Guide: Install Leopard on unsupported Macs

[madmax_2069]

Tried the method SawTooth500 provided via the following:

1.) Started up in Firmware mode and set the clock-frequency var
2.) Successfully navigated install options and installed Leopard
3.) On restart I get the startup chime then the computer hangs at the grey apple logo screen with the rotating black pinwheel.
4.) Let this go on for two hours with nothing just sounds like the disk is cycling.
5.) Zapped PRAM, cleaned the clock-frequency var and set everything back to default.
6.) Still hangs at the grey apple logo screen with the rotating black pinwheel.
7.) This was a clean install so the iMac now is dead with a supposed Leopard install on the disk that won't startup.

Any ideas? Any help is much appreciated. I am hesitant to use the alternative disk image method as that will just let me install Leopard which I already achieved via the firmware option (bypass clock-frequency). I suspect I would hit the same result.

FYI: 17" iMac G4 800 mhz Thanks in advance for any help.

how many times did you try to reinstall Leopard, maybe the install got buggered somehow, maybe another attempt at installing Leopard will work, have you booted back into the installer and opened disk utility in the installer to repair the disk and try again to boot or to try to repair permissions and try to reboot or both.

 

[spinne1]

Tried the method SawTooth500 provided via the following:

1.) Started up in Firmware mode and set the clock-frequency var
2.) Successfully navigated install options and installed Leopard
3.) On restart I get the startup chime then the computer hangs at the grey apple logo screen with the rotating black pinwheel.
4.) Let this go on for two hours with nothing just sounds like the disk is cycling.
5.) Zapped PRAM, cleaned the clock-frequency var and set everything back to default.
6.) Still hangs at the grey apple logo screen with the rotating black pinwheel.
7.) This was a clean install so the iMac now is dead with a supposed Leopard install on the disk that won't startup.

Any ideas? Any help is much appreciated. I am hesitant to use the alternative disk image method as that will just let me install Leopard which I already achieved via the firmware option (bypass clock-frequency). I suspect I would hit the same result.

FYI: 17" iMac G4 800 mhz Thanks in advance for any help.

Installing Leopard and being able to boot and run Leopard are two different things. I would try a different method and get a bootable DVD out of it for your machine. It is handy for general troubleshooting and repair issues anyhow.

 

[SawTooth500]

strange, but mine boots up fine, no problems.

Boot into single user mode by holding down the command and S keys right after start up and run fsck -fy at the prompt. It should tell you this when it comes up. run it a couple of times then reboot and see what happens.


Also the very first startup may take a while cause it is running checks and balances before going to the startup screen
May take as long as 7 minutes or so.

 

[onefallinghope]

my current issue...

OK, I must admit... I have only read up until page 6, but I am having a problem with my leopard install booting, and I thought that I would ask....

Here is my system:

-Sawtooth G4 (orig 400MHz)

-800MHz G4 CPU (bus freq. modified 733MHz CPU from a DA, after changing the bus speed of the CPU down from 133MHz to 100MHz, the card runs flawlessly at 800MHz)

-1GB of RAM (4 matching 256mb 133MHz RAM sticks)

-Pioneer Dual Layer DVD Burner (Don't remember which model... but was purchased from OWC a while ago, is recognized as apple shipped / supported, and is bootable) [NOTE: Drive is set as master on Sawtooths PRIMARY IDE Channel, the one that the HD was orig. connected to when shipped... Secondary IDE Header had to be removed from mainboard to install modified CPU]

-MAC ROM Flashed Nvidia Geforce FX5200 128mb Video card

-Sonnet Tempo Trio [ATA133, USB 2.0 and FW card] with attached 300GB ATA drive set as boot drive.

This configuration has worked FLAWLESSYLY under 10.3 and 10.4 for QUITE a while now, with absolutley ZERO issues.

I tried to install leopard BEFORE finding this thread, but I am currently trying to make a modified CD... however, I have encountered issues trying to place the modified MPKG onto the sparseimage... it always reports zero KB free, not enough room... blah, blah, blah... Fair to note I guess that I did make the sparseimage using CCC, but I AM doing the work under leopard running on my G4 Mac Mini (OC'ed to 1.67GHz)... I am currently making a new Sparse Image.


So, my first attempt at installing was to try to boot my Sawtooth into target disk mode, and run the install through my Mac Mini... unfortunatley, the Sawtooth refused to boot into target disk mode.. [possibly because... the way that I understand it... is that the tempo trio emulates SCSI on the disks?? Maybe, IIRC????]

So, for a second attempt at installation, I booted the sawtooth up to Open Firmware, and did an NVEDIT... and overwrote the CPU Lookup tables so that my machine would report its CPU speed as 1.58GHz... this worked just fine, and the Leopard Install DVD (which BTW, is a 100% legitmate, purchased at the apple store, pressed retail disk) booted up just fine, saw my internal 300GB disk, and allowed me to install leopard to it.

Assuming all is well after the install finishes... the machine reboots.... It gets to the Grey apple logo and shuts itself off.

Will not start into single user mode, shuts itself off.

I then tried a reset all on the NVRAM to clear the edits that I made... still, the machine gets to the grey logo, the powers itself down.

Also tried zapping the PRAM... no dice.


However, this machine WILL run leopard just fine, as I have Leo installed on an external 320GB Firewire HD, which I plugged into the back of the sawtooth and booted off of just fine.

I also swapped out the disk connected to the Tempo Trio (the HD that I installed leopard onto) For another HD that i have sitting around that has an install of Tiger 10.4.8 on it... and that booted up just fine as well...


so, do any of you kind folks have any Idea about my next steps here?

I am curently trying to create a modified install disk as described here, to try to reinstall and see if that works.

Oh, and for the record.. the install that I did on the sawtooth was an UPGRADE install on the latest tiger (what was it 10.4.11? I think)


I have had trouble with Leopard Upgrade installs before, even on supported machines (but thse were APE problems, which I do not have here)

I know, long winded... but it is my situation... any ideas?

 

[onefallinghope]

regarding "My current state"...

Just a follow up... nevermind.

I am all set and got it to work.

If anyone is interested... was never able to pack the image under leopard.

however, on my sawtooth... I just rewrote the CPU lookup table in openfirmware again, so that the machine would show up as being a 1.58ghz G4, and the machine booted off of the retail disk just fine... then I did an "archive and install" installation... and everything has been successfull.

Machine boots off of internal drive, everything works perfect, including front row. no problems here.

 

[eschw95458]

Kind of just thinking out loud maybe someone can tell me if I am way off base, but I thought I read somewhere that the specific platform driver stuff gets loaded as modules and is not compiled into the kernel, Therefore wouldn't be just be able to find the platform drivers (in my case for a Yikes machine) from an earlier beta version of Leopard? I know some of the earlier beta versions of leopard supported g3 and early g4's. Any thoughts???

 

[madmax_2069]

Kind of just thinking out loud maybe someone can tell me if I am way off base, but I thought I read somewhere that the specific platform driver stuff gets loaded as modules and is not compiled into the kernel, Therefore wouldn't be just be able to find the platform drivers (in my case for a Yikes machine) from an earlier beta version of Leopard? I know some of the earlier beta versions of leopard supported g3 and early g4's. Any thoughts???

you have a good point, but i think it would only work on a G4 upgraded G3, for one i think everything is compiled to require altvec to run, so even tho if leopard was able to run on a G3 (which i dont think it ever will) all of the Apps would crash and maybe cause a KP.

but that could be the key to get them running leopard (short of upgrading the CPU to a G4 if its a G3)

 

[eschw95458]

I am definitely thinking G4 all the way I have two older machines, my trusty old beige and my Yikes. Both already have g4's in them. Beige is @ 466 and yikes @ 1ghz.

 

[ironsidephoto]

now for someone to figure out how to install it on a pc (windows machine).

ok. . . . go!

 

[madmax_2069]

now for someone to figure out how to install it on a pc (windows machine).

ok. . . . go!

lol its already been done, but there is a few issues, like not being able to use a HDD or optical drive connected to a IDE controller ( there is a fix for that tho)

 

[ironsidephoto]

really?
cool.

 

[alaskanjackal]

I am definitely thinking G4 all the way I have two older machines, my trusty old beige and my Yikes. Both already have g4's in them. Beige is @ 466 and yikes @ 1ghz.

Well, the prospects don't look good, but I'm going to attempt installing Leopard Server on my Yikes! upgraded with a 1GHz Sonnet processor, 1GB RAM, Radeon 7000, Pioneer SuperDrive, SATA PCI card, and a 250GB SATA drive (basically, as tricked out as a Yikes! machine can get).

Doing a standard install (inserting the DVD and attempting to open the installer) fails (as indicated upthread, System Profiler describes it as a Power Mac G3 (PCI Graphics), though About This Mac says it's a 1GHz G4, so that's likely the problem spot). Attempting to simply boot from the DVD (either by holding down C at boot or selecting the disk in the Startup Disk preference pane) results in the computer ignoring that and booting into my normal Panther install.

My next step will be to install it on my external FW drive via my PowerBook G4 1.67GHz and CCC it over to the internal SATA drive (won't be able to boot off of the FW drive, as Yikes! machines won't boot via FireWire) and hope it works, but my hopes aren't very high.

If that doesn't work, I'm not sure if it will be worth the hassle to try hacking the installer, but I might try that. Otherwise, someone mentioned a beta Leopard distro that had G3 drivers (since the Yikes! basically has a G3 mobo)--if someone can post more info on that and maybe how to get the drivers or something, I'd be eternally grateful!

I'm also concerned that Leopard won't recognize my Ethernet card (onboard Ethernet died), and since apparently part of the Server install involves IP connectivity, I may be stuck on that. But let's first get the install going!

Failing everything, anyone want to trade Leopard Server for Tiger Server? (Actually, I'm halfway serious...)

 

[ingenious]

really?

...links?

that's a direct violation of forum rules. actually, even asking about it is, too.

it's called breaking the EULA

 

[alaskanjackal]

Failing everything, anyone want to trade Leopard Server for Tiger Server? (Actually, I'm halfway serious...)

OK, got everything installed and CCC'd over. No go. KP at boot with "Unable to find driver for this platform: \"PowerMac1.2\".\n~@.SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228/iokit/Kernel/IOPlatformExpert.cpp:1738

Too bad. Any more word on getting those Grackle/Paddington drivers going for Leopard?

Otherwise, I might have to test and see how generous Apple's return policy on opened software is. Perhaps I can say that their system requirements were misleading...after all, all they say is "Built-In Firewire" (which I have), a 1GHz processor (which I have, by way of an upgrade, but they don't specifically exclude that), and 1GB of RAM (which I have). Regardless of what I know from research here and elsewhere, I think that's technically false advertising (since they don't provide--at least nowhere I've found--any more detailed system requirements or anything saying that upgraded systems are excluded).

 

[madmax_2069]

OK, got everything installed and CCC'd over. No go. KP at boot with "Unable to find driver for this platform: \"PowerMac1.2\".\n~@.SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228/iokit/Kernel/IOPlatformExpert.cpp:1738

Too bad. Any more word on getting those Grackle/Paddington drivers going for Leopard?

Otherwise, I might have to test and see how generous Apple's return policy on opened software is. Perhaps I can say that their system requirements were misleading...after all, all they say is "Built-In Firewire" (which I have), a 1GHz processor (which I have, by way of an upgrade, but they don't specifically exclude that), and 1GB of RAM (which I have). Regardless of what I know from research here and elsewhere, I think that's technically false advertising (since they don't provide--at least nowhere I've found--any more detailed system requirements or anything saying that upgraded systems are excluded).

yea i tried my yikes when i first modded my installer, i installed in with my DA to the HDD of my Yikes and put the HDD back into the Yikes and did the same. i am not hard pressed to use Leopard on a 400mhz Yikes. leopard has a few memory leaks that make it where 768mb isn't enough, the HDD goes into swapping fits at times. right now i am staying in tiger. i had activity monitor open and seen there is a few background processes that rape the CPU and take all of the ram. with 768mb of ram after a wile i only have 10mb free ram to use

 

[alaskanjackal]

i am not hard pressed to use Leopard on a 400mhz Yikes.

Well, my Yikes was stuck in the dark ages of Panther, so I really wanted to upgrade. Plus, I got Leopard Server at the academic price ($249!) and really wanted to play with it.

Unfortunately, I just checked--it's been 16 days since the shipment arrived (I guess I've spent too much time backing everything up and then fiddling with the install), and Apple's return period is 14 days. I'm sorta stuck with it now, then, so if anyone knows anything about those drivers...

 

[madmax_2069]

Well, my Yikes was stuck in the dark ages of Panther, so I really wanted to upgrade. Plus, I got Leopard Server at the academic price ($249!) and really wanted to play with it.

Unfortunately, I just checked--it's been 16 days since the shipment arrived (I guess I've spent too much time backing everything up and then fiddling with the install), and Apple's return period is 14 days. I'm sorta stuck with it now, then, so if anyone knows anything about those drivers...

if you spent that much on leopard, you could afford to buy a digital audio or quicksilver. i bought a 533mhz digital audio for $165 shipped, and found a quicksilver 800mhz for $150 shipped. i would ditch the yikes and assign it to server duties, and buy a better machine for everything else. you would love the speed difference between the 2 models. and if you ask me its worth the money.

 

[alaskanjackal]

Well, that was my plan--to assign my upgraded Yikes to server duties. Actually, it's been running 10.3.9, heavily modified with lots of CLI apps and things to be a server (more for fun and playing around than anything serious, though it was acting as my main mailserver).

But that got dashed when I found out that Leopard Server, which I bought specifically for that machine, didn't work on it. I'd be happy with Tiger Server if I can't get the drivers for Leopard Server (I was beginning to have some problems with my Panther install, so I was looking forward to starting from scratch, especially with a real server OS).

It's sort of a matter of principle that I've put a bit of money and work into this thing and it's not dead yet, so I'd kinda like to keep it around and keep it working.

But yes, I could perhaps start looking at a replacement machine that will run the OS, since I already own it...I was considering a fully-configured Mac Mini to double as a media server for my upcoming HDTV purchase, but $1200 is a bit steep for me to spend right now.

But until more info about or a leaked copy of those beta drivers is posted somewhere, the project is sort of on the back burner...

 

[Lavode]

I also tried unsuccessfully to get Leopard installed on my Yikes. Would be very interested to know if anyone can get it to work.

 

[slooude]

Okay, for the AppleCore99PE.kext and the AppleMLANAudio.kext are you saying take them from Tiger? For the replace AppleMPIC.kext and ApplePMU.kext, replace with what? The ones from Tiger?

Is there any chance somebody could explain in a bit more detail how to do this as I'm officially stuck at this bit.

 

[spinne1]

I also tried unsuccessfully to get Leopard installed on my Yikes. Would be very interested to know if anyone can get it to work.

I believe it is impossible to get it to work on a Yikes.

 

[macmantis]

Problem editing the osinstall.pkg

Am trying to install on g4 Cube (450 Mhz)

Followed original instructions up to end of step 3 - all was successful.

However the extracted files were simply one executable called 'packageinfo' and one file called 'scripts'. There is no 'Distribution' file for me to edit.

Also all the files inside the 'packages' folder on my Leopard disk image are simply .pkg instead of .mpkg as the instructions refer to them. I am unsure what that means and whether it makes a difference.

I noticed an earlier poster describe a similar problem but there was no response to their post, as far as I could see.

If anyone can help I would be really appreciative.

 

[macz1]

I just installed Leopard on my 400 MHz AGP-Sawtooth and everything works well. I installed it putting the G4 into target disk mode. With the flashed Radeon 9800 I added, there is not a single program which doesn't run correctly. I'm having a lot of fun with the new version of Quartz composer...

 

[neilc01]

Having problems installing Leopard on an older G4 - try this:

Flash the ROM on your GeForce 2 MX graphics card to ROM revision 1057.019

I have two G4 Macs - both with processor upgrades. Both machines were very similar but one of them would crash during the install (immediately after the reboot at the start of the installation). The other G4 was fine and I installed Leopard using the instructions on this thread.

The error report that the system creates following a crash kept reporting NVIDIA errors, which got me thinking it could be the graphics card causing my install problems.

I noticed the only significant difference between the two G4s was the ROM revision on the GeForce 2 MX graphics cards. The one that didn't work was at 1017F, the one that did was at 1047. (Check yours via System Profiler, Graphics/Displays).

I downloaded the NVideaROMUpdate.dmg from the Apple website and flashed the ROM and Leopard is now running on the G4 that previously crashed. I have flashed both cards now to make sure they were both up-to-date.

The NVideaROMUpdate was designed for users with the largest Apple Cinema display, but I think it includes drivers that the Leopard installer users during the installation process. Without the drivers, the install process crashes.

 

[rjhaveri]

No space left on device

rumac, did you ever solve your problem? I am having the a similar problem with droping the NewOSInstaller.mkpg to the sparse image. I get "No space left on device".

An intesting thing is that the original OSInstall.mpkg size is 821580, but the one I created (just commented out some lines) is 876882 ! How come it is larger - is this why? It seems I have no problem in removing the original and droping in a smaller file, but can't put a bigger file in.

I tried just unpacking the original OSInstaller.mkpg and then re-packing it (without changes) and it creates a file larger than the original - it would seem I am missing perhaps some options to xar?

Anyone knows a solution to this problem? Thanks!