cannot install leopard on imac, NEED HELP

brutah · #1 June 5th, 2008, 01:41 AM

I have an imac with a 1.6 GHz powerPC G5 processor, the imac is 2-3 yrs. old. It has the operating system that came with, i.e., Mac OS X 10.3 panther.

Today, I bought Leopard for this imac. When I try to install nothing seems to happen. When I insert the disc, i double-click install Mac OS X in the first window that comes up, and in the next window the only option is to restart, so I restart it. Yet when the computer restarts, it begins to start up normally, i.e., it first goes to the grey screen with the apple logo then goes to a blue screen, where the login page would normally appear, but instead after the blank blue screen, the screen goes gray and the 'busy' color wheel appears (meanwhile the cd drive goes nuts and makes all this noise). I waited for an hour and thirty minutes for the computer to do something, but NOTHING!!!!!! it shouldn't take this long to install anything from a cd.

I called apple tech support and got no help in the hour or so of being on the phone with them. Basically just kept getting transfered from one person to the next and wasted all the time explaining the situation over and over again. Before I knew it i had to go to work.

I only got leopard because my old ipod crapped out and the new one i got said I needed a newer OS program.

Anyone have any idea how to install leopard on my computer? Anyone encountered the same program? I'd be happy to return leopard if I could just use my new ipod with the old OS, so if anyone knows how to get around that, it would also be helpful.

I'm really frustrated, thanks for any help

Viro · #2 June 5th, 2008, 01:54 AM

It sounds like you have a dodgy install DVD. Maybe you should take that back to the shop and have that replaced?

brutah · #3 June 5th, 2008, 02:45 AM

I wouldn't mind doing that, if that is really the problem....

is there anything else I should check before I return it?

you can upgrade panther to leopard, right?

how much memory does my computer need? (though I don't think this is the problem)

DeltaMac · #4 June 5th, 2008, 07:58 AM

You may need more memory in your iMac.
How much do you have installed now?
Your iMac could have shipped with a minimum of 256 MB of RAM. Leopard requires a minimum of 512 MB.
If you have less than 512 MB, the install will not finish booting, and not give any reason why.
If you need to upgrade your memory, consider much more than just the 512MB. Your iMac can have as much a pair of 1 GB, PC3200 SDRAM, for a total of 2 GB.

**Giaguara** · #5 June 5th, 2008, 09:00 AM

If it still hangs after making sure it has enough RAM, run the hardware test to make sure RAM is ok.

brutah · #6 June 5th, 2008, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

You may need more memory in your iMac.
How much do you have installed now?
Your iMac could have shipped with a minimum of 256 MB of RAM. Leopard requires a minimum of 512 MB.
If you have less than 512 MB, the install will not finish booting, and not give any reason why.
If you need to upgrade your memory, consider much more than just the 512MB. Your iMac can have as much a pair of 1 GB, PC3200 SDRAM, for a total of 2 GB.

we have a winner!!!!! ding ding ding! super soy, i'm pissed!

thanks for your help, i got on the phone with tech support this morning and this was the first thing I asked the dude, "does my computer meet the memory requirements for leopard?" and he said yes it does (sorry deltamac I was in denial).... well forty minutes later, tech support dude goes "oh wait your computer doesn't meet the memory requirements, sorry." I was so fucking upset, that was the first thing I asked!!!!! arghhhhh!!!!!