Problem installing OS 10.3.2 on G3

Question

I am having trouble installing Panther on my G-3 "Blue & White". It is now running OS 9.1. When I try to install, I get an error message. It says that Startup Disk is unable to choose the install CD as the boot disk. Can any one help me get around this problem?

Answer 1

Hi marsupial2,
The machine will not boot up in OS X after the install from disk 1. <</div>
Are you still able to boot from your OS 9 hard drive and if so is the monitor working ok when booting from OS 9? Also, can you still boot from the OS X CD, without doing anything yet, just seeing if that disk can boot, and than quitting it?
I've tried booting up in OS 9 from the SCSI drive and repartitioning the ATA drive. I'm going to try the installation again. <</div>
Have you backed up your data on your drive? If you repartition the drive you will lose all your data on it.
Below is some info on reformatting and partitioning a drive for OS X, but before you do anything below, you may like to see if someone with more info chimes in. Since my install of OS X went very snoothly.
If you are ok with repartitioning that drive and deleting the data on the drive, it may be best to boot from the OS X disk and repartitioning with the OS X disk. That way you can format the drive in "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) for the partitions you plan on putting OS X on, and for the OS 9 partitions, if you are putting any on that drive, Mac OS Extended (HFS+).
However, I don't know if anything needs to be done with that drive before trying to repartitioning it. You may have to do some kind of repair to it or update drivers or something. Hopefully some one here with more info about installs that don't go so smooth can offer more help with this.
It seems that many G3s seem to need to have OS X in the first partition, and the partition should be 8GB in size. <</div>
Yes, I've read this in a number of places. In my case I did not need to do this.
I found this link posted in a thread. It talks a bit about that.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106235
The thread I found it in was:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3293800&#3293800
Note in the thread above, that user had to make that first partition smaller than 8GB.
As far as repartitioning your drive and some install info goes, according to this book, I used when I installed OS X, "Mastering Mac OS X". Third Edition by Todd Stauffer and Kirk McElhearm. (Note: I do not get any money from the sale of this book and am not affiliated with them in anyway. It is a book that happened to be on sale when I was installing OS X so I got it.) Anyway, you may have already done some of this and know some of this, but the book makes the following points:
* Backup anything important from your drive.
* Like Texas Mac Man also posted, make sure you do the firmware update with in OS 9 if needed. I had to do that for my iMac. I was told that if I tried to install OS x or even tried to use an OS X CD without that, it could damage my iMac.
* Check to see if your Mac is one of those Macs that need to have OS X installed on the first 8GBs partition of your HD. If it is you may need to repartition it.
* If you're using a third-party video card you should check with it's maker to see if it supports OS X. You may need to get new drivers for it or you may need to use an Apple video card to use OS X. In my case I did not have to worry about this. If you have a third-party video card, someone else will have to help you with this. I have no idea how to find out which ones will work or where to get drivers.
* If you install OS X on a already partitioned drive with OS 9 on it, update your OS 9 first. Like Frank Henyey posted above. Im my case I have OS 9 on a different partition but I had trouble downloading 9.2.2. I still have 9.1.x on my OS 9 partition.
* Also, if you were installing it on a partition that had OS 9 on it that partition needs to have already been formatted in HFS+ format or you will have to reformat. In my case I was installing it on a new FW HD. So I used the OS X install CD to format the OS X partitions on my drive in Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and the partitions I used for OS 9 in Mac OS Extended (HFS+).
NOTE: Mac OS X can be installed in both HFS+ and Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) formats. I think Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) is for a partition with just OS X on it. You can also install it on a partition with OS 9 if you are upgrading, as long as that partition is (HFS+). This makes it so you don't need to reformat that drive.
* If you have an older Mac, one that can dual-boot, you may wont to have OS 9 on one HD and OS X on the other. You can also have different partitions like this. However; in that thread above they were saying that in some of those Macs that need to have OS X on the first 8GB partition, OS 9 also needs to be on it. But in your case you have two HDs so you maybe able to have OS 9 on one and OS X on the other if you can dual-boot. In my case I can dual-boot. It is nice to be able to boot in OS 9 if I need to.
* You can use the OS X install CD to format and repartition your drive. You use Disk Utility to do so. For the OS X partitions I'd use Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format and for any OS 9 partitions, Mac OS Extended (HFS+) format.
* IMPORTANT: Before you partition it, make sure you have the, "Install OS 9 Disk Drivers" box checked for your partitions if you want to be able to see your other OS 9 drive or partitions when in OS X.
I hope this helps, and I hope your trouble with this is just a minor bump in the road to the install of OS X.
Joe