I had a failure of a dsl modem which inturn destroyed my ethernet port of non isight imac G5. In attempt to solve the problem I did a clean install of leopard 10.5.4. I am unable to upate to 10.6,.7 or .8 without freezing system network preferences

Question

Dsl modem failure caused malfunction of ethernet port.  In attempt to solve problem I did a clean instillation of  Leopard 10.5.4 and then update to 10.5.5 with access to internet through apple usb to ethernet adapter.  If I attempt to update software to 10.5.6, .7 or .8 it freezes my network system preferences and computer will no longer shut down.  The network connection assistant also no longer sees a connection to the internet throught the usb/ethernet adapter.  I have checked they systerm Tech tool deluxe which shows no problems and also used hard drive utility on instillation disk which found no problems.  Permissions were also checked as well and no problems noted.  Any thoughts as I really like my imac G5.

Answer 1

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If all the above fails, then it appears to be time for a relatively painless Archive & Install, which gives you a new/old OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space and no Disk corruption, and is relatively quick & painless...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Just be sure to select Preserve Users & Settings.