Reinstalling Tiger in i-Book, need help with Destination disk

[Emsaidso]

Trying to reinstall OS in i-Book G4 and am stuck:

startup-->OSX screen with language options-->introduction-->Software agreement---> select a destination...

there is no destination disk if I am running it off the OS disk, is there?

(Must say at this point that I was brought in to fix this. I don't know exactly how my 14 year old got to this point. She said something about her files suddenly looking like sheets of paper instead of like her usual individualized icons, so I guess from there she went for a system reinstall...but maybe there were some steps in between. I wasn't at home at the time. She's a level-headed straight-A student-- I guess she just felt so comfortable with her Mac she just wanted to try fixing it on her own... Next time try a forum first, kid!)

So, the important thing is to solve the problem. Could anyone help us out?

Yours very truly,

Em.

 

[mkrishnan]

Em, when you get to select a destination, in the middle of the box there should be a row of one or more disk icons. The left-most one is usually the Hard Disk of the Mac. That's what it's looking for. When you click on it, it should get a circle and a green arrow, I think, and it will say whether the volume is big enough.

It's asking this, I think, because in principle you can install to another volume.... but on most Macs you will only see one option (the single internal HD).

Does that answer?

EDIT: if possible, also, when you get to the point that there's an options button in the lower left of the dialog, then click it and choose the option for archiving and installing... this will keep all of your old files in a way in which they can easily be deleted later if you don't need them, but on the off chance something important is in there, you won't lose it....

 

[yippy]

There should be one disk in the choices. It will be the hard drive of the iBook. If there are more than one, and you are confused as to which one it is, shut down and disconnect all other drives and then do it again.

Be careful, depending on the install settings all her data may be erased, make sure it is backed up or do an archive and install (click to customize the install type).

That said, the problem you briefly described shouldn't warrant a re-install. But there may be more to the story so I won't tell you not to.

 

[Emsaidso]

There is nothing in the "select a destination box". I'm not kidding. I've tried turning off the machine (many times) and starting up again, I've tried starting up with "c" held down, I've tried ejecting the disk (nothing)...that's why I've come asking for help...it seems...peculiar...

 

[yippy]

Ah, then did your kid erase or format the drive?

Anyway, that means that the hard drive is not currently in a state that it can have an OS put on it. In the menu bar you should see a menu for utilities. Open disk utility from there. Try and repair the hard drive and check the formatting. If there is not a mountable partition or it is formated in something other than Mac OS Extended you will need to erase the drive and set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

 

[mkrishnan]

When you get into the installation dialogs, you should start seeing a couple items in the menu bar as well. One of them is "Utilities" or something like that. If you click that menu item, Disk Utility will be listed. Run it and make sure *it* sees your disk.

Plus I guess, now, I *do* have to ask the question Yippy didn't want to. So what's up with the disk? If you take the install DVD out, does it boot off HD at all? Or not at all?

EDIT: Heh it's like we're twins today!

 

[Emsaidso]

Yippy didn't ask the question and neither did I-- I haven't been able to eject it by the usual means, and, frankly, I'm waiting until someone instructs me to do so...

So up in the Utilities menu, this is what I've got:

---->55.96B Fujitsu MHT20
-------->Macintosh HD
---->5.6 GB MatIHTACD-R
-------->Mac OSX install Disc 1

I ran Macintosh HD through Disk Utility and this is what it said:

"1 HFS volume checked could not be repaired because of error.
Repair attempted on 1 volume.
1 volume could not be repaired."

So..now what?

Em.

 

[yippy]

As for ejecting it, if you restart holding down the mouse/trackpad button it should spit out the disk.

If you highlight that in disk utility it should give you some information about it down at the bottom, however, if there is only one drive, and not a nested partition for that drive, it suggests that the formating has been removed, and with it any data on it.

With the drive highlighted, click first aid to the right and you should see a button to "repair disk", click that and let it run.

Report back any errors and the S.M.A.R.T. should you see it displayed at the bottom.

 

[Emsaidso]

I've tried ejecting by restarting with the tracking pad held down: nothing.

 

[mkrishnan]

If you're willing to cut your losses... you should be able to reformat the main HD using Disk Utility and then install off the DVD.

As Yippy said, format it MacOS Extended (Journaled) or HFS+...whatever it says (they're the same thing, AFAIK).

 

[yippy]

I apologize that we are sending you in two directions here but we are trying to tell you how to fix it while double checking that we are destroying the least amount of data possible with the assumption that there is valuable data on the machine.

So, if you hold option while booting up it should give you a list of bootable drives, if the install CD is the only one there then there is a problem with the formatting/data integraty of the hard drive.

 

[imacintel]

One thing, I believe on iBooks you hold down the option key+mouse.

 

[Emsaidso]

Okay, I've been able to eject the disk. Now when I reboot with the disk, I'm holding down "c" because that's what it says to do...and I get..

1. a white flashing square with blue globe
2. flashing mac folder
3. grey screen appla with grey cirçular "I'm busy" thingy...
4. Then black screen...nothing.

Now I got nothing.

hmmmm....

(Did I mention I've been a Mac user since 1986?)

 

[imacintel]

Okay, I've been able to eject the disk. Now when I reboot with the disk, I'm holding down "c" because that's what it says to do...and I get..

1. a white flashing square with blue globe
2. flashing mac folder
3. grey screen appla with grey cirçular "I'm busy" thingy...
4. Then black screen...nothing.

Now I got nothing.

hmmmm....

(Did I mention I've been a Mac user since 1986?)

Time to see your apple store. This is ver abnormal. IF there is a globe, It usually has a big apple thing above it. The black screen, also weird. Like I said, take it to apple. 30 seconds, good luck(jeopardy phrase).

 

[Emsaidso]

I was afraid of that. Oh well. As I mentioned, I've been using Macs (and only Macs! ) since 1986 and usually am able to fix things myself, or with a little help from nice people on forums like you. I always give it a go before I call in the formal tech folks.

The bummer is this machine is only about 2 weeks old. My daughter has been so busy with final exams that she hasn't been able to do much more than play the games it came with and do a little IM'ing with her girlfriends. She's going to be upsit when I tell her....oh well...

Thanks for your time in diagnosing this problem.

Yours very truly, Em.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Holding down "C" isn't appropriate because that is telling the machine to boot from the CD/DVD, which you have just ejected.

The hard drive is functioning (that's the Fujitsu your Disk Utility tells you about, but its HFS+ volume structure is badly damaged. You can try reformatting ("erase" in the Disk Utility) the Fujitsu drive with disk utility (you will lose all data, but at the moment, that seems to be a foregone conclusion anyway).

If it reformats without incident, and the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive is reported as good, you can proceed with reinstalling OSX and your software.

If the cause of the HFS structure being damaged is a hadware problem on the Fujitsu drive, you may still have to pursue the hardware repair.