
See: Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts
• Have you tried the steps in this link to see if it clearing the parameter RAM allows you to start up from an Operating System install CD which is capable of booting your machine?
Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
Sincerely,
No Alibi.
 Backup what you can't afford to lose. Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Can not boot off of installation disk - MBP 10.6

I am trying to wipe and reinstall the OS in my 2010 MBP 15. I have tried everything - and it will not boot off of the disk. It sees the disk and starts to boot - but it gets stuck at the gray screen with the darker gray Apple logo. I tried it with the original disks that came with the MBP (has OS 10.5.7). And, I tried it with the store-bought Snow Leopard disks (when 10.6 first came out).
Here is a partial list of what I've tried:
Held down the C key to boot directly off of the disk - stuck at gray screen
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I thought maybe it was the optical drive. So, I put a DVD movie in there - and it played just fine.
Reset the PRAM
Cloned the hard drive to an external HD. Booted from the cloned HD using a firewire. Then, used Disk Utility to Erase the internal HD. Then, restarted with nothing on the internal HD. Still wouldn't boot from the disk
Reset the SMC
Checked hard drive with Disk Warrior - and it found that the HD was fine. Ran SMART - and it also tested just fine
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If you can't boot from a valid installation disc with no peripherals connected, then you have a hardware problem. Take the unit in for service.

Not used my G5 Powermac (late 2004) for ages. Only boots in with Installation disk, but colour dots on white screen and message comes up to reboot machine. Nothing happens.

Not used my G5 Powermac (late 2004) for about 2 years. Was going to set it up for the lads to do school work.
However it only boots in with Installation disk, but colour dots on white screen and message comes up to reboot machine. However nothing happens apart from me keep trying. Also the numerous fans get louder and louder and louder.....
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Can you please provide details on the exact model?
For a start, the PRAM battery is likely dead. PRAM tells the computer which drive to start with, other basic information. Still, you can usually get the computer to start, though bad PRAM is unpredictable and could be stopping that.
Some computer models use software to control cooling fans. If there's no software commands they automatically go into high speed to prevent overheating. Your software obviously isn't loading, so runaway fans.

Firefox won't insall into my applications folder. Says can't install because libsmime3.dylib is in use. I am running Mac Os 10.6.7 on a Macbook Pro. I can run firefox okay from the disk image but just won't install into the apps folder.

My system is a Macbook Pro running Mac Os 10.6.7 with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 duo processor with 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 ram. The upgrade downloads fine, but when I try to drag the firefox image onto my appication folder, I get a dialogue box that says...Cannot install application because "libsmime3.dylib" is in use. I can run Firefox fine from the disk image.

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As for item owned by---that's not an issue and isn't coming up. User is not a problem either as I am the only user on this system. There is only ONE file in my trash at the moment at that is this dmg file. Nothing Mac. Nothing owned by anyone other than Firefox. The problem seems to be that the dmg file and the original 4.0 FF file are working in tandem with each other--even though I have already drug the new 8.0 globe into the Apps folder and it updated the FF app with the new stuff. If I could force the dmg file to go away, I would do so, but at every turn the system is telling me it can't be done because it seems to think that dmg file is in use---even though everything is shut down and/or ejected. Hey--I'm getting ready to head out and won't be back till evening. I'll check back in this evening. Thank you again for your help.

Am trying to install the mas os yosemite and its giving me an error message that "The Install OS X Yosemite application can't be used from this disk". What is the problem?

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Impossible to answer with information provided

Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on an iMacPPC?

Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on a G5 iMac PowerPC? How?

Allan's answer is irrelevant as he refers to Snow Leopard. He must have isread your post!
Yes, you can and I do. The proviso is that the external hard drive is connected by firewire, as a PPC Mac cannot boot via USB.

Mac Won't Boot From Installation Disk

After doing a software update, my Mac Pro got stuck on the gray screen after restart (seems like a very common problem recently). I am able to boot into safe mode by holding shift (only works like 10% of the time) and verified permissions. It says I need to repair my disk, but i can only do this by booting from my install disk.
However, I can not boot from my install disk. It gets stuck at the gray screen every single time.
I have done everything recommended in this post with no success: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Am I screwed here? So irritated that this all happened because of Mac's own software update. I have wasted HOURS troubleshooting and it looks like my only option is to pay to have it serviced.
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I don't have a cloned copy. How do I clone to an external disc?
A clone is a copy made from a functioning Mac using clone software like CCC or SuperDuper!. You say you can boot into safe mode#. This is a bit unconventional, but you could try the following; you will need a functioning external hard drive, formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition map. If these details are elusive or vague to you, research this yourself beforehand.
With a functioning external harddrive, see if you can download, and install the SuperDuper applicaton, in the Applications folder and use it to make a copy (ie a clone) of your HD onto the Ext. HD. When all finished restart and hold down the Option key to give you the chance to boot into the external hard drive clone*. If that is possible, then you can run its Disk Utility and perform a Repair Disk on the internal Macintosh HD, and hopefully correct whatever error exists.
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What was the update you did that lead to this?
Message was edited by: roam

Booting from Installer Disk

I have an issue with a 12" 867Mhz Powerbook G4.
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Next step is to install 10.4, but it will no longer boot from the disk. I turn it on holding alt and get the option to boot from the disk - the machine recognises that it is a Tiger install disk. When I select it I'm taken to the grey screen with the Apple logo and then it seems to hang. The DVD spins for a while and seems to be in use but then it stops.
Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this and what I can do to resolve it? I have checked the disk in another mac and it is working correctly.

Yes, it sounds like you didn't connect the new drive correctly, or tripped over the optical drive upon doing so. One thing you can try is the startup manager, instead of the 'C' key, as the 'C' key doesn't always work. The startup manager is used among other things to boot the Hardware test volume, but you can also use it to force boot up the installer:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27043?viewlocale=en_US
256 MB of RAM is hardly enough, even though it is the required minimum. And what can happen if you don't have enough RAM, some may be of sufficiently low quality, that it can't get everything it needs into memory. If after upgrading the RAM following specs*:
http://www.macmaps.com/badram.html
you still can't boot the disc with the startup manager, have an authorized service technician determine how badly you might have munged the hard drive installation.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Just installed new hard drive in mac book pro 15", when trying to boot OSX from original disk I still get a folder with a question mark in it. How can I reinstall the OS?

Can't seem to get my mac book to boot from the CD after installing new hard drive.
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If your on 10.5 with a Intel Mac, I think Apple has jinxed the firmware so you can't boot from the 10.5 disk anymore.
So far several people, myself included, can't boot from a 10.5 OS X disk on a Intel Mac.
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http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

OS 9 won't install - can't boot up from CD either

A little background on my original situation: When I bought my computer a few yrs ago it only came with 1 install disk (10.2.3) Classic was already on the machine. (By the way, because of the time frame in which I bought the computer, it does not have the ability to boot from EITHER os 9 or 10. It ONLY is able to boot up in OS X and Classic starts up when needed.) Last month I had a "kernel panic" and ended up doing an erase and install - and now any traces of Classic are no where to be found. (I backed up all of my documents & app programs but I didn't think I'd have to save all of the classic stuff too.) Anyway, I tried reinstalling from the original CD and it only installs 10.2.3...still no classic.
Fastforward to last week. I bought & installed Panther 10.3 and everything is great however I still need classic to open my old files. I also bought OS 9.2 on ebay . Problem #1: I put the OS9 disk in, restarted (and held down the C key) and from what I understand a CD background should be on the screen - however, it's just the plain blue normal screen. I'm not sure what's up with that. Am I doing it right or wrong? Did I buy the wrong version? (It's grey and says imac install software (small print = version 9.2) Did I need the disk with a big 9 on it?
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iMac G4 Flat Panel Mac OS X (10.3)

Hi, Denise. Every Mac that can boot only into OS X was originally shipped with an Install or Restore disk that can install OS 9 for Classic operation (not for booting). Yours is no exception. Somewhere on your single combined Install/Restore DVD (if that's really the only disk that came with your iMac) is a Classic installer; take a good look for it. If it isn't on that disk, there was originally another disk that contained it, which you may have misplaced and forgotten about. This article may help.
Retail OS X installer sets since OS 10.2 have not contained Classic installers, so your Panther installer set will do you no good as far as obtaining Classic is concerned.
The iMac-specific OS 9 installer disk you bought may not be usable. Unless it was originally shipped with an iMac model that isn't OS 9-bootable, it expects you to boot the computer to it. If that's the case, it won't be willing to install onto your hard drive, because the hard drive is the startup disk.
My understanding (and I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong) is that a retail OS 9.x installer (white with a big gold 9) wouldn't do you any good either. I believe that all such disks require you to boot to them before using them, and of course you can't do that on your iMac.
The best, and perhaps the only, option available to you is to locate the Classic installer on your original iMac disk, or if there really is none, order directly from Apple a duplicate of the other disk, originally shipped with your iMac, that did contain that installer.

Cannot boot either from install disk or hard drive

I have done a number of searches, and I have not found a problem precisely like the one I am encountering.
Earlier today, my MacBook (running Leopard 10.5.3) failed to wake properly from sleep. After I attempted to reboot the machine using the power button, I encountered a black box with the following message: "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button."
I have tried all of the usual fixes (e.g., zapping PRAM, removing all power sources, holding down the shift key), and nothing has worked. What puzzles me most of all is that, although the DVD drive is clearly working, I am unable to boot from the install disk.
I would add that, when I old down the option (Alt) key while booting, I am able to see all three of the available options for rebooting. This seems to suggest that the computer is still able to detect my hard drive as well as my DVD drive. Why, then, does nothing allow me to get past the black box with its cryptic (and rather unhelpful) message?
Out of desperation, I unsuccessfully tried to use the option of rebooting from my boot camp partition. I then received a message that might provide a clue. "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: system 32\hal.dll" Does this suggest anything to anyone?
If I continue to be unable to get past the black screen over the course of the weekend, I will take my computer in for service on Monday. But it would be nice to come up with some sort of solution before then.

Let me add a quick update to my original posting.
I finally managed to run Apple's hardware tests on my machine. According to the tests, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my hardware. But the fact remains that I still cannot manage to boot into OSX--even using my original installation disk.
As I mentioned in my original post, I am able to get part way into the version of Windows XP that is installed on my boot camp partition. However, I am a little nervous about pursuing the possibility of repairing my XP installation. I am afraid that, by doing this, I may inadvertently damage my OSX partition.
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. In particular, I would like to know whether there is perhaps some secret way of forcing a MacBook to boot from the installation disk. Is there anything that one can do when holding down the "C" key does not work?

TiG4 can't clean install from origianl disks -WEIRD

My TiG4 came with 10.2 and I've operated with 10.2.8 since the update. Recent problems cause me to require a reinstall of the 10.2 system; however, the installer disk will not allow an install on the current boot volume.
My first thought it was the 10.2.8 update. But as I said, in the past I did not have this problem (reinstall 10.2 and then re-update to 10.2.8). I'm thinking AutoUpdate has installed some software blocking the old install disk from recognizing the current 10.2.8 system.
My only immediate option is to use DiskUtility and erase the disk. I don't want to loose all my information and so this is a very troublesome solution.
Is there a way to route through the system to eliminate any possible newer updates that could be confusing the 10.2 Install disk? Any ideas on what else could be happening?
Xtian

Hello Again Chris,
Have you run Repair Disk?
THESE ARE THE STEPS FOR USING DISK UTILITY TO REPAIR YOUR HD
1.Insert the System Install disk, Mac OS X CD-ROM disk, or Restore DVD disk, then restart the computer while holding the C key. Use the System disk, of the OS, that is currently installed.
2.Once started up from CD or DVD, on the Menubar at the top of the screen, choose Disk Utility from the Installer contextual menu.
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from disc to access Disk Utility.
3.Click the First Aid tab.
4.Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5.Select your Mac OS X volume, if necessary.
6.Click Repair. If DU reports errors it has fixed, re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported.
7.Repeat steps 5 & 6, but select the Hard Drive this time. It's usually the first listed with the manufacturer's model number. Make note of the S.M.A.R.T. status.
8.When finished, select Quit Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
9.Select Quit Installer from the Installer menu.
10.In the resulting pop-up window, choose restart.
11.After the computer has restarted, you can eject the CD.
ali b

OS X Tiger can't boot up from my HD

I have recently installed 10.4 on my G4 and I am having start up problems, I have two internal hard drives a 20 gb that was factory installed and an 80 gb ATA that I installed myself. I previously had 10.33 running perfectly on the second drive and the origianl OS 9.2 on the factory installed drive. After I installed Tiger the machine starts up I am met with the Grey apple then it changes to the 'prohibited' circle with a line through, I have tried the following with no avail:
1. Reset the PRAM
2. Reset the NVRAM
3. Reformatted the orignal hard drive and re installed from the Retail disk
4. Held option at start up and selected the OS X volume as a start up disk
5. Ran disk doctor from the install disk.
6. Removed the third party RAM and replaced it
If I boot from the OS 9 volume and then select the OS X volume as the start up disk and restart, OS X runs first time, but once the computer is shut down it reverts to not starting up. If II start up in Safe Boot mode the screen reads 'waiting for boot volume...' and keeps repeating without doing anything.
Until last week I could get by starting up from OS9, but my VGA monitor packed in and instead of getting a new VGA monitor I got an Apple cinema display, that can't run in OS 9!
Can anyone help, I'm sure this something stupid but I cant figure how the same hardware set up can work in Panther and not in Tiger.
PowerMac G4 450 AGP graphics Mac OS X (10.4)

I am having exactly the same problem after upgrading my G4 dual 450 with a GigaDesigns 7A-1600U. I am using 10.3.9 Only by switching off can my machine "see" the startup disk. If I have to, or decide to, do a restart by clicking on the button in the menu under the Apple Logo, extreme top left of the desktop, holding the option key down, so that Startup Manager should show the startup disk, does NOT show the icon of the statup disk.
I have to power down, hold power switch for six seconds, then power on with option key held down. Then I see the necessary icon, can choose it and get a startup. I installed Panther from a retail disk set and upgraded by download from the Apple site. Firstly 10.3.8 and then 10.3.9. Worse still, I cannot install anything that asks for a restart before installation from a CD. I am wondering if I should reset the logic board, ( press the little switch near the battery).
Like mitchell I have done everything else.
Any ideas, please?

MBP 15" 10.6 does not boot up from Installation disc, why??????

Good day,
my question is simple, so please let the answer be simple:
I have done partition on my MBP today, in order to give me more redundancy in case of a Hard drive failure. I witnessed one yesterday on a brand spanking Imac--> not pretty--> the white screen of death!! I thought I´d better cover myself and I split my HD in two--> no probs.
Anyways, I decided to try to boot from my original installation disc--> 10.5.7, Leopard.
I booted while pressing "C", or holding "Option"……and always ended up with the same thing:
It just takes me to a language selection screen, I selected my language, and then it takes me to the software installation--> but I don´t want that--> I just want to reboot from my disc--> as a general test. (Just in case of that dreaded white screen, one day!!)
So, I went to to "Stop installation" in the menu above, and I chose "Reboot" and then I chose my installation disc--> and again and again, it just takes me back to the language screen etc etc etc!!
It´s like a Merry go Round………….
What am I missing??
My Snow Leopard installation disc does exactly the same, by the way…………..
Cheers,
MXP 150 Patriot

"perhaps I didn´t explain myself properly:
I would like to boot up from my installation disc, in other words, being able to log in and see my Desktop etc.
All I get from my disc is an installation menu (after the language selection) and if I try to boot up from there (to my desktop / background etc) by selecting "stop installation--> start up disc".........it goes back to the language selection and the software installation........just where I was 3 minutes ago!
What am I doing wrong?
My friend booted up the other day from his FireWire external hard drive and he got everything, SO quick! His personal desktop, everything!
Hopefully you can tell me what I´m missing........."
You're missing the point. When you boot from your installation disk it's to install the OS and/or repair the disk and check the hardware, etc.. Your friend has a bootable external drive. he used the OS Installation disk to create that.

Unable to erase & install from installation disk

Somehow my macmini snow leopard software bit the dust (started with EyeTV corrupting I think) so after pursuing disk repair and other options I tried doing a fresh installation but accidently used an upgrade DVD of Snow Leopard rather than an original installation disk. Install failed. I pulled out my installation disk and tried holding down the C key to boot from disk. The best I get is the whirring grey circle, but I can't seem to get a disk boot up. Happy to do an erase and install on the hard drive - if I can get to it.
Any suggestions on how to force an installation DVD boot up apart from holding the C key down?
All replies appreciated.

Both my iMac and MacBook Pro 13' went down on 13th April - and would not reboot - both had identical failures - which from probability should be extremely low - unless it is due to the same software problem.
After a number of attempts to reinstall 10.6, recovery of my time machine latest backup - all of which failed - just now recovery from time machine to March 30th date with 10.6.2 (just before 10.6.3 upgrade was installed) - finally worked on my laptop. I am going to try it on my iMac desktop tomorrow.
I think your problems are linked to 10.6.3 update as I am convinced - both machines failing
identically around the same time in the same fashion due to same software corruption seems greatly unlikely. I see that others are having problems with mouse etc after 10.6.3 update.
Looks like 10.6.3 update requires a big fix !!

Can't boot Classic from installation disk/stuck in Assistant loop

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