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General discussion

i think i have messed up the reformat

Nov 13, 2005 2:38PM PST

hi everyone. pre thank yous for any help here.
I am trying to erase my volume on the primary drive. it used to have os9.2 and osX10.3.5 on it. The actual disks i have are for os9.1 and osx 10.3 (it doesnt list another decimal). I have Done it in and actually "restored" the volume by copying the osx 10.3 upgrade disk directly onto it using the restore function after starting from the osx upgrade disk. so now the old stuff is erased but i have nothing to start on on that drive. when i put in the os 9.1 install disk it just freezes at startup (maybe this is not a bootable disk???) and when i put in the osx disk it says there is no earlier version of os x installed.
I dont know what to do!! THANKS
C

Discussion is locked

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Questions
Nov 13, 2005 8:56PM PST

What sort of Mac do you have?
Is the "primary" drive, the only drive that you have in that machine?
You CANNOT restore OS 10.3 by just copying it to the hard drive, it has to be installed using the installer. You kinda say that you did this. You should now have a bootable HD which will come up in 10.3 Apparently it does not do this. What else did you do to the machine?

After booting from the Restore disks, the grey ones, and choosing Restore, the rest of the process is automatic. It leaves you with a HD as if you had just opened the box.

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this is what
Nov 14, 2005 1:52AM PST

Hi thanks.
I have a PMg41ghz. it was upgraded from a 350 or something so it was one of the earliest g4s.
I have other hard drives but only want to reformat the primary.
This is what I did:
booted from the osx 10.3 upgrade disc.(disc1 of 3) they are black btw.; it stated that i could not upgrade cause i had a more advanced version of osx, so i clicked the restore tab and wrongly thought i could just select the osx upgrade disc as the source for the restore. i pointed the osx upgrade disc1 to be copied to the macintosh hd and erased everything and then did the copy.
THIS WAS WRONG. now there is no bootable HD, my osx discs are upgrades, and therefore will not install w/no operating system present. My os9 is 9.1 and for some reason WILL NOT (even before the reformat) boot from the disc, using either the hold down ''c'' method @ startup or selecting it as the startupdisc. It just freezes at a grey screen. when i just start the computer w/o a startup disc selected it goes to the blinking question mark screen.
I guess i just need an os disc that is bootable and is not an upgrade.

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I think you may be reading this incorrectly
Nov 14, 2005 2:00AM PST

But I will check when I get back to the house.
You have the install disks for OS X 10.3.0, I don't think it is an upgrade disk as I don't believe that Apple made an upgrade disk for 10.3.0
When you booted from the OS X disk, disk 1, the installer informed you that you could not use this disk as you already had a more advance version of the OS installed. You did, it was OS X 10.3.something.
The actual wording said that you could not use this disk UNLESS you changed your Options.
Clicking the options tab would have given you the choice of Format and Install or Archive and Install. Format and Install would have destroyed ALL your data and then installed a fresh version of OS X 10.3.0. Archive and install would have replaced the system folder only and kept all your data intact.

Go back, reboot from disk 1 and READ the instructions, bearing in mind what I said above

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not working
Nov 14, 2005 2:19AM PST

It will not let me click the options button. there is a red circle w/ an exclamation mark (!) by the macintosh HD and it says verbatim: "You cannot install mac osx on the volume. An earlier version of mac osx is not installed".
the disk itself says upgrade disc. it is 10.3 (there is no extra decimal) it is black. But the os 9 disc i have says to boot from disk hold "c". (this has never worked for me and i heard that some os 9 disks are not bootable)ARGHHH
THANKS
C

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Interesting
Nov 14, 2005 3:44AM PST

where did you get these disks from? Presumably not from Apple.
If what you are saying is correct, and I have not cause to doubt you right now, your only course of action is to purchase a Real copy of OS 10.3 (Tiger) and install from there.
The OS 9 disk "should" be bootable by holding down the "C" key until you see the happy Mac.
Keep trying on that one

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the plot Thickens
Nov 14, 2005 5:56AM PST

Apple did, in fact, sell an Upgrade disk as part of the Up-To-Date program. Disk one is the upgrade part while 2 and 3 are regular disks. I said I'd check. So, I was correct in that the only way out of your hole is to purchase either, a real copy of 10.3 OR purchase a real copy of 10.4 which "should" run on your machine.
there is another way but that involves you making a master disk from the original upgrade disk, editing the master and reburning the disk to another, and hoping you got it correct. In your case this is not an option as you machine does not work.

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well...
Nov 14, 2005 5:01PM PST

Hey mrfixit sir/maaam
THANKS.
yes i bought the comp third hand and the processor was upgraded somewhere along the way and the only software disks i have are the apparent up to date pack and my os9.1 disc. its all legit software not burned but i am kinda in a ditch i guess. thanks. i suppose once i get the right disc everything will be back to normal fast.
c

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You are correct
Nov 14, 2005 8:38PM PST

Once you get the correct 10.3 disks, you will be back in business in no time.
Try to avoid Ebay as the source as you may end up with exactly the same as you have now.

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