reinstall os 10

Hi
I picked up a used emac, for my mother and am trying to do a clean reinstall.

The machine is an emac 1Ghz G-4.

I tried using the disc I got with the machine, black X disc OS 10.4, but it would not work, it kept saying something was wrong with the disc. It looks fine a few light scratches but no more than a cd.

So I tried my own OS X discs the grey ones that came with my original machine.

It would get to the second disc, Idvd portion and not go any further. It sat all night and would not do any more.

It is now stuck in the mode of "please insert disc 2" but every time I do it freezes or strarts going "preparing for installation" and comes to a stop.

I think I have now partially erased the old system so I cannot just forget about it and use what was on it.

help, I am not very good with these

Sounds like your black disk is damaged, and the grey disks only work on the model Mac they came with!

- Nick

Is there any way to get it out of the reinstall loop it seems to be stuck in and go back to what was on the system to begin with?

Any suggestions on the disc, it appear fine to me, what do you clean them with, soap and water???

gburnham2004 said:

Is there any way to get it out of the reinstall loop it seems to be stuck in and go back to what was on the system to begin with?

Any suggestions on the disc, it appear fine to me, what do you clean them with, soap and water???

Click to expand...

You pretty much need an good install disk to get things working. Your "black" 10.4 install disk could be dirty, scratched, or damaged in some way...and that's why it's not working (assuming the computers optical drive is fully functional). You said that this black 10.4 disk came with the computer...so anything could have happened to it during it's life before you got it.

If you're lucky...the black disk is just dirty. If you use a search engine (Google)...and look for "How to clean a CD/DVD?"...you will get at least 100 articles to read. Here's one to get you started:

How to Clean a DVD | eHow.com

- Nick

Nick

So lets say I clean the disc or get a different one, how do I get the machine out of this loop it is in. It keeps requesting I put in Disc 2, which I have been doing (Grey discs)

And is it possible that the old OS X is still on the machine?

Try restarting in safe mode. ??

gburnham2004 said:

Nick

So lets say I clean the disc or get a different one, how do I get the machine out of this loop it is in. It keeps requesting I put in Disc 2, which I have been doing (Grey discs)

And is it possible that the old OS X is still on the machine?

Click to expand...

Try resetting the "pram". To do this...

- restart the computer
- after you hear the startup sound hold down the "command + option + P + R keys"

When you do this...you should hear the startup sound a 2nd time...then let go of the keys...and let the computer startup.

As far as the old OS. It could still be on there or not. It depends on the install options you selected when you did the current OS install. With the install...sometimes you have two options. One option is to overwrite the old OS...and the other is a "fresh" install...and preserve the old OS.

If the current attempt to install the OS really messed things up...you will need a "good/compatible" OS install disk.

- Nick

I will try this in the evening, I tried different things, overwrite erase all and save. Not sure what stuck.

ok i was able to do the start up thing with the "command" key, which I had to guess which one that was, but I got it.

OK the problem is that it is still stuck in this loop of "Installer" and keeps asking for disc 2.

I have also cleaned the old OS X disc and it looks great. So I would like to try reinstallign it, can I unplug the mac. plug it in and somehow boot from this black disc?

Not sure how to get out of the Installer loop

gburnham2004 said:

I have also cleaned the old OS X disc and it looks great. So I would like to try reinstallign it, can I unplug the mac. plug it in and somehow boot from this black disc?

Click to expand...

Of course you can unplug your computer if you have no other options.

I'm also assuming (before following the steps below) that the "black" OS install disk is already in the CD/DVD drive.

Try this:

- Unplug the computer
- wait 15-30 seconds
- plug the computer back in
- press the power on button
- as soon as you hear the startup sound hold down the "C" key on the keyboard to force the computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive

Hopefully the computer will boot from the installer disk...and you will be able to begin the installation process from the "black" disk.

Good luck,

- Nick

Nick

Not sure what happened but I thought I replied to this, this morning.

Here is the story. Before going to the pub last night, I still could not get it out of this loop and it kept asking for disc 2 so I just popped it in and left. I got home and it had installed. And installed from the silver/gray disc of my personal emac.

Not sure how or why.

I restarted it twice to see if it really did work and it appears to be all installed.

I also cleaned the old Mac OS X disc with Novus plastic cleaner I use on my motorcycle windshield and it looks brand new. But I am not going to try a reinstall again.

Man did it feel like the old days of a Dell, I get very disappointed when my mac acts like a PC.

Thanks for the help

Greg

Greg,

Congrats on the install of OS X. IMHO Mac's are much more intuitive & problem free than Windows computers.

It's always possible that the first time you got the "please insert disk #2" message...if you had done what you did last night before going to the pub...everything would have installed fine (just like last night).

Why did this happen...who knows...but it did...so everything's good!

- Nick

I treied installing the number 2 disc like 20 times, so I am not sure what happened the 21st time.

Thanks

gburnham2004 said:

I treied installing the number 2 disc like 20 times, so I am not sure what happened the 21st time.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Well since it worked the 21st time...DON'T try #22!!!

- Nick