Can't install OS X 10.4 from 10.1.5 on an iMac G4.. any ideas?

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sorny

Gawd
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Mar 25, 2002
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I got a free G4 iMac (made a thread about it the other day). It works pretty good, but sometimes when using Internet Explorer on it, it will freeze up and it generally just acts kinda odd. Replaced the memory and got the same problem and am wondering if its just one of those problems that never can be fixed (ie: motherboard or other component like that) or what. Anyways, my mom has a MacBook and it has OS X 10.4 DVD's with it and I was going to upgrade this iMac to version 10.4 from 10.1.5 that's on it now hoping that would fix some problems. Well, as soon as I boot the DVD to install it crashes and I get a unix looking kernel hang error screen saying something about some PowerMac4,2 driver wasn't found.

So I was wondering if the OS X DVD's that come with Macs only work with those kinds (like Macbook DVD's only working with MacBooks, etc)? Do I need a retail version or would I be wasting my money? I'm going to get pissed if I buy a retail version off eBay for $30-40 and it does the same thing.
 
They're Intel specific. Similarly, the 10.4 DMG from the Apple developer site won't work on Intel Macs because they are PPC specific. You'll need to buy another copy of 10.4 if you want to run it legally.
 
OMG, I completely forgot about the Intel thing. I am so embarrassed that I didn't even think of that. Of course I knew it, but when I see Macs I'm still just used to thinking PPC instead of Intel on the new ones. Well, I can see why it crashed now, and I really can't believe it ran as much as far as it did to give me the boot error.

So will OS X only be for Intel Macs from now on or will they do PPC and Intel versions both?
 
OS X will still be PPC and Intel for the foreseeable future (ie Leopard). From what Jobs said at WWDC, you'll be able to run one install disk for all versions (32/64bit on PPC or Intel) and it will automatically determine which is the correct one to install.
 
sorny said:
OMG, I completely forgot about the Intel thing. I am so embarrassed that I didn't even think of that. Of course I knew it, but when I see Macs I'm still just used to thinking PPC instead of Intel on the new ones. Well, I can see why it crashed now, and I really can't believe it ran as much as far as it did to give me the boot error.

So will OS X only be for Intel Macs from now on or will they do PPC and Intel versions both?
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Your install problem has nothing to do with PPC vs. Intel. The problem you're running into is that the restore discs are machine-specific. Even if you had a PowerBook G4 restore disc, you couldn't use it to restore your iMac. As the previous poster said, you'll need to acquire a fresh installer.
 
CreativeMac said:
Your install problem has nothing to do with PPC vs. Intel. The problem you're running into is that the restore discs are machine-specific. Even if you had a PowerBook G4 restore disc, you couldn't use it to restore your iMac. As the previous poster said, you'll need to acquire a fresh installer.
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I've used an ibook G4 10.3 installer on my dualy G4 desktop that I use for itunes... And it also worked on my old powerbook G4 too.

My girlfriend was able to restore her MB with my MBP disk (we were at my cottage...) fine too.
 
Arcygenical said:
I've used an ibook G4 10.3 installer on my dualy G4 desktop that I use for itunes... And it also worked on my old powerbook G4 too.

My girlfriend was able to restore her MB with my MBP disk (we were at my cottage...) fine too.
Click to expand...

The 10.3 install you mentioned doesn't surprise me. Apple started machine-specific restore discs 2-3 years ago.

The MB-to-MBP restore surprises me and generally shouldn't happen.
 
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