My somewhat bizarre Tiger installation experience

I decided it was time to upgrade my wife's 15" Powerbook G4 from 10.3.9 to Tiger, so I sat down this morning to start the process. I inserted Install Disk 1 and rebooted per the instructions.
The process started as expected, with the installation dialog opening. I went through and answered all of the questions up to selecting which drive to install on. At that point, the message came up telling me it was checking the installation media. It looked like it would be a slow process, so I left the room for a bit.
When I returned, I noticed that Install Disk 1 had been ejected, and the screen was showing the gray Apple logo reboot screen, with the rotating thingy under the Apple logo. Huh? I thought I was going to be asked what kind of installation and maybe one or two more questions. Could the media be bad? Did it reboot? Was it looking for the next Install disk? I had no idea.
So I just tried something...I inserted Install Disk 2. After a few minutes of the drive spinning and sounding active, it eventually spit that one out, too. So I did it again with Install Disk 3. Same thing, so what the heck, I put in Disk 4. Every time, the drive sounded active, like it was actively reading it, for a good amount of time.
Eventually Disk 4 was ejected, but after that I had no idea what to do. The screen was still showing the gray Apple logo with the spinning thingy. What to do now? Nothing else was happening...no hard drive noise, nothing. I put Install Disk 1 back in for the heck of it. Nothing this time. Silence, and a continuously spinning thingy.
After a long while of this, I had no idea what to think or what to do. So, knowing that I had a backup of her data available, I did the manly thing and held the power button down until it shut off, and then I rebooted. I had no idea what to expect.
Well, after some time to think to itself, the Powerbook rebooted just fine, and the 10.4 Setup Assistant appeared as expected. "About This Mac" says 10.4 is installed, and everything seems to be working as it should as far as I can tell.
Huh? I've installed Mac OS's, including Tiger, many times and I've never come across anything like this before. I've searched around but haven't seen other experiences like this. What do people think? Anything else I should do to make sure it installed everything correctly?
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I realize I don't need CDs, I'm just telling you this is what the University gave me. And yes, I paid the academic discount price you mentioned.
These are, in fact, "proper" Tiger installation disks. In case you don't buy that, here's a pic of Install Disk 1:
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8449/installdisksw6.jpg
And yes, there are three more labelled Disks 2-4.
I did not state that when I returned, the whole process was completed. I stated that, when I returned, Install Disk 1 had been ejected, and the gray screen with the Apple logo and the spinning thingy were displayed. I waited half an hour before deciding that something was probably not right, so that's when I tried inserting the remaining Install Disks.
It may very well be that the remaining Install Disks weren't required and the whole process really was finished and it only needed Install Disk 1. But it sure seemed like the others were needed -- the CD drive spun and clicked like it was reading continuously for 10 minutes until it spit the disk out again. Same goes for the other disks. And in the end, it never did reboot, it just hung on the same screen.
The process is a mystery to me, and apparently to you too. I'm looking to see if anyone has had similar experiences or any tidbit of advice, which I still maintain is a perfectly good question to ask on the Apple Support forums. Your advice is to start from scratch again and use a "proper" DVD. I got it, and thanks for the advice.

Similar Messages

Cannot reinstall Tiger : installer stuck (cannot make disk bootable)

Good afternoon experts,
I am writing to you here as I have a problem with the Tiger installer which suddendly stops when trying to install on a prepartioned disk.
First, some background information : I have a 20' iMac Intel machine which I bought on February 06 (well designed machine, happy with it so far). The thing is, I have had serious crashes and lockups using the UB version of VLC (media player) which led me to hard reboot the machine several times. Despite the journaling on the disk, some of my filesystem was corrupted, seemingly beyond repair (some apps did not even boot, nothing happened when I plugged in an external disk, etc). Scanning for disk errors and permissions problems revealed that a lot of files had been damaged ("extended allocation" error) in both the system and in my applications.
As I did not know what to do (I should have asked first here whether it was possible to reinstall only parts of the OS using, maybe, a package manager), I synced my backups and went for a reinstall.
The thing is, the disk is already partitioned, as I also run Linux on the machine (updated firmware and repartitioned the disk w/ BootCamp; worked well). It contains, in that order : the hidden EFI partition (fat32), the macOSX HFS+ volume (where I want to install), Linux swap partition, HFS+ partition (for use w/ rEFIt, the EFI bootloader), and two Linux ext3 partitions.
The install starts fine (booting from the DVD which came with my machine), the macOSX volume is formatted but the installer just then stops. Looking at the logs, I can see that it is because it cannot make the volume bootable (this is what the error message says). Note that it correctly read the partition table/EFI partition scheme as it gives me the correct partition types I have presented above. Also note that I cannot do an "archive and install" procedure, seemingly because I have insufficient space (6GB free on the volume); the installer does not give me any choice. Finally, I can still boot into Linux holding the 'Alt' key and using the builtin volume chooser to start on the second HFS+ volume.
I am asking for help to you gurus, to know what to do here. I was think maybe something like using the shell to do a manual 'bless' would solve the issue; I would like however to be sure before proceeding. Otherwise, is there a manual installation procedure (as there is for instance on the Debian installer, allowing to skip/redo some install steps)?
Thanks for your help experts,
Vincent
PS: I am going to see whether I can collect the logs and post them here.

Hello back,
As I did not find a way to attach my logs, I am posting the most relevant parts of it here.
This is where the installer erases the volume and fails at make the disk bootable :
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : Preparing volume "Macintosh HD" for installation
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : Erasing volume for OS Install
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : Original Disk Layout
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : partition map from /dev/disk0:
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : #: type name size identifier mountpoint
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 0: GUIDpartitionscheme *232GB disk0
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 1: EFI 200MB disk0s1
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 70.0GB disk0s2 /Volumes/Macintosh HD
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 3: Linux Swap 503MB disk0s3
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 4: Microsoft Basic Data 18.6GB disk0s4
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 5: Apple_HFS rEFIt 190MB disk0s5 /Volumes/rEFIt
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : 6: Microsoft Basic Data 143GB disk0s6
Jun 27 12:04:56 localhost : Preparing disk for erase
Jun 27 12:04:57 localhost : Erasing volume.
Jun 27 12:04:57 localhost : Erasing
Jun 27 12:04:58 localhost : Initialized /dev/rdisk0s2 as a 70 GB HFS Plus volume with a 8192k journal\n
Jun 27 12:04:59 localhost : Mounting Disk
Jun 27 12:04:59 localhost : Done erasing volume.
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Final Disk Layout
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : partition map from /dev/disk0:
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : #: type name size identifier mountpoint
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 0: GUIDpartitionscheme *232GB disk0
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 1: EFI 200MB disk0s1
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 70.0GB disk0s2 /Volumes/Macintosh HD
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 3: Linux Swap 503MB disk0s3
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 4: Microsoft Basic Data 18.6GB disk0s4
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 5: Apple_HFS rEFIt 190MB disk0s5 /Volumes/rEFIt
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 6: Microsoft Basic Data 143GB disk0s6
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Waiting for volume...
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Configuring volume "Macintosh HD"
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Preparing Disk for OS Install
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Cannot make disk bootable at this stage.
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : partition map from /dev/disk0:
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : #: type name size identifier mountpoint
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 0: GUIDpartitionscheme *232GB disk0
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 1: EFI 200MB disk0s1
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 70.0GB disk0s2 /Volumes/Macintosh HD
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 3: Linux Swap 503MB disk0s3
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 4: Microsoft Basic Data 18.6GB disk0s4
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 5: Apple_HFS rEFIt 190MB disk0s5 /Volumes/rEFIt
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : 6: Microsoft Basic Data 143GB disk0s6
Jun 27 12:05:01 localhost : Install failed: Couldn't prepare volume for installation.
Now, this is what Disk Utility reports of the volume. You can see that the partition scheme on the disk is the correct one :
Jun 27 12:09:05 localhost : Disk Utility started.\n
Jun 27 12:09:05 localhost : \n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Name : WDC WD2500JS-40NGB2 Media\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Type : Disk\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : \n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Disk Identifier : disk0\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Media Name : WDC WD2500JS-40NGB2 Media\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Media Type : Generic\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Connection Bus : SATA\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Connection Type : Internal\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Partition Type : GUIDpartitionscheme\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Device Tree : /PCI0@0/SATA@1F,2/@0:0\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Writable : Yes\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Ejectable : No\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Location : Internal\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Total Capacity : 232.9 GB (250,059,350,016 Bytes)\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : S.M.A.R.T. Status : Verified\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Disk Number : 0\n
Jun 27 12:09:18 localhost : Partition Number : 0\n

If my Tiger installation fails, can I go back to 10.3.9?

With so many of you having Tiger installation issues, I figured that this was worth asking.
I have no problems with my current system, but need to upgrade to use certain software. If I run into major problems, can I undo the 10.4.6 install and go back to 10.3.9 or am I out of luck?
Imac G4 17" flat panel Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.5 gig Ram

Hi averyb2;
If you clone your current system drive to another drive either internal or external Firewire, then if you wish to fallback to the old version it is a simple matter to clone the old system drive back again.
This is always the safest way to upgrade your operating system just in case something should go wrong with a clone of the all system drive it is extremely simple to get back.
One thing make sure to test the clone by booting from it before starting the upgrade.
Allan

Lost MAC OS X 10.4 Tiger installer..Pls help

I completely clean my hard drive this afternoon, then Re install Mac OS X. I did not notice that I'm installing MAC OS X Panther. My problem is i don't know where is Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger installer since it was a long time. How can i upgrade my 10.3 again to 10.4 without it?

BDAqua or Rysz (both of you seem extremely knowledgeable):
     This is not a reply to a problem, but a new problem - hope one of you can help. I have an iBook, running 10.4.11. I can afford to upgrade to a Pentium processor MacBook, but choose not to, because of thousands of dollars worth of software I have that work only on OS 9, and I'm sure you both know that 10.4, on the old Motorola processor, will run both X and 9-Classic.
     So much for background. The problem is that I had a previous iBook and woke up one night to the sound of the hard drive making a grinding sound. Of course I immediately shut it off. I then shipped it to my son, who is also a Mac devotee. He not only picked me up another iBook at a reasonable price, but took the HD out of my old iBook, put it in an external USB hard drive case, and it worked fine, so he sent me both. The iBook worked great, both in X and 9-Classic, so I began transferring everything over from my old hard drive to the new iBook. After I had finished, I tried to start 9 Classic - the 9 screen would pull up and the progress bar would begin to move, but freeze after it had filled in roughly 1/16 of an inch. I could leave it on all night, but it still wouldn't load any further. I noticed I had SoftWare Restore in the Application Support folder of my OS 9 System Folder, and thought restoring my 9 software might make a difference, but discovered 9 has to start up before the restoration app can be used, so I'm back at square one.
     I'm usually very knowledgeable re Macs (still have an old LC, as well as 2 Bondi iMacs), but this has me stumped. I'm betting I pulled something over from my old hard drive that I shouldn't have, and it's creating a conflict, but I can't imagine what it could have been. I've tried starting up with extensions off, but that doesn't work either. I can't use any of my OS 9 software, and could sure use some recommendations.

Why can't I open my retail Tiger installation dvd although it boots

Hi,
I have problems with opening my original Tiger installation dvd. I already installed Tiger, but I need some data from the optional installs on the disk. But I don't get any access to the dvd. Its shown on the desk but whenever I try to open it it just failed. I can boot it by pushing C and starting from the dvd but I have no access when I just put it into my internal diskdrive. Does anyone have an idea?

Hi Stefchen,
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Here's a great installer guide for installing OSX:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/04/29/tiger.html?page=2

Install fails because of SA password - horrible installer experience

I'm really disappointed in the installer experience for SQL Server Express. I was prompted to enter a SA password. I did. It went through the download, installed, asked me to reboot, etc, and ended at a failure. Why? Because my SA password wasn't strong
enough. Why in the heck didn't it tell me that when it prompted?

Hi,
Antivirus software or password policy check failure could make the installation failed.
I suggest you disable the antivirus software and follow the below steps to disable the password policy enforcement feature, then try install again, also check the setup log if installation failed
Disable the password policy enforcement feature for the SQL Server login, please take these steps:
1) Create a reg key by name “SQLArg3” of type REG_SZ in the registry location
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\<Instance ID Created by the install>\MSSQLServer\Parameters and add the value “-T4606”
Note: SQLArg3 should be replaced with a value higher than existing keys. So if you already have SQLArg0, SQLArg1, SQLArg2, SQLArg3 then add the value above with SQLArg4
2) Stop SQL Server Service and click “Retry” in the setup window and setup should proceed further and complete successfully.
Additional information:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlsakthi/archive/2010/09/02/login-failed-for-user-sa-while-installing-sql-server-2005.aspx
Thanks.
Tracy Cai
TechNet Community Support

Tiger installation disc won't eject and won't open.

My hard disk crashed on my Powerbook G4. I have the aluminum 17 inch with 1.0 mhz. I had OS X 10,4.7 installed on it. I bought a new hard drive from iFixit.com with more memory. The installation seemed to go OK. I put my Tiger installation disc in and nothing happens. I can turn on the computer but other than the light in the door opener nothing happens. I can't eject the Tiger disc now. I have tried the eject button, starting it up with the mouse key pressed down, starting up with the option key depressed and nothing works. I tried getting into it manually with tweezers and I couldn't grab it. Do I need to install from the original Software install and restore disc? If so, how can I get the Tiger disc out so I can get the original installation disc in. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also might try holding down the Option Key during bootup.
Is that a Wired Mouse? Many times a Wireless one wont be seen during boot.

Can't see Tiger installer in external drive

I want to reinstall Tiger from the disk after erasing my startup drive - on my G4, which has a broken superdrive.
Right now I have Tiger installed and when I insert the Panther installer in the external drive and restart, I can choose to boot from the Panther install disk. However, when I insert the Tiger install disk, I can't see it in the external drive. (I only inserted the Panther disk as a test.)
The Tiger install disk is black with a gray X.
Does anyone know why I might be able to boot from the Panther installer but not the Tiger installer?
Thank you,
Debbie

I put the Tiger DVD in the iMac and started in Target Mode - I see the firewire icon on the screen. I booted the G4 with the Option key held down, but I just saw the G4 startup disk and back and forward arrows.
When I chose the forward arrow, this is what I saw:
Default Catch
code 300 at
%SPRO: ff8494a0
%SRRI:0000b030
Paraphrasing now:
Welcome to Open Firmware
Type mac-boot return to continue booting
I tried typing mac-boot return, but got another version of the same screen.

Can I start up my new imac (Snow Leopard) from a Tiger installation disc?

Last week I upgraded to an entirely new machine. My old imac was running on Tiger and the logic board failed. Though I had an external, I had my local Apple store transfer my hard drive data to my new mac. Since then, I've run Disc Utility a few times, each time with no problem until today.
Disc Utility is giving me the following error:
The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk.
Since I don't have a Snow Leopard disc, I've tried starting up with my old Tiger installation disc, but to no avail... At the risk of sounding a little stupid, should Apple have given me a Leopard disc with my purchase?

bgaribay wrote:
Last week I upgraded to an entirely new machine. My old imac was running on Tiger and the logic board failed. Though I had an external, I had my local Apple store transfer my hard drive data to my new mac. Since then, I've run Disc Utility a few times, each time with no problem until today.
Disc Utility is giving me the following error:
The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk.
Since I don't have a Snow Leopard disc,
I've tried starting up with my old Tiger installation disc, but to no avail...
you can not use the tiger disk. you need to use your snow leopard disk. what happened to yours? every new computer comes with one. it's called install disk one and is packaged with every new computer.

Tiger installer on HD?

Has anyone tried to clone Tiger installer DVD on a external HD and installed Tiger from there? If not I'll guess I need to try it myself. In some situations it would be nice to be able to install Tiger from HD (upgrade, busted DVD etc...)

Yes and it works.
In fact made Netbootable installer from disk...
My reason for doing this was speed - using DVD takes ages, using HD only 5-10 minutes !
ONLY do this if you are making LEGAL copies.
I needed to update 100 machines...
Mitch

Tiger Installation

Bought a Tiger Install DVD today and on attempting I keep getting a screen freeze or lock up a various steps. Checked "Agree" and it froze, another attempt got to "Select Destination" and box where selections show was blank and screen froze again. Another the selection box showed my hard drive but wasn't clickable then froze again. Attempted to use disk utility it "gathered" then froze. Have 61.6 GB free and present 10.2.8 works fine, no problems. Do I have a bad installation CD?
IMac G4 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Do you have at least 256 MBs of installed RAM? Have you done the following before installing:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. After DU loads select your startup volume from the list on the left, then click on the First Aid tab in the DU main window. Click on the Repair Permissions button. Quit DU after the repair has completed.
2. Boot from your Tiger DVD. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your OS X volume from the list on the left, click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now proceed with the Tiger installation.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (3.0.3 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.1.1 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If you continue to have problems please post detailed descriptions of what happens including any error messages.

SQL Server 2008 is the worst installation experience ever

Sorry but you guys have really messed up with SQL Server 2008 installation.
I've been using SQL server since 6.5, so I would classify as a fan. We were looking at upgrading from 2005, which I was quite pleased with.
The installation experience is the worst I've ever experienced. I am a computer expert, and I couldn't figure out how to install it properly. Why is it that when I downloaded SQL Server Management Studio Express 2008, it seems as though it wants
to install the full database? Why is it when I was asked if I wanted to install a new version of SQL Server 2008 or use a previous install, when I chose previous install, it said that an instance ID was missing, but there was no way to specify anything
else? It drove me crazy.
Why are there so many requirements and restrictions for the installation, when all I want to do is install Management Studio? It's intolerable and makes me never want to upgrade to 2008. Why is the process so terrible when Microsoft is supposed
to have the best UE people in the business?
You guys did a really terrible job on this one.

We have not tried to cluster 2012. We used to cluster; however, we were not prepared to manage the added complications.  The result was that our non-clustered servers had better uptime.  We used to joke about how many 8s we were
getting with our cluster. (To be fair, it did not help that we had a 7x24 SLA with only 8-5 staff.  When the cluster fails to failover, it can be a long time before it is fixed. We eventually got the kinks worked out.)
I understand the frustration. Excellence and stability can be achieved, but product lifecycles can punish those who seek such qualities. Product changes and shorter support lifecycles produce revenue for MS, so I don't see this getting better.
There will be a new OS, new SQL, and a new set of problems the next time around.
I expect things to get worse until we get pushed into the cloud.  A stable environment in the cloud is profitable for MS and clients.  I do not think this is the case now outside the cloud. Upgrading applications to remain
on supported products is very costly. And about the only business benefit of the upgrade is that the product remains on a supported platform and gets security updates. Sort of sound like that blackmail virus? I'd rather pay to have a
patch for new features and focus on application upgrades that improve business processes. Now bug fixes can require a major version change - which will have new bugs. I'm ranting because of some head pounding
I've done this week due to a hard coded limitation introduced in SQL 2012 by design. I'll replace the process, but I wonder how long it will work as my SQL related PSH often breaks with a new version of something.  I'll
stop now. Where'd my Prozac go? Next week is new week, life is good, everything will work,....
PS I actually enjoy the work and think MS products are decent; however, our environment does seem to be more frail and less stable due to MS product changes - even if the products are getting better. Better is worse - what an odd thought.
Randy in Marin

Tiger installation fails despite the advice found here--what next?

Greetings mac wizards--please advise me!
I've been trying to upgrade my i-mac from the Tiger disc that came with my i-book. (Sales rep told me this was legal and would work.)
Recurring message is "this software cannot be installed on this computer," despite having held the C key during restart, run disk utility repairs, removed plug ins, removed memory card.
Also tried installing "bundled software only" but got error message "bill of material for this package was not found."
Me thinks something is very wrong--perhaps this is not okay and rigged not to work?
Extended utility for my beloved i-mac is in your hands!
imac g4 flat screen Mac OS X (10.2.x) running on 10.2.8

Welcome To Discussions kever!
cornelius wrote "Unless I am missing something..."
Possibly, this is what he missed "I've been trying to upgrade my i-mac from the Tiger disc that came with my i-book.
Unless I'm missing something, William Kucharski is correct.
Additional info in these links.
Using OS X Install CDs/DVDs On Multiple Macs
What's A Computer Specific Mac OS X Release
Software Update, Upgrade: What's The Difference?
If you don't want to wait for Leopard 10.5.x to be released, and your iMac meets the Tiger System Requirements, Tiger is available for purchase at The Apple Store (U.S.).
If you know what to look for, a Full Retail Version, of the Tiger Install DVD, can also be purchased rather inexpensively, at some online Apple retailers, Amazon, eBay, FastMac, AppleRescue, etc.
As posted, be sure not to purchase grey, upgrade or machine specific CDs or DVDs.
Unless purchased from AppleRescue, the discs 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 them.
Once Tiger 10.4.x is installed, you can use the PPC 10.4.9 Combo Update, to upgrade to the current version.
Additionally, "Tiger ships on a DVD, but if your Mac doesn’t have a built-in DVD-ROM player, you’ll need CD media."
AppleRescue, also sells a Tiger installation set on CD.
Shop Carefully, Examine All Documentation, And I Wish You Success!
ali b

Warning about bizarre eMac Tiger installation problem due to memory

I'm a fairly proficient user. I've upgraded the OS on my 800MHz eMac (original version with NVIDIA GeForce2 MX graphics) many times. This time, while upgrading to Tiger, I blew almost an entire weekend trouble-shooting the machine. I'm posting this so others on the forum can hopefully save themselves some time.
My machine came from the factory with 256MB RAM and a Superdrive. I had the AppleStore add another 256MB of RAM when I bought the machine in Nov 2002. This was Apple-branded RAM, not third-party.
When I tried to upgrade to Tiger, the installation would proceed through all the DVD media and system hard-drive tests, then succesfully install one or more packages. It would then fail with the "Please try to install again" message. The installation log was showing messages about file corruption. I was able to re-install Panther from CD, which eliminated optical drive failure from the list of possible problems.
I ran all of the hard-drive checks in Drive Genius and my drive passed. I ran all of the Apple Hardware Tests from my original system CD. Then I found some warnings on the Apple site about marginal third-party RAM causing this kind of problem. I first rejected this line of approach, since I had Apple RAM.
Eventually I ran out of "normal" trouble-shooting, so I decided to pull the extra memory module as a last resort prior to replacing the hard drive. Once I did this, the installation ran flawlessly using the original 256MB of RAM.
The message here is that EMAC MEMORY PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN EITHER DVD I/O OR TIGER-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION. Check your memory before cracking open the rest of the machine, even if all the Apple hardware tests say the memory is OK.
I have new memory on the way from OWC and will follow-up with status when I get some runtime on it.
As an aside, I upgraded to Tiger from Panther mainly to get the increased parental controls (this machine is destined for my kids). Now that I have Tiger, I am pleasantly impressed by the other refinements as well.
E-Mac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

The RAM test on the Apple Hardware Test disc is a compromise between being throrough and completing in a reasonable amount of time. Memtest (especially if run in single-user mode as per it's instructions) offers a more throrough test.

Cannot startup from Tiger installer DVD or any other CD

When I try to startup from a system CD , DVD, or Diskwarrior CD the system folders on the external media will not mount.

I have yet to see an Apple update that is responsible for an OS X installer not booting a computer. The installer discs are self contained with their own bootable system. It is independent of what may be installed on the hard drive.
I've been involved in beta testing Tiger updates as well as several security updates for Panther. I have not run into a "bad Apple Update" problem. It is possible to get a bad download, however, but that's not a problem with the updates themselves.
Just because other users experience similar problems does not always mean the problem is with OS X or OS X updates. Many times the problem is with poorly maintained or corrupted systems that are not repaired before updates are applied. Inexperienced users are frequently their own worst enemy. Also keep in mind that for every user posting a problem on the Discussions, there are thousands having no problems whatsoever.

My somewhat bizarre Tiger installation experience

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for