Mail cannot install on this computer.

I have an 17" iMac purchased in May 2004. It has Panther 10.3.9, 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4, 768Mb.

I bought, on Ebay, a retail version of Tiger 4 (M9639Z/A), Black, which claims to upgrade everything from OSX 10.2. I eagerly inserted the disk into the disc drive and opened the installer. It ran a test and came back with the message "Mail cannot be installed on this computer" I can get no further. Can anyone help or do I put Tiger back on Ebay?

Thanks in anticipation.

John McCormick

Any way to get a photo of the disk?...something doesn't sound right.

Also...how did the rest of the Tiger install go (you only mentioned the problem with mail)?

- Nick

Hi Nick,

I did not manage to install anything. I initially put the disk into the machine and it said I would have to restart the computer. I pressed the restart. The computer proceeded to shut down but as it did so it spat out the Tiger disk. I repeated the performance a couple more times with the same results ie the computer ejecting the disk, which is in pristine condition. I then opened the disk and doubled clicked on the installer icon. It ran a test and came back with the message in the Title above. ...and so I'm stuck.

John

Ok...so if I got things correct...you just bought a "black" OS 10.4 install disk from e-Bay. Does the disk say anything on it like:

- "Drop In Disk"
- or "Upgrade"

I just want to be sure we are not dealing with this sort of disk...since these disks usually require some older version of the Mac OS be on the computer...versus a "full install" disk which will install the OS on a black/empty hard drive.

Also...when you try to reboot the computer with the 10.4 disk inserted...are you holding the "C" key down which tells the computer to boot from the DVD disc?

Hopefully this helps,

- Nick

Mail cannot install on this computer.having

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your reply. The disk is black and says on it 'Install disk'.

I tried your suggestion several times but the disk was ejected yet again....what now?

Regards John.

mccormic76 said:

Thanks for your reply. The disk is black and says on it 'Install disk'.

I tried your suggestion several times but the disk was ejected yet again....what now?

Click to expand...

Kind of a confusing situation. If you have:

- a "full install" Mac OS 10.4 disk (black dlsk)
- your iMac G4 meets the minimum system requirements (which I believe it does)
- your CD/DVD drive is operating correctly
- your Mac OS 10.4 disk is not scratched or damaged in some way that would make it unable to install the OS
- and your hard drive is functioning correctly

...then there really shouldn't be any reason that this install shouldn't work.

I'm trying to think of something else that could be causing a problem.

Originally your iMac G4 came with a "Superdrive" (optical drive)...which can read both CD's & DVD's (as well as burn disks). I'm assuming your 10.4 install disk is a single disk and is a DVD (there was also a 4 disc CD install set for 10.4). Do you know if the optical drive was ever replaced?

Another thought how about trying:

- booting the computer from the internal hard drive
- insert the Mac OS 10.4 install disc
- go to System Preferences (Apple drop down menu)
- open the "Startup Disk" control panel
- select the OS Install disc to startup from
- reboot the computer

...hopefully the computer will boot from the Install disk properly.

If this doesn't work...it would really help if you were able to post a photo of the exact disk you are trying to install from...because something doesn't seem right if you have a "Full Install" disc.

Good luck,

- Nick

Hi Nick,

I tried as you suggested, sadly with the same result. I have attached a photo of the disk. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks John.

John,

Thanks a ton for the photo...it really helps everyone see what you're seeing!

Man...I'm running out of things to suggest...and that doesn't happen very often! I'm not really sure why your computer won't boot from the install DVD.

One other question (maybe a long shot)...how full is your hard drive? If it's too full...maybe this is causing a problem.

- Nick

Nick-I've got 16.68Gb free. -John

mccormic76 said:

Nick-I've got 16.68Gb free. -John

Click to expand...

John,

16 gig free should be enough. Official system requirements say you only need 3 gig free:

Mac OS X 10.4: System requirements

Here's one more thing to try...have you tried resetting the PRAM? If not...what you do is:

- restart the computer
- hold down the following 4 keys at the same time...Command + Option + P + R
- keep holding these 4 keys down until you hear the computers startup sound 3 times...then you can lift off the keys
- then try booting from the 10.4 install DVD again.

Hopefully this will work,

- Nick

Wow...This has me stumped as well. Why would the computer keep spitting out the disk? Do you have another disk that you can try? (Maybe a Music CD or a DVD?) To see if the drive will accept any disks at all? Your computer exceeds the minimum requirements. Hmm...

MacDude121 said:

Wow...This has me stumped as well. Why would the computer keep spitting out the disk? Do you have another disk that you can try? (Maybe a Music CD or a DVD?) To see if the drive will accept any disks at all? Your computer exceeds the minimum requirements. Hmm...

Click to expand...

MacDude...that's a very good suggestion. I've been thinking that there might be something wrong with the OP's optical drive (possibly)...so testing it with another disk of some sort would be a great test!

- Nick

Hello Everybody,

Success at last! I disconnected the printer then I held down the C key at the login window and the installation started. At present I'm updating to 4.10.11 and Safari etc.

Thanks to all who looked at my problem and offered advice and in particular pigoo3.

John

mccormic76 said:

Success at last! I disconnected the printer then I held down the C key at the login window and the installation started.

Click to expand...

WOW...are you saying the problem was a printer that was connected to the Mac? If so...I'll definitely have to remember that for the next time someone has a similar problem!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

WOW...are you saying the problem was a printer that was connected to the Mac? If so...I'll definitely have to remember that for the next time someone has a similar problem!

- Nick

Click to expand...

WOW x 2 Nick, I never would've thought that a printer of all things was causing the problem! But to the OP glad that you finally got it to work. ;D