Problems with loading osx 10.4 on an ibook g4

[DCTHEO]

i have an ibook g4.
when i try to start it i get the question mark and it goes nowhere as if it doesn't recognize anything.
i bought an osx 10.4 cd to load on to the system.
the loading failed.
i went to disk utility to verify the drive and it failed.
i tried to partition the drive through disk utility and it failed.
i keep getting the message that the partition failed because of an input / output error.
i don't know what to do.
is the hard drive bad or am i doing something wrong?
i looked on line for some solutions.
one of them said disk utility gives this problem when trying to load software on older computers like the ibook.
osx 10.4 is tiger.
can anyone give me a clue as to what to do next?
is this a false message or do i have a problem with the hard drive?
at this point i don't know what is the cause.
i would have thought perhaps the hard drive is bad but the messages on the web indicate perhaps disk utility itself is at fault.
is there any other disk partition software that would work better than disk utility if, in fact, disk utility itself is the problem?
thanks for any assistance you can provide.

 

[pigoo3]

i have an ibook g4.
when i try to start it i get the question mark and it goes nowhere as if it doesn't recognize anything.
i bought an osx 10.4 cd to load on to the system.
the loading failed.

What color is the OS disk? If gray/silver...forget about it...they are model specific & won't work.

- Nick

 

[DCTHEO]

i called apple support and they sent me the disk.
it's supposed to be a complete install disk without the additional software that normally loads with os 10.4, i.e. operating system only without any additional software.
it is not computer specific as far as i know and as far as i was told.
the cover on the cd is white.
the title on the top of the the white part is:
MAC OS X Tiger
Includes Xcode 2
Install DVD
END OF TITLE ON TOP
The title on the bottom of the white part is:
Replacement DVD
Not for Resale
SRF2Z691-5599-A
END OF TITLE ON THE BOTTOM
around the circumference below the title on the bottom is:
2005 Apple, Inc. All Rights Reserved
It looks like there's only about half a cd worth of information that was written to the disc.


jim

 

[pigoo3]

If Apple sent you the disk...and Apple had the correct model info...then it should be the correct disk.

In the 1st post you mentioned that verifying the hard drive & trying to partition the drive failed. Assuming everything was done correctly...there could be the possibility that the hard drive is "dead". Might need a new one.

Have you tried reformatting the hard drive?

- Nick

 

[DCTHEO]

i'm not sure.
i know i tried to verify and i tried to erase and i tried to partition.
it failed every time.
not sure if i tried reformat.
i'll do that next, and i'll verify that i did the other three correctly per the instructions.
thanks