New hard drive and new memory install (Powerbook G4)

Question

Hi everyone, I hope the community can help me through a rough patch! I tried searching through the forum but haven't found specific answers to my dilemma. Here's the deal: I've installed a new hard drive in a Powerbook G4, the original hard drive died.
I have the Leopard install retail disc, and want to install the OS on the new hard drive. I also have a RAM upgrade that I want to install. So, in order, here are my questions:
1) To install OS, do I just turn the computer on and insert the install disc? Or do I need to do some other command to do the install, such as holding a key(s) down when I insert the disc? Is there anything else I need to do to format the new hard drive properly?
2) Can I upgrade the RAM before I install the OS, or must I install OS first? And if I can install the RAM prior, will it help speed up the install process?
3) Finally, how long should the install process take? What screens should I expect seeing? Will I be staring at the spinning beach ball for a long time?
I look forward to any helpful feedback, thank you so much!

Answer 1

b5160519 wrote:
The weirdest thing is that the laptop's disc drive was accepting discs, and now it won't. I highly doubt that there's a hardware failure there, I certainly didn't abuse the computer during this process. Now when I try to push a disc in, it goes about 99% of the way in with just a hair sticking out, but I can't even force it totally in.
This suggests that you didn't quite get everything right when you reassembled the G4 after replacing the hard drive. Clearances are very tight & even just a grommet or support bracket slightly misaligned can prevent everything from fitting together properly. You don't say which Powerbook G4 model you have, but for example, note the number of detailed steps & items marked "important" in the PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) Hard Drive Replacement Instructions & especially the comments below figure 16 about the optical drive.
Whatever the Powerbook model, I strongly suggest that you refer to a detailed take-apart & replacement guide for anything you might have overlooked -- many models have disassembly/assembly quirks that are not obvious, such as the order that screws need to be removed or replaced, when & where to use a "spudger" to unhook a hidden latch, & so on. A good source for these guides is iFixit's PowerBook pages. Click on your model, then find the guide for the hard drive replacement. These will generally be among the most detailed available, with plenty of pictures & all important screw length info -- it is very easy to get confused about where screws go that differ by only one or two mm.