Help!! My Mac G4 Desktop Is Hooped :(

[mac_rookie]

Okay, here's the story. I'm a new mac user (and loving it so far, despite this problem). I recently got given to me my friends discarded macs. He gave me a dual g4 867 and a 667mhz powerbook (he got a new g5 and a 17" powerbook). I'm new to the mac game so i'm kind of stuck here. When i got the desktop it was fine, ran perfectly. It's been sitting for a while and now doesn't boot up at all...when i power it on, i get a message telling me that there was an error and that i need to restart. Even when i restart, this keeps happening. Now on the advice of another friend (also a relatively new mac user) I firewired my desktop to my book and started it as a target drive. He told me he suspected that the desktop had a corrupted OS on it so he advised i format and reinstall. I formatted, but then discovered, that i have no cd's whatsoever with either of my macs (still at my other friends place and he's out of town for a few weeks). is there anyway i can install Mac OS X 10.2.8 (currently on my powerbook) onto my desktop via firewire???

I know with windows this isn't possible, but some people have told me that this is possible with a mac...i really need to get a desktop running so i am in a bit of a hurry and can't wait for my friend to get me the install cd's.

so, to reiterate. I'm stuck with a desktop g4 that's been formatted and has a totally empty drive and a powerbook g4 that has os x 10.2.8 on it...no cd's to install with and want to get my desktop running....am i hopeless, or is there a way? and if there is a way, would someone be kind enough to post a step by step guide or a link to one??

thanks in advance...looking forward to being a functional mac user!!!

 

[Cheryl]

Welcome !!
How did you format the drive if you have no CDs?

You could go out and buy the OS 10.3 CD (Panther). Then at the installer screen, go to the Installer Menu (top left) and select Disk Utility. Have Disk Utility check out the drive, then select Erase and have it formatted in Mac Extended.
Then quit Disk Utility, and follow the prompts to install.

Once done and you set yourself up as the Admin/Owner user, go to the Utility folder and run Disk Utility to verify and repair permissions.

 

[edX]

you may be able to use an app called Carbon Copy Cloner to move 10.2.8 from your book to the desktop. get it at www.versiontracker.com. short of purchasing the os or getting the disks from your friend (as he is legally required to pass them along if he has them), this is your best bet.

or just send it to me. i'll get it running and have it back to you in a year or two.

 

[mac_rookie]

i formatted it by firewiring it to my notebook and starting it as a target...so i formatted it like that...then i used the carbon copy cloner to clone my notebook hd onto the desktop...this got me to the point where the desktop began booting, but got hung in the boot screen. now i've rewiped the desktop hd and am back to having an empty hd on my tower....any ideas on what i can do.....i don't have any mac os cd's and don't have any access to any because i'm snowed in for the next day or so....i really really want to get this desktop going so i can take advantage of my 23" cinema lcd display..

 

[Captain Code]

I highly doubt an install of OS X on a PowerBook would work on a PowerMac. I'm afraid you'll have to use the installer CDs or keep booting from Firewire target disk mode until you get OS X on the PowerMac.