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Fourwayz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
5
0
I am the proud? owner of a PPC 1.8 17" iMac. It has 1.5 gig of ram and a 250 gig HDD.The previous owners' handling of the machine was appalling! It was dirty, case scuffed as well as the screen. It had no OS so I installed 10.4 and all was well. It upgraded to 10.4.11 without a hitch. But now I have tried to upgrade to 10.5 and ALL efforts have failed. I don't have an external firewire drive, another Mac computer, and have tried a memory stick with no positive results. The ONLY thing I have not tried has been a 100% original disk. I cannot afford the 1-200 dollars people are asking on ebay. And anyone with a disk locally will not lease, loan, SELL or otherwise part with the disk. Yet all say how easy it is to do. And OF COURSE all want to purchase it for $100.00 so so to ease my frustration. At this point, I'm considering a "hackentosh" with the use of the iMac's Hdd. My Mac does not recognize the startup disk OR thumb drive at startup or in the system preferences. Holding down buttons will not help either. The excitement of owning a Mac has been overshadowed by this issue. Have I missed something simple?
 
Decision is made!

Seeing that I had ONE answer that pretty basically sums up "Veteran" Mac users in general...SAVE MONEY TO BUY THE NEXT EXPENSIVE THING! If it's older than the newest thing out...we really don't care OR will take the time to explain to the noob. OK, where's the next bright and shiny? So this iMac will be parted out on eBay and Craigslist. Thanks for "helping" to make the decision.
 
@Fourwayz... please go trolling elsewhere.
You asked for advice... he gave one... And... well... there is nothing wrong with what he said. I'd wait at least till Sandy Bridge myself. But w/e... if you don't want to listen... just don't bother asking... ty
 
Sigh, here we go again...

It is NOT a matter of trolling. I'm looking for answers for my problem. BUT it's NOT a newer machine. IF I could afford better, I would not have the issues I am having. Cripes! How hard is it if someone who had the SAME issue "way back when" provides an answer other than buy a new whatever. Wait for the latest dongle to arrive. I bought this iMac with the money I had saved to upgrade my Dell. I jumped at the opportunity! I have learned so much about the machine and OS over the past month and like everyone else, would like to get the best out of what I have. If that means shaking the tree to get fruit to fall, so be it. I thought of this forum first and hoped for at least a hint as it was highly recommended by a Mac Tech.
 
I only said to wait because 10.7 will have an app store, and I think that will really change the user experience.
I don't control apple pricing structure, but I am holding off buying a new Mac because I think the new OS has a great personal value.

Certainly use your computer if it works, os X is much more enjoyable then windows.
 
No harm, no foul

Great! I happy that you have the option to enhance YOUR Mac experience through new hardware/software options. I may learn from you in the future. But after over 250 views of my comments and no one has offered even a partial solution tells me that I may need to seek assistance from a more knowledgeable source of the older technology still in use.
 
Wow, kinda harsh reaction? People are here to help, but it is volunteer i.e. give it some time, your attitude seems to project that we owe you something? :confused:

My suggestion? If you plan on using that machine I would stay at Tiger, it will run a lot smoother than Leopard ever will. If you can upgrade the RAM for a decent price, that might be worth it.

Not everybody has the latest and greatest machines here either, my newest Mac is four years old. ;)

Anyways, welcome to the forums. :)
 
I am the proud? owner of a PPC 1.8 17" iMac. It has 1.5 gig of ram and a 250 gig HDD.The previous owners' handling of the machine was appalling! It was dirty, case scuffed as well as the screen. It had no OS so I installed 10.4 and all was well. It upgraded to 10.4.11 without a hitch. But now I have tried to upgrade to 10.5 and ALL efforts have failed. I don't have an external firewire drive, another Mac computer, and have tried a memory stick with no positive results. The ONLY thing I have not tried has been a 100% original disk. I cannot afford the 1-200 dollars people are asking on ebay. And anyone with a disk locally will not lease, loan, SELL or otherwise part with the disk. Yet all say how easy it is to do. And OF COURSE all want to purchase it for $100.00 so so to ease my frustration. At this point, I'm considering a "hackentosh" with the use of the iMac's Hdd. My Mac does not recognize the startup disk OR thumb drive at startup or in the system preferences. Holding down buttons will not help either. The excitement of owning a Mac has been overshadowed by this issue. Have I missed something simple?

1) you installed Tiger? Great. It is awesome, I don't know why you would want Leopard but I'll guess you have some valid reasons that you failed to mention in your upset state of mind.
2) you tried to upgrade to 10.5 but ALL efforts have failed? If you want help, why don't you be less melodramatic and provide some useful information. What efforts? Referring back to item 1, did you use a Tiger DVD that came with the Mac? If so, I'll assume you have a working DVD drive. I think the original Leopard disk was actually $129, so complaining about $100 seems a little odd. You may not think it is worth it, but like I said before, Tiger is awesome, and if paying for the upgrade isn't worth it to you, why are you complaining?
3) What the heck does "tried a memory stick with no positive results mean"? Could you be more specific? If you have loaded an image of the Leopard DVD onto the stick, why don't you just stick the DVD into your imac and install it that way?
4) If you want help loading an illegal version of 10.5 from a torrent then you are looking for help in the wrong place.
5) From the age of your machine, I recommend sticking with Tiger, it will be snappier.
 
1) you installed Tiger? Great. It is awesome, I don't know why you would want Leopard but I'll guess you have some valid reasons that you failed to mention in your upset state of mind.
2) you tried to upgrade to 10.5 but ALL efforts have failed? If you want help, why don't you be less melodramatic and provide some useful information. What efforts? Referring back to item 1, did you use a Tiger DVD that came with the Mac? If so, I'll assume you have a working DVD drive. I think the original Leopard disk was actually $129, so complaining about $100 seems a little odd. You may not think it is worth it, but like I said before, Tiger is awesome, and if paying for the upgrade isn't worth it to you, why are you complaining?
3) What the heck does "tried a memory stick with no positive results mean"? Could you be more specific? If you have loaded an image of the Leopard DVD onto the stick, why don't you just stick the DVD into your imac and install it that way?
4) If you want help loading an illegal version of 10.5 from a torrent then you are looking for help in the wrong place.
5) From the age of your machine, I recommend sticking with Tiger, it will be snappier.

WOW! Sometimes shaking the tree does help! First of all thanks for the response.
 
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