Installing OS 10.3

C

cheekymac

Registered
I bought OS 10.3 and the seller made me a copy on CD as well because I don't have a DVD drive. I have tried 4 times so far to install it but the same thing happens, it gets to the end of the install of the first cd then gives me a message. "There were errors in installation, please try again"

(also each time i installed it really messed up the computer where so I couldn't start up and lost everything, had to install OS 10 again from the start each time)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, the seller keeps telling me that they will call me but they never do.
 
Since DVDs carry much more data than CDs, I imagine you don't have a complete installation of OS X. How many discs did the vendor give you?
 
They gave me 3 (plus the 3.9 updater cd). Instead of getting the message to put in disk 2 i get the error message when the bar get to the end with the first.

I have gone back and forth with them and instead of thinking it's a cd problem they want to make sure it's not a user or computer problem. Which I know it's not and they say they will call me and never do. So I am turning to the forum to see if I can figure it out.

Thanks
 
10.3 or 10.4? Because the universal 10.3 came on CDs. Where exactly did they get the disc image to burn the CD, and what does your DVD say?
 
Unless you have an emac they will not work on your computer. Also, there's at least 3GB of files that you need to install for OS X and that will not fit on three CDs. Unfortunately, the store you went to is staffed by nutters.

You need OS X on the original DVDs for your machine as install discs are machine specific and CDs only hold 700MB of information.
 
So on what machine are you attempting this installation? Is it an iMac G3, and is that why you chose Panther over Tiger? If that is the case, the problem is probably with your CD player. If you remove the HD and put it into an external FW enclosure, you can install to it from any working Mac. (You might also be able to install over ethernet using network startup but I don't know off hand where to get the instructions for that. Though it might be self explanatory once everything is connected.)

Oh, and you only need the first CD to install Panther, IIRC. Tiger requires the first two CDs to complete the install.
 
andychrist said:
So on what machine are you attempting this installation? Is it an iMac G3, and is that why you chose Panther over Tiger? If that is the case, the problem is probably with your CD player. If you remove the HD and put it into an external FW enclosure, you can install to it from any working Mac. (You might also be able to install over ethernet using network startup but I don't know off hand where to get the instructions for that. Though it might be self explanatory once everything is connected.)
Click to expand...

I just did this on my G4 Tower that doesn't have a monitor; used Target Disk Mode to accomplish it.
 
yep, if the discs say eMac then it is an installation specific OS. What you need is the "Retail" version for use on any machine. Even if they gave you sufficient CDs to contain all the data on the DVD, it won't install on anything but an eMac.

I think you were had. Try to get your money back.
 
I see you wanted to upgrade so you could sync your Nano. So then you have Firewire and USB 2 on your Mac? If so you can readily install Tiger on that machine, there is no reason to use Panther, unless you got it dirt cheap. But you can probably find Tiger marked down somewhere too by now...

Yeah, demand your money back on that 10.3.
 
Yep, you can start up your CD drive computer in Target Mode (hold T key on restart till you see firewire symbol) and it will behave like an external hard drive when you connect it to a second computer. Then you can install the OS from the 2nd computer to the Target Mode'd computer.
 
andychrist said:
So on what machine are you attempting this installation? Is it an iMac G3, and is that why you chose Panther over Tiger? If that is the case, the problem is probably with your CD player. If you remove the HD and put it into an external FW enclosure, you can install to it from any working Mac. (You might also be able to install over ethernet using network startup but I don't know off hand where to get the instructions for that. Though it might be self explanatory once everything is connected.)

Oh, and you only need the first CD to install Panther, IIRC. Tiger requires the first two CDs to complete the install.
Click to expand...

I have a G3 imac, I have 10.2.8 right now and am trying to upgrade to 10.3 (10.3.9)

Sorry You lost me at remove the HD cause it's an imac. Only need the first CD? Well there are 3 but the first won't even work.
 
andychrist said:
I see you wanted to upgrade so you could sync your Nano. So then you have Firewire and USB 2 on your Mac? If so you can readily install Tiger on that machine, there is no reason to use Panther, unless you got it dirt cheap. But you can probably find Tiger marked down somewhere too by now...

Yeah, demand your money back on that 10.3.
Click to expand...

Yup already asked for my money back before I posted here.

Not sure about the USB 2 and so on. I have a imac (indigo) which has 10.2.8 on it at the moment. I got the ipod for Christmas and found out I need 10.3.9/itunes 7 and have been trying to upgrade to use it.
 
Well there were a few iMacs that came in Indigo, I think the first one did not have Firewire but the other models did? None would have USB 2. Gee, can you even sync an iPod over USB 1.1?

Yes, you can remove the HD from an iMac G3 pretty easily. You could then put it in an enclosure (or another Mac) to install onto it. Even better, replace the old HD with a new, bigger and faster 7200 rpm jobie. It will make everything load much quicker, by now the original HD for that machine has probably seen better days anyway. A lot less risk with a new HD, if you can swing it.

Anyhoo, if your model came with FW then you can install Tiger on it from the retail version. If it is one of the non-firewire models, then Panther 10.3.9 is the highest you can go on it. Also, make sure it has enough RAM, you can max out that machine at one GB. :)
 
Firewire I am not sure if it has, though i was told I couldn't upgrade to Tiger because it was a G3. I was going to buy Tiger instead of Panther but didn't because I was told that.

Good to know that the HD can be replaced, though can't swing it at the moment. I did just upgrade on ram though, now have 512.

So for Panther, does it sound like it's not the computer but the burnt cd copies of the emac disks? I am trying to get my money back and hopefully get a real copy and install it.

As for the ipod, I did plug it into the USB because I was curious and it picked it up but told me i needed itunes 7. duh! lol But at least it picked it up.
 
Tiger purportedly supports any G3 with built-in FireWire. There would be a port for it along side the USB and Ethernet, etc. Also from the Apple Menu, click on About This Mac and then More Info. There you can find all the specs on that machine.

If it is a FW model, you should be able to install either Panther or Tiger with the retail CDs, as long as your CD drive is working at top snuff. Even some fairly new drives can have problems reading the install discs and might hang a bit during installation. Likely if you select Quit when it is hanging, and then Continue Installing when asked for confirmation, you can jar the disc into proceeding.

Again, if your Indigo does not have built-in FireWire, it will not officially install OS X 10.4. However, by removing the HD and putting it in an external FW enclosure, you avoid that restriction and can install Tiger onto it from a supported machine. Just how well Tiger would run on that iMac of yours I cannot say, but it shouldn't be significantly more taxing on the system than Panther, if you tweak it right. I am running Tiger on my iMac 512 MB with Universal Access and Dashboard disabled, and at startup I have a lot more RAM free than I did when running Panther.
 
Well I do have firewire which is good. I was told that G3 couldn't handle Tiger, wouldn't be fast enough. (i have 512 ram as well) I haven't had any problems with my cd drive to this date (knock on wood) so that shouldn't be a problem.

This is good to know because i was going to buy tiger but ended up getting panther because I was told I couldn't use it. So if I get my money back I will be buying panther.

Thank you for all your help.
 
You're quite welcome.

BTW, here is a list of Tiger supported Macs. Your iMac is down at the bottom there. Apparently all the slot-loading models qualify, so I guess maybe they all do have FW.

Good luck and have fun! :)
 
DeltaMac said:
The lowest slot-loading iMac is a 350 MHz, and does not have FW. Anything faster will have FireWire.
Click to expand...

That's what I had thought. Hmm, Apple states that Tiger support is limited to those Macs with built-in FW, and on the same page they list the slot-loading iMacs among those supported, without any qualification. :confused:

Oh well, fortunately cheekymac's Indigo iMac does have FW, so he is not prohibited from installing Tiger on it. :)
 
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