Mac os x 10.4.11 - only boots with CD now

H

HLN

Registered
Hi - I'm running the above os on a PowerBook G4 with about 1/2 gig memory and about 1/2 of the drive used. I'm happy to say, I've not had one problem.... till now. Yesterday all was well. This morning I cannot boot the laptop. When I turn it on, I get (eventually) a black box that says (in multiple languages) Please restart your computer. Once restarted, the same occurs. SO - I booted from the Tiger upgrade CD I bought (the laptop came with Panther) - and ran the disk utility and it says all is well HFS good, etc - Now, if I try to install the os over again at this point, the hardrive is not available to choose in the "select destination" part of the install process.
Just to liven things up a bit, - when I chose to quit the install, it prompts me to select a drive to restart from. the only two available are the CD or :"Network:" drive. If I choose Network drive and restart, with the CD still in, I can get to the desktop and all applications as if nothing is wrong.

So - something is wrong with my boot file, script, config..... - here is were I get lost....
please assist if possible - and thanks very much in advance.
 
You say that when you try to reinstall Tiger, that the Hard drive is not available.
At that stage of the install, is there not a button (Options) at the bottom left of the window?
If there is, then click on it and select "Archive and Install" from the next window.

jb.
 
Hi
Thanks for your response. Here's the thing, imagine i've booted to the installation disk for 10.4, run disk util, exited disk util, and am now back at the install screen, so I 'continue', 'agree' to conditions/policies, then comes the part where you chose "select destination". and there are NO destinations available. The only button available to push is "go back", so I've not seen an 'archive' or 'option' button on the 10.4 install disk - maybe I cant get that far into the install. See, at the point where you chose to install on the HD, there are no icons showing in the selection box of the installation program...

Another thing is, if I now cancel the install, choose a startup disk (by the way, my hd is not a choice in this list), and choose Network, then restart, most of the time, if I work this process exactly in that order, I can get booted. Remove the CD, and work as if nothing is wrong. This is why i feel like I dont want to reinstall everything even if I could, you know?
There has got to be some corrupt boot file, no? see I dont know anything about unix - you may have guessed.

thanks, again, anyway for any ideas you have.
 
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