10.2 won't install on Rev. C iMac w/ 60 GB drive

S

skinlayers

Registered
ARG!!!!
I could just scream in frustration! I was able to load 10.2 on a PB G4 w/o a problem, but when I try and load in on my 'server' (a Rev C. 266MHz iMac upgraded w/ 384 MB RAM and a 60 GB HD) it tells me that my OS X partition is not within the first 8 GB of my drive.

My had drive is split into 3 partition: 1.5 GB for OS 9, 6.5 for OS X, and the rest as a general data/application/users' folders repository. OS X is the second partition.

This makes no sense! If my OS X partition was not in the first 8 GB of the drive, it wouldn't have let me load 10.1 (or 10.0 for that matter!)

Anyone else run into this on older G3 machines?
I was thinking about ripping the install CD to my hard drive, letting Sherlock index it, and then do a contents search for key words having to do with the error. Maybe there is a script like the one that makes sure you have a previous install of OS X.

Any help would be greatly appriciated!

Gabriel,

skinlayers@com.mac (reverse the last 2)
 
that is a bug with the older iMacs, the only thing you can do is partition the drive so the first partition is no more than 8 gigs and then install jaguar on that...
 
It wasn't until 10.2 that the installer did any checking. The 10.2 installer is much more robust than the previous versions.

Here is what happened:

There are about 3 mini-partitions that sit at the front of the disk... if you create a partition EXACTLY 8GB in size, or two that are EXACTLY 8GB in size... it will trip the detection since you will be a few hundred K past the boundary.

I personally install OS X on a 4GB drive, so it doesn't matter too much ;)
 
I think that is the first deccent explanation I've heard.
*Sigh*
Time to start backing up my 60GB worth of data....
 
I have the same problem on a beige G3. I partitioned my disk for 10.0 and followed the "instructions" to the letter. Or so I thought. I created a partition EXACTLY 8.00 GB as the first partition.

Every version of the OS installed and has worked flawlessly until 10.2. Imagine my chagrin when I received the nice error message that my disk partition was not in the first 8 GB. I was livid. "WTF?!? Yes it is!!!" I even called Apple Tech support and visited my local Genius Bar for help. The only thing they could tell me was to re-partition. I was like, "Do you have any freaking idea how much work that is???" So the Genius Bar guy pointed me to macosx.com.

I've looked at utilities like pdisk that can edit your partition table directly but haven't been able to determine whether it does so non-destructively. If anyone knows, it might be good to share.

But I did find out that FWB Hard Drive Toolkit 4.5 will allow dynamic (non-destructive) resizing of partitions, and I'm about to give it a shot. (crossing my fingers...)

Anyway, those are some ideas I had to possibly save some time and effort.

&lt;rant&gt;I do have to express my opinion that this is one problem that shouldn't have ever come up. If it worked before, it should continue to work. No excuse for it...</rant>;
 
Simple answer: make sure your partitions do not exceed say, 7GB (that 1 GB for partitionmaps etc that appear as reserved...) then you'll be safe under 8 GB... one more word: Experiment!

(Do not take my words as "This is how it goes", I've yet to install Jag...)
 
I haven't gotten Jag running just yet, since it needs a G3/G4 processor now... it used to run on my non-upgraded 604e 300Mhz under 10.1.5, but 10.2 just won't boot.

Oh well, people with upgrade cards can run it just fine, so I am tempted to shell out ~100$ for a 350-450Mhz G4 upgrade on eBay if I can snag a good deal ;)
 
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