G4 PowerPC CPU Powerpc G4 (2.9) 533MHz Running OS X 10.4

Question

Turned on my G4 tower today and was greeted with what to me looks like code of some sort. It would not boot. I tried getting it to at least accept my Black OS X Tiger DVD, but it declined the offer by saying I had to have OS X 10.3 in order to upgrade to 10.4. That's when I ejected the DVD and read "CPU Drop in DVD" and "This software is part of a hardware bundle...". Those statements make this DVD an upgrade only and not a full version of the OS X 10.4 - so I was told by Apple Tech Support.
I was able to run an Apple Tech version of Tech Tool DeLuxe and it successfully completed all segments and all segments 'passed'.
All I want to do is get my G4 up and running again. [I'd been using it as an external drive connected to my MacBook] I need to be able to access the data on the G4's internal hard drive.
That said, I apologize for all the 'gobble-de-gook' that follows. This is what's on the screen of the G4 when I attempt to boot up:
panic(cpu 0 caller 0X002E1EC4): Unable to find driver for this platform: "PowerMac3,4".
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095A10 0x00026898 0x002E1EC4 0x002C12A0 0x002C1068 0x002C1AD0 0x002C20DC 0x000A9714
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x0052FA00
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000
R!=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Uknown)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root: xnu-792.24.17~1/RELEASE_PPC
No debugger configured - dumping debug information
MSR=00001030
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095BF8 0x00026898 0x002E1EC4 0x002C12A0 0x002C1068 0x002C1AD0 0x002C20DC 0x000A9714
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x0052FA00)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Uknown)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 18 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic: We are hanging here...
End of screen display.
Here's hoping someone(s) know what this is all about and there's a home fix for it all.
Thanks,
Leo

Answer 1

Hi Leo, it sounds like the HD is a bit hosed, does your G4 boot into FireWire target disk mode...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
Does your MacBook have Firewire?
If so you may be able to either repair the G4's HD or backup important info.