Reinstalling OS X

I was recently given an older G4 from a family member, it was an old office computer. I'd like to put it in my kids' room but I can't change any parental controls or do updates because I don't have the admin password. I figured I'd reinstall OS 10.4 because I have the discs from my iMac. (The old computer runs 10.4 as well). The disc drive continually spits the disc out after I insert it. I thought the drive might be bad but it reads music cds, picture cds, and even other software cds. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Do not even try to use the iMac system restore discs as they will just not work. If you want Tiger look for a full retail install DVD, black coloured, and not the silver grey like you have, on places such as eBay etc. Still pretty pricey Tiger since Apple discontinued and seems to go for $60-$100.00.

Why won't the grey discs work?

They are system specific and will not work on different models.

Because the Gray CD/DVD that ships with every Mac is Machine specific. It's only made to install on a machine with the same model and specs.

Since it's spitting out the disk, it might be a DVD and your old Mac probably does not have a DVD drive. It should read it but the install will not work properly.

What older G4 is this? A Power Mac mid tower? Another iMac?

It's an "iLamp"

Milhouse737 said:

It's an "iLamp"

Click to expand...

Again...the grey disks you have most likely are not for a G4 iMac "Lampshade" computer. You need the "retail" version of the install disks. Usually black with a BIG X on them.

- Nick

Thanks for the info everyone. This helps immensely!