HAVING INSTALL TROUBLE? Large list of suggestions/info/solutions in here.

Question

This thread is about installing Leopard and includes information related to install only - not running Leopard after install.
It includes information about preparing to install, and some stories of successful installs using a variety of methods. Feel free to add your own story of success.
It also includes some workarounds/solutions to a few install problems I've seen.
Here's my story:
I've been researching before I do my own leopard install on a dual 2.5 G5 10.3.9 system.
This forum is helpful, but it would be nice to see some solutions compiled into a single thread, so I've assembled a few things I found while poking around for a couple days. Nothing formal, and I have very little technical expertise - these are mostly copy/past from surfing and a couple insights I had during the research.
Everyone's computer rig is different. No single solution works for everyone, and its possible that all this info may prove useless to some, but at the least it is something to read/learn from until Apple puts together help articles.
There's very little analysis of what's wrong & who's to blame, just a bunch of stuff that might help when installing Leopard, so here you go:
Macworld article advising/describing how to prepare BEFORE installing leopard.
http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/secrets/tcoleopardupgrade/index.php?pf=1
A free 26 page freebee teaser of a $10 125 page downloadable "book" on how to prepare for install
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/samples/TCoUpgradingLeopardSample-1.0.pdf
Webpage for the downloadable book (I have no affiliation with the author & am not attempting to promote him)
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-upgrading.html?14@@!pt=MW-EXCERPT-TCUL1
this poster has helped with a couple post install bugs & airport issues
http://discussions.apple.com/profile.jspa?userID=103923
An Apple discussion thread on preparation ideas
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1208202&tstart=315
Here's a couple websites that might provide helpful info
http://macfixit.com/
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/leopard/index.html
A thread I put up that lists DVD drives posted by users who are experiencing "problems" with their DVD drives.
Accurate or not, useful or not, just a list of people wondering if their DVD drive is to blame (or not).
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5719301#5719301
*Here's my own distillation* (accurate or not) of some pointers/ideas/suggestions -- all found here -- that relate to overcoming "problems" related to installing Leopard.
1. Do everything you can to prepare for install with any info you can find here or on the net (backing up, learning about & choosing install type, preparing install destination, checking hardware/software, etc etc)
2. After putting in the install disc, allow DVD test - if it fails return the disc for another
- installing with a disc that fails the test is a common theme in a number of threads here.
3. Restart holding down the C button
- forces a start from the DVD
4. Burn a copy of DVD disc to standard thickness DVD -R
- Some have reported certain DVD drives won't read it. Perhaps due to how thin it is.
5. Try choosing to install just the base operating system, no fonts, no extra applications, no extra languages
- someone posted the base system may be on layer one (most readable by all DVD drives) of the DVD install disc
- layer 2 (some drives might not be able to read 2 layer dvd well) may contain everything outside of base OS install
6. Remove all but stock apple ram
- this is inconsistent solution, but has worked for many
7. Install with another mac's dvd drive via firewire target mode (detailed below by someone else)
- if your dvd drive won't read/result in a successful install, maybe another one will.
- put dvd into another mac's dvd drive
- restart that mac holding down the T key
- connect it to your mac & launch the install disc on the firewire target mode mac
8. Erase and zero the hard drive you're going to install to - if partitioning, be sure to format correctly for machine
- users say it takes more time, but makes sure you have the disc formatted correctly & provides a better "environment" for the install
*A few person observations/opinions (accurate or not)*
1. Keep it simple:
- Installing to a apple ram only machine with a clean, zeroed, correctly formatted hard drive is the easiest thing for the Leopard installer to do.
- Installing to the opposite environment (lots of non-apple software, interface hacks from 3rd party programs, ram that might have un-noticeable glitches, dirty DVD drives, hard drives that are over 60% full etc.....) makes it more challenging to achieve a successful Leopard install. Even with that, hundreds of thousands (2mill copies sold) have probably had successful Leopard installs with the "update" or the "archive & install" methods.
2. Where do you want to spend your time?
- After reading the time investment from users that have posted about botched installs -- Sometimes it takes a lot less time to backup, verify backup, erase, zero the disc, format, install Leopard, install all programs, install all program updates & transfer all user info and libraries -- and do that once, than to correct a botched install over & over & over.
3. I've done both archive & install and erase & install. Do whatever works. From what I've read though, the Leopard DVD install disc appears to have some strict tests/parameters and if they aren't met it won't successfully install, so putting the odds in your favor might be a good idea.
*Now on to some successful install stories/methods/pointers:*
---------------backup, erase, zero disc, fresh install (remember to verify/test the backup)---------------------------
I just got Leopard and I backed up all of my data, erased the hard drive using Disk Utility with the zero all data option, I installed Leopard, installed all of my applications and copied my data back over without using the migrate manager. So far, I have not had one single problem with Leopard on my MacBook. Everything is running smoothly, So I highly recommend erasing your hard drive with Disk Utility using the zero all data option, installing Leopard, install your apps and check for updates for each application, and then copy your data from your backup. I have a close relative who is a Mac Genius for one of Apple's retail stores (for 6 years) and he says that everytime there is a new OS release, people have all kinds of problems because they did an Upgrade install rather than the process I described above. Yes, it's time consuming but it will save you a lot of trouble later. Apple should strongly recommend doing an erase and install rather than just upgrading. I think it would solve a lot of problems and prevent a lot of headaches.
-------------Erase & Install method vs upgrade method-------------------------
Have installed Leopard on both my computers. On the MacBook I did an erase and install and it has worked flawlessly. On the iMac I originally did an upgrad install that went pretty well, but I was having a number of minor issues like many of the posts here. After doing TimeMachine backups for two days I decided to do an erase and install on the iMac and then use the TimeMachine backup to only restore my data. Since doing the the erase and install on the iMac I couldn't be happier. The iMac is running like new and the TimeMachine backups restored flawlessly. Note: I manually restored the files from the TimeMachine backup on the external drive. Now TimeMachine is doing it's first backup on the "new" iMac and has recognized the old TimeMachine backup and is just adding to it. Of course the computer name and user names are identical to what they were before doing the erase and install.
-------------------Install via upgrade method (with good preparation)--------------------------------
For those of you who may be hesitant about installing Leopard on an older Mac this may be encouraging.
I installed Leopard onto a Rev B 12" PB (1GHz 768 MB RAM). Prior to installing I verified the Macintosh HD and did an extended hardware test from the PB install disc. I used the upgrade method to install Leopard as I did from Panther to Tiger on the PB and from Jaguar to Panther to Tiger on my G4 iMac. FileVault was enabled.
The install took 2 hours to the minute from clicking on Restart in Tiger to logged in to Leopard. 28 minutes of this was taken up by the install DVD verification process. You could skip this, but having read all the posts on these boards about defective DVDs I let it run. The install took a long time to calculate 'time remaining' and eventually gave this as 3 hours 52 minutes, although as I've said, it was less. There were periods of several minutes where nothing seemed to be happening - no hard drive or DVD drive activity - but I resisted the temptation to intervene. There were especially long pauses at 1:42 and 13 minutes to go. The 'about a minute' took 17 minutes during which time my fingers were twitching.
The restart after installation seemed vey long (as always) but there was no double-restart a la Tiger updates. I can confirm there is no longer a 'Loading Mac OSX' screen with progress bar. You go straight from blue screen to log-in window. All system prefs were as I'd had them in Tiger. Apps launched slowly while Spotlight was indexing but are back to normal now. All apps seem okay including Office:Mac 2004. Word took a long time building the font menu so I've probably got a horde of duplicates again.
-----------Installing from a DVD COPY of the install disc-----------------------
I copied the Leopard disk to a blank, double sided DVD. The copied DVD happily started, performed an archive and install without a glitch, and now I have Leopard up and running.
---------------Installing with firewire "target disc" method & how to use disc utility to aid install------------------------------------
ATTENTION EVERYONE- you can run disk utility without having a system installed. This should be your first step in trying to fix the problem!
Boot off of your Leopard or Tiger disk by holding down the "c" key at startup. When you are prompted with the install screen, instead of installing, go up to the menu bar and select the "utilities" menu, and scroll down to disk utility.
There are many different things you can try with disk utility. There are a few things you should try first before taking a dive and erasing your entire disk.
1. If you click on your Hard disk or volume, at the bottom of the window a bunch of general information about your drive will pop up, such as size, format, etc. One of the last things told about your drive is its S.M.A.R.T. status. This is basically a protective measure for you, so you can check and see if your drive is doing alright physically. This isn't completely foolproof, as your drive could still have problems even if it isn't reporting it through the S.M.A.R.T. status. But if your drive is reported as failing, then you can be sure your hard drive needs to be changed. Otherwise, move to step two.
2. By clicking on your Hard disk or volume, you can also repair permissions and repair disk. If you are having problems with your install or problems after the install has already been done (such as freezing on the blue startup screen), you will want to run both of these. If volume errors are reported back as unfixable, you may want to think of trying to salvage your files (if you don't backup) by purchasing an external firewire drive, installing a system on it and pulling your files from your internal hard disk onto the firewire drive. If all problems are corrected, then go ahead and try the install again.
3. There is also a tab at the top of the disk utility window that says erase. Here, you can wipe your disk totally clean. Typically, you can't wipe your startup disk clean when you are booted off of the harddrive, because erasing requires that you unmount the disk, in which you can't unmount the startup disk, since the OS is running off of it. Only if you have multiple hard drives or a boot disk (such as leopard or tiger) can you erase your original startup disk. So if you have no further options or do not care about your existing data, go ahead and wipe the disk clean. Also make sure the disk is formatted in Mac OS extended (HFS+). From there, you can go ahead and try the installation.
Here's some more info on disk utility, and some other ways to check disks through single-user mode-
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Besides disk utility, there are some other ways of getting the install to work. One of the simplest ways is to use target disk mode. This is for those of you who have more than one mac, preferrably a desktop and a laptop (otherwise you'll have to move both desktops to the near vicinity of one another.). It requires you to hook the computers together using a firewire cable, and allows you to mount the harddrive of one computer onto another. This is a great tool for transferring large files, diagnostics, and bypassing installation problems. This would probably be a solution for anyone who installed Leopard on one computer in their house and got it to work, but couldn't get it to work on another computer (the OP). I've also heard that it bypasses the minimum requirements needed to install Leopard (min. 867 mhz processor). The procedure requires that (with both computers off) you first hook a firewire cable between the intended computers, by plugging one end into a firewire outlet of the first computer and the other end into a firewire outlet in the second computer. You then start up the computer that had Leopard successfully installed on it (or the one that didn't fail during installation). Once it is fully booted and at the desktop, hold the "t" key on the keyboard of the other computer (the one that failed the installation) and start it up. Continue holding "t" until you see a firewire symbol bouncing around on the screen. You should then see the drive mounted on the first computer as a firewire drive. You will be able to access everything on the harddrive as normal. You can forget about the computer with the firewire symbol bouncing around on it from this moment on. Now, put the Leopard install disk in the DVD drive, hold the "c" key and restart the computer. It will boot off of the install disk, as normal, but now you should have the option to select the disk of the other computer in target disk mode. Choose the disk and start the installation. Then cross your fingers!
More information on target disk mode here-
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
If none of these options work, then report back what happened after you tried each of them, and we can try to solve the problem on a case-by-case basis.
-------------Install to an external partitioned firewire disc---------------------------
I used my 1000 mhz APS partitioned G4 Cube to install 10.5 on an External APS partitioned Firewire Disk. (If you attempt to install from a GUID partitioned disk like the Intel MB Pro, it requires the External disk to also be GUID...). That installation was a simple "Install" procedure. No problems.
------------Install with 2 hard drives method, cloning & import from previous machine---------------
After reading much here and elsewhere I opted to do a clean install followed by an 'import from previous machine'
1. Carbon Copy Clone your 10.4 disk; this will act as the backup you should be taking anyhow and the source for your import.
2. Test your backup (you do test your backups on occasion right?) boot into your newly installed copy and look around, you should find everything works as it should, if not check your copy options and try again.
3. Disconnect your backup/copy, insert your 10.5 media and do a clean install, configuring as you may (there is a good amount of space to save in printer drivers and alternate languages).
4. After you've finished the install you will be given the option to import files from another mac or mounted volume, attach your backup, import it; select what you want, I wanted all files but you could choose to take this as an opportunity to clean up, 132 GB of data took about 2 hours to walk through on my MBP.
5. I am running from this now and am quite happy.
6. Keep your 10.4 backup copy for a couple of weeks just in case, create a new backup set with time machine?
YMMV but enjoy.
-------------if your destination drive to install on doesn't show up right away-----------------
I have a fix for you. This was brought up in another thread, and I had the same problem. The solution is so ghetto, but it really works. Here is what you do:
When you get to the select a destination screen, go to the utilities menu and open up Disk Utility. You'll notice your hard drive is there, but it's missing the Mac OS X partition. This is the trick: wait about 10-15 minutes, and come back. Your partition will now be showing. Simply quit Disk Utility and return back to the installer. It should work from there.
--------------If having prob w/ dual layer disc---------------------------------------
I did a successful custom install by removing every single install package other than "base system". My prior attempts had always kept the Printer Driver package but removing the fonts, languages and X11 install packages. Removing the Printer Driver install package finally did the trick.
The Leopard install disk is dual-layer. My PowerBook G4 1Ghz Titanium has a single layer DVD drive. The basic Leopard OSX install package is on a DVD layer that is readable by older, non dual-layer drives; the other "accessory" Leopard install packages(i.e; printer drivers, X11, language) are on a DVD layer not accessible with older DVD drives. The Leopard install program incorrectly assumes everyone has a dual-layer DVD drive and subsequently "chokes" on the install when trying to install packages from the inaccessible DVD layer. This is how I ended up with repeated "EXCLAMATION!" ....."could not validate the contents of....." errors.
-----------1 users solution to exclamation mark on install problem-------------------------
I got a giant exclamation mark when installing on my iMac too. Turns out there was some trifling problem with my hard drive. Here's what I did to fix it:
1. Boot from the Leopard DVD.
2. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu once the installer starts.
3. Click the drive you tried to install Leopard on.
4. Click Repair Volume.
5. Brew a nice hot cup of tea.
6. If it finds anything wrong it will attempt to fix it and will display a message describing the problem.
7. Quit Disk Utility and install as normal.
This wont necessarily work for everyone as there are many things that might cause the exclamation mark to appear.

Answer 1

I'm not really sure what method that person was talking about. I just read he had a successful install so I posted it.
But I'll hazard a guess
1. copy your entire drive to a backup drive
2. boot into that drive and test it out - make sure its a flawless backup, it works, and the hard drive has no problems
3. eject that drive, disconnect it and reboot into the leopard install dvd
4. erase your main hard drive using disc utilities on the leopard install dvd -- you've made a backup, made sure that backup was good, and disconnected it so it's currently safely disconnected from the leopard install you're about to do. Also, on the hard drive you're erasing and installing leopard on to, many people recommend "Zeroing" it as well as erasing it. That option is part of the erase function in disc utilities on the leopard install disc.
5. do a clean install of leopard
6. follow step 4 from that original post exactly as that person described to do.
7. read the rest of what they said
That's pretty much it. With the backup/erase/clean install/import/ you pretty much get everything you need exactly the way you want it with very few things missing -- and you've done this over a clean install. Plus that poster did mention that you can select what you want to import from your backup hard drive.
It sounds like its a "clean install" method that gives you control via "import from machine" option in the installer. Control over what parts of your "old mac" you want to import into your "new leopard mac".
Hopefully that helps. It sounds more involved, but its actually pretty quick and provides you with a perfectly save backup in case anything goes wrong with the leopard install.