Install Leopard or not

A few weeks ago my original hard drive fried. I had a new one installed and all of my files from the original were restored. This Mac was originally running 10.3 Panther which is the software I own. The OS now on the new drive from the shop is 10.4.11.
Of course I needed to reinstall all my software. I own the original Adobe CS, or CS1 I guess. Installed it, along with Suitcase, Epson Printer and scanner, a few others.
Photoshop CS launched fine. Illustrator and ID would start to load and then crash. Suitcase would load for a few minutes and then crash. Everything gave me the Kern protection failure error. Reading a few forums about this, I found someone who suggested creating another user account, loading the software and seeing if it worked. So I did. And it does work - all of it.
I guess I could go merrily on my way with this user account and not worry about it. But it concerns me that lurking somewhere on my (new!) drive is some sort of problem. Since all my files are backed up on an external drive or disks and I own all my software to reinstall I thought I would erase the whole drive and start over.
When I tried this with my original 10.3 disks I didn't even get to the erase option - it says I can't install on this particular Mac because an older version of the software can't be located. I'm assuming because the shop installed 10.4.11? I thought, okay, I was going to buy Leopard anyway. I'll get it now and erase the drive and install that.
Now I'm concerned that if I load Leopard, will my original CS software load on it so that I can do the upgrade to CS3, which I have on order?
Or should I not worry about erasing the drive, just keep using this other user for a while, upgrade my CS software to CS 3 when I get it, then archive and erase and load Leopard?

I would think that your best bet is going to be to erase the drive and install a "fresh" version of 10.5. Then update to 10.5.2 and reinstall your apps. I never like the idea of presuming that an upgrade will "repair" underlying problems and it does sound like you have some.

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Sorry to ask again, but should I install Leopard on my 3 year old machine?

Can my system handle it?
What steps should I take if I do decide to install Leopard clean (not upgrade.) I have an external drive and plan to back up any important settings or data. I have never wiped a Mac clean and reinstalled an operating system, because surprise... I haven't had to. (**** you Windows XP!)
But I would like to start fresh in hopes that a clean install will help overall performance.
Thanks for reading.

Shiloh wrote:
The other thing is that I'm not really sure there is anything of great importance on my machine. All of my music, photos, and office documents are already backed up on the external drive. The bookmarks and all of that... I'm not too attached to. I wouldn't mind starting over from scratch. Thanks again.
If you have all your important data backed up and you really don't care about anything else, then just go for an erase and install. It's the safest and if it doesn't work, you know it was not your fault, assuming your 3-year old meets the specs.
Just do a final recheck of what files you really need, make sure you have the latest copies of them. Don't forget passwords, bookmarks which you mentioned, etc. That's why a clone is best - you don't have to bother with the details. It's overkill, but it's safe.
With a 3-year old, I seriously doubt an upgrade would go smoothly, especially on a PPC.
And don't forget to unplug that external drive before installing Leopard. Yes, there have been reports of Leopard corrupting an external drive during installation. Even if they are only rumous, I would take them seriously.
Unplug the backup drive before installing Leopard

Disk Utility Issues Wait to Install Leopard

Dear fellow Mac users,
Rather than a question, this is a recommendation to those who are wondering whether to install Leopard now or to wait until it gets really stable.
My experience in installing Leopard has not been positive and I chose to revert to Tiger. After discovering several issues and going to the "Genius Bar" of the local Apple Store, I fortunately have been able to restore all my previous settings.
The loss has been mostly time and money, and they frightened me up suggesting that I had to change my hard drive. For those who might experience similar problems, let me provide some details.
1. Installation of Leopard
After carefully making a bootable backup of my HD on an external drive, I installed Leopard choosing the Option "Erase and install." This occurred without visible glitch. After updating the system to its latest version, I migrated all my data and settings. The result was an incredibly slow system, completely useless. It cannot have been the results of my settings, because I also created a "clean" account called "Maintenance," with the same results. On the recommendation of the "Apple Genius" I also added 1 GB of memory, getting a total of 1.5 GB of RAM installed to the cost of $150. It did NOT improve the situation.
2. Disk Utility
Because I suspected problems with privileges, I tried to run the Disk Utility. The result was an endless spinning wheel. After waiting several hours, I had to force quit the application. Tried to run it from the install DVD of Leopard, with the same results. People at the Genius Bar also tried their disk utility after booting from an external drive, without any success. They diagnosed a probable failure of the hard drive and recommended that I replace it. Fortunately, I didn't trust this groundless recommendation and made a last attempt by erasing Leopard and reinstalling Tiger. Now it runs just fine, and there is not the slightest mechanical problem. Apparently, and I only discovered this today, the whole disk check procedure changed with Mac OS 10.5, and at this stage it is a complete mess, with enough bugs in Disk Utility to keep the developers busy for a couple of months. I came across discussions of this on the Mac FixIt Website.
Thus, my recommendation at this stage is that if you have Mac OS 10.4.11 running fine you JUST STICK WITH IT and be patient for a few more months. Upgrading at this stage amounts to loosing time, energy, and money. Of course, I am sure that Mac OS 10.5 has many promising features and look forward to using it in the future, but not now. I would be happy to hear contradictory opinions, if any.
Best wishes for patience.

Nerowolfe,
I have installed Leopard and have had nothing but problems as well. Perhaps you can help me. I am ready to roll back to Tiger. These are just a few:
1. I cannot mount my external firewire drives. I have separately tested each and they work fine, I booted with the Tiger disk and they mounted fine, I reset the firewire port and when I connected them they mounted on my desktop, but not in the finder window and when I tried to open one, it just hung. I have been unsuccessful after many attempts to mount one of them with Leopard.
2. I appear to get random hangs. I have a 160GB hard drive and 2GB memory. I have 42 GB space left on the hard drive....yet I continue to have random hangs, especially when I try to open disk utility
3. Spotlight just does not work, period
4. I keep finding locked folders. Right now my CS3 is locked and even after going into get info and unlocking it, it just locks back and I am unable to open the application. I am a photographer and have been unable to do any work for the past 2 weeks while I am messing around with my computer. Now I have Christmas photos to sort and can't access the photos on the external drives or even open CS3
I have searched the forums, tried many of the recommendations, but nothing is working for me....perhaps since you have been successful you could give me a hand with these issues.
I wait for help.......
Other than that, how do I uninstall Leopard and reinstall Tiger????

Hard drive not recognized AFTER installing leopard

So I installed Leopard on my 12in Powerbook G4, having the usual problem of non-recognition of my hard drive (from a third party) but was able to install Leopard after fiddling with disk utility.
Now the computer will not recognize the hard drive after I restarted it. I've tried rebooting holding down the option key and selecting the hard drive and it still didn't recognize after restarting (it shows a prohibit sign). Also tried booting in single-user mode but it keeps waiting for the root device forever.
Has anybody had a similar problem?

Unplugging worked!!!
I have no idea what PRAM is but someone said that unplugging your computer resets it so, I thought I'd give unplugging a shot. So, I shut down my computer and unplugged it. I also unplugged the power on the HD. (because I wasn't sure which one they were talking about.)
Anyway, I went away for about five minutes.
I came back plugged in the HD power first. Then, I plugged in the power cord for the computer and turned it on.
As soon as I logged in I was asked if I wanted to use my external HD for Time Machine backups.
I saw the icon for the HD on the Desktop where is belongs. I can open the drive and access the files with no problem.
Try this if you haven't yet.

Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on an iMac 27in

My Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on my iMac 27in. The Apple Logo is the only thing the user will see. The current OS on the system is 10.6.6. Upon placing the Snow Leopard DVD in the system, the DVD players spins for a few seconds and displays the Apple Logo. Nothing happens after 20 minutes.

Yes, it is ridiculous how it is impossible to install Snow Leopard. I have two Snow Leopard DVDs: one that I purchased for a Macbook soon after it's release (10.6.0), and one that came with my iMac (10.6.4). Both of these boot up my Macbook (running 10.6.7) just fine. My SL 10.6.0 DVD mounts onto my iMac (Lion 10.7.0), but you cannot run the install. I attempted to boot from this DVD and got the infinite white screen and Apple logo, as some have reported above. The other SL 10.6.4 DVD will not even mount in Lion, and will not even show up as a bootable drive when I attempt to select it after holding alt/option on reboot.
I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.0, attempted boot, same infinite white screen/apple logo.
I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.4 on my macbook. I attempted to boot from this drive, and got the white screen of death, except that this time I actually got the loading symbol underneath the Apple logo. After about a minute of attempting to boot, the Apple logo changed to a circle with a diagonal line through it (the "NO!" sign).
I took my iMac to the genius bar. They inserted SL 10.6.0, which would not boot. Then they determined that my computer had to run 10.6.4 and later. So, they restored an image of SL 10.6.4 onto my partition (not an install from an image, but an image of SL already installed). Hurray! Snow Leopard was successfully shoved onto my iMac!
I then deleted a third partition on my hard drive I did not need anymore, which somehow screwed up my SL partition (even though it said "Will not erase partition SL or Macintosh HD). Now I am back at square one, and I guess I need to take my flippin iMac back to Apple for them to do what I should be able to do.
I like Apple, but sheesh do I hate Lion right now.

Installing leopard from .dmg file not dvd

i have a mac pro that has 10.4 and would like to install 10.5. The thing is i don't have leopard on DVD it's a .dmg. Is it possible to install leopard onto my 10.4 mac pro without burning a dvd?
thanks
jason

Some things to keep in mind:
1) the only way to install the OS (that I'm aware of) is by using a DVD
2) the DVD you're using MUST belong to that machine OR be a retail copy. The DVD from another computer will NOT work.
~Lyssa

IMac G5 won't boot. Attempted to install Leopard,wouldn't allow, then would not reboot in HD's Tiger, nor from OS DISK IN DRIVE. OPTION START shows both OS 's, but still won't boot from either. Grey screen , spinning pinwheel for 5 minutes, then shuts off

When I tried a custom leopard install(omitting all but canon printers), a window appeared that " I could not install OSX ON THIS DISK." I tried a full install again and a window appeared stating that " the HD was not formatted properly, would I like reformat in hfs extended HFS EXTENDED journalled and ERASE THE HD?" I use disk utility on leopard to reset the iMac to restart from the original Tiger OS on the HD, & that was when it refused to boot. During 1 attempt I even tried to boot with the C key held for many minutes to start fron the Tiger OS disk but the iMac wouldn't start the cd spinning. I did hear that familiar FIRMWARE UPDATE CHIME! but I was not upgrading firmware as none was downloaded, and Leopard did not tell me it required a firmware update first, when I attempted to install it. So: I get the chime when the power button is pressed. Option key finds the HD TIGER AND THE CD 's Tiger. I van choose both. But neither boots. Starting with the C key held doesn't boot. In every case the startup grey screen appears with the grey startup pinwheel, this continues for many minutes. Then it shuts itself off. Help help help. My son has Graduate School papers in progress, and I just fried his iMac. Thanks to all.

Simon:
Thanks very much for the suggestions! I tried your method of booting to the install CD while holding option (alt), and then running Disk Utility to repair the disk and the permissions. Even though it still told me the drive didn't need repairing, there were more permissions that needed repairing when booting this way (as opposed to when booting while holding the C key.)
Anyhow, after doing this, my computer restarted just fine from the hard drive. Mail works now and I'm about to try repairing permissions one more time, then shutting down and restarting again, this time without doing it from the install CD. Wish me luck...
OK. It booted up perfectly this time. I'm not quite sure why that worked, though. Anyone care to illuminate me as to why booting while holding option (alt) let Disk Utility do what it needed to, while booting while holding C didn't?
At this point I'm just curious. My problem has been solved!
Thanks again very much, Simon. I really appreciate it, mate.
Cheers,
--forkboy
iMac G5 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Why leopard DVD not installing to powerbook G4 with Mac OS X 10.3.9? Help.

I'm trying to install leopard DVD to my daughter's powerbook G4 with os x 10.3.9. During the installation process, it says unable to install 10.5, mac os x 10.4 or later could not be found.....how am I gonna do this. Please help...

gzleearl,
Once an OS has been installed, the point upgrades, such as 10.1.x to 10.1.5 (Final) 10.2.x to 10.2.8 (Final), 10.3.x to 10.3.9 (Final), 10.4.x to 10.4.11 (Final), and 10.5.x to 10.5.6 (Pending), can be downloaded for free.
If your Mac meets the Leopard System Requirements, the Full Retail Version, of the Leopard Install DVD, can be purchased at The Apple Store (U.S.), Apple retail stores, Apple resellers, and some Online vendors.
If you know what to look for a Full Retail Version, of the Leopard Install DVD, can be purchased, sometimes less expensively, at some online Apple retailers, Amazon, eBay, FastMac, HardCore Mac, etc.
As you have discovered be sure not to purchase grey, upgrade or machine specific CDs or DVDs.
Tiger and Leopard are on DVD.
The disc should look exactly like the images in the above links, and not say Upgrade, CPU Drop-in DVD, or "This software is part of a hardware bundle purchase - not to be sold seperately." on it.
Caveat Emptor!
If any are presently available, examine these items very carefully, and if in doubt, ask questions of the seller before purchase!
Leopard On eBay
Once Leopard 10.5.x.x is installed, you can use the Mac OS X 10.5.8 Combo Update to upgrade to the current version.
You may also find this Leopard Installation and Setup Guide PDF useful.
The posted RAM System Requirement is the bare minimum.
For optimum performance, more is recommended.
As a precaution, before upgrading the OS, you should create a backup of the entire system, or at least, any data you do not wish to lose or corrupt.
In addition to the Archive & Install procedure, there is also a Simple Upgrade, or an Erase & Install option.
Review the info here About Installation Options.
Specifically; "About Upgrade to Mac OS X
Upgrading to Mac OS X takes a little longer than installing it on a volume without Mac OS X, but it is the least intrusive way to install--most of your existing settings and applications are left untouched during an upgrade. In other words, you won't have to configure a lot of settings afterwards."
ali b

Leopard will not install on my MacBook - Flashing "?" Folder

I am trying to install Leopard onto my 2.0 GHz Core Duo/1GB RAM MacBook. I bought the full retail version from the Apple store and am trying to install it off of the DVD. When I insert the DVD into the computer, everything appears to be normal. I choose to install Leopard and the software restarts the computer. However, upon restarting, a folder with a question mark appears and flashes a few times, then the operating system loads like normal. It never begins the installation process. I also tried to start the computer in startup manager, however the only bootable drive that shows up is the hard drive.
I have installed Leopard on several computers at work before and I have never run into this problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

You either have a bad installation disk or a faulty DVD reader. Try this. Insert the disk, launch System Preferences->Startup Disk, and see if the install disk shows up. If so, select it and hit the Restart button; if not, then the disk or the reader are faulty.

Syncing my iCal calendars in iTunes - Not working after installing Leopard

* I have tried researching this as much as possible before posting this, so I apologize if a solution has already been posted for this issue!
After recently installing Leopard, I have noticed that when I try to sync my iCal calendars to my (5th generation) iPod (using iTunes) that the only calendars showing up as available to sync with are "Home" and "Work". I do not have a "home" or "work" calendar in my iCal. In fact all of my calendars in iCal appear to be working fine, however, I am unable to see any of them when I go to my iTunes to sync them to my iPod. I tried syncing my iPod with the "Home" and "work" calendars, but they are empty. I used to be able to sync with no problem whatsoever. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks a lot for any helpful advise!

JHeinz,
Glad to hear that contacts are working again.
Other troubleshooting steps involve refreshing the iTunes and iCal plist files.
1. Quit iTunes and find the com.apple.iTunes.plist file in your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences Folder. Drag the file to your Desktop, log out/in or restart and check iTunes for expected behavior.
2. Quit iCal and find the com.apple.iCal.plist file in your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences Folder. Additionally find the Calendar Cache file in your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Calendars folder. Drag both of these files to your Desktop, log out/in or restart and check for desired behavior.
I listed these as separate steps to keep from changing too many things at one time. If you are dissatisfied with the results you can always return the original plist files to their original locations.
;~)

Finder not working after installing Leopard!!!

Hi everyone.
I'm getting a strange Finder behavior on my Intel iMac (not the newest version) after installing Leopard. The thing is, after instalation, when I start the computer, the top bar on the screen starts blinking, and there's no way to open a Finder window. And it stays like that forever! I tried to open Finder from the Dock, but the blue dot of the active programs blinks 3 or 4 times and then disapears. Plus, the only way to access the Apple logo on the corner to switch the computer off or restart it, is by opening one other program from the dock (in this case I have Safari running), because this way the top bar stops blinking.
So, I thought I should try to update Leopard to 10.5.1, and this could solve the problem. But no. It searches for new software updates, tells me that there are new updates, but I cannot see them nor install them!
This is really weird and annoying!
Anyone had this problem? Please, help me.
P.S.: Yes, I've tryed a second install of Leopard. Same thing!

anamorphis wrote:
Hi everyone.
I'm getting a strange Finder behavior on my Intel iMac (not the newest version) after installing Leopard. The thing is, after instalation, when I start the computer, the top bar on the screen starts blinking, and there's no way to open a Finder window. And it stays like that forever! I tried to open Finder from the Dock, but the blue dot of the active programs blinks 3 or 4 times and then disapears. Plus, the only way to access the Apple logo on the corner to switch the computer off or restart it, is by opening one other program from the dock (in this case I have Safari running), because this way the top bar stops blinking.
So, I thought I should try to update Leopard to 10.5.1, and this could solve the problem. But no. It searches for new software updates, tells me that there are new updates, but I cannot see them nor install them!
This is really weird and annoying!
Anyone had this problem? Please, help me.
P.S.: Yes, I've tryed a second install of Leopard. Same thing!
Do NOT install any updates until you resolve the problem, which is unrelated to any updates. Updating a computer that is not working correctly will only make the problems worse, never better.
If this is the second install, was it on an erased HD or did you import your previous programs, etc?
It sounds like you might have some errant 3rd party software running.
Did you run a disk check and file permission verify/repair before installing?
Check your startup program window and remove everything there. Write them down so you can put them back later.

Installed Leopard on drive, but did not wipe it clean

I installed Leopard on a partitioned drive and didn't erase everything on it. I thought I did, but apparently not. Whenever I restarted with the install disk in the machine, it started up in Leopard, all nice and new. Then when I restated with the disk out (held down the mouse button on restart), it starts up the way it it was in 10.4.x with the same partitions and on the partition that has Leopard on it, I can see under Users the new install as a username w/the usual directories of Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.
Problem is, the original startup drive has been messed around with so much, I think I deleted System Preferences or I can't run the new System Preferences...dunno.
Is there some way to target a startup disk when you don't have system prefs? I know I have what should be a viable startup disk since there's an OS installed on the drive. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks in advance

Restart your computer, and press and hold down the option key before the Apple logo appears.
You should then see all available startup partitions.
Cheers,
Rodney

Leopard will not install on new macbook

I wonder if anyone can help......
Just bought a new 250gb HD for my macbook (latest model) and because it was ex-display I did not get a recovery disk - I bought a retail version of Leopard from COMPUSA (they were selling them off) but when I try and install leopard from scratch I get the message that it cannot be installled with my mac? It did the same on the other hd that came with the mac, and I have used the disk for drivers for vista and everything was okay so not sure what is going on?????? It refers me to the document "read before you install" and i cant see anything that would make it not run????

You need the disc that came with that model computer as the computer is newer than the retail disc your using. If you can't get the disc from wherever you bought the computer (and they should give it to you)then you'll need to call Apple. I believe they'll sell you a set for something like $10.

Installed leopard 10.6.7 Photoshop CS3 will not see my canon scanner in the file/import

I have been using CS3 for years, with my faithfull canon 5600F used the import twain feature worked great, installed leopard 10.6.7: now my twain plug in does not show in the import menu: I read through many forums & posts: can't find a solution.
I do not have the "open rosetta" feature in the file info.
so what can I do?
am i the only one to experience it?

Have you checked for updates to the drivers, etc? See
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/scanners/canoscan_series/canoscan_5600f#Dri versAndSoftware
You need to select the OS to see what is available.

Leopard will not install on my Power G5

I recently purchased Leopard and cannot install it on my Power Mac G5.
It says that a Intel chip is required to install it.
I take it that means my mobo, but why would Apple not make their computers compatiable?
Help me out please.

It sounds like you purchased Snow Leopard and not Leopard. It is Snow Leopard which requires the Intel processor and not Leopard.
Allan

Install Leopard or not

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