At the college I work for, we have a Power Mac G5 with Server 10.5.6 installed on it. We are trying to unistall the server OS so that we can install the client version of Leopard. I have searched a number of forums, and have no found anything useful. Any suggestions are welcome
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Trying to uninstall Server
- Thread starter vicden
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Live CD
What kind of error does it give you?
If it's just trying to install over the OS, get an Ubuntu PPC LiveCD and erase the disk from that?
What kind of error does it give you?
If it's just trying to install over the OS, get an Ubuntu PPC LiveCD and erase the disk from that?
Do you have the correct DVD in? I reinstalled Leopard on our G5 using a retail DVD, no problem. Are you trying with retail, or system restore disks?
We have an OEM version from our main campus. It opens on any other Mac on campus we have tried it on
And I assume the G5 has a DVD drive in it that is capable of reading dual-layer discs right? When you boot holding the Alt/Option key, does it show a disc in the drive on the boot selection screen? Is the disc scratched?
Dual-layer is part of the initial DVD spec. If you have a working DVD drive, it can read Dual-Layer (pressed) discs. You may need a newer drive to read burnt discs.
That aside, it is possible the DVD is malfunctioning. I have had to replace DVD drive in several macs, from G3 Blue & White (Sawtooth) towers to my last MacBook Pro.
uninstalling mac server
When we do that we get 3 choices an arrow that is in a circle shape, an icon for the hard drive and an arrow to the right.
We think it can read the double layer DVDs because it has the server installed on it.
When we do that we get 3 choices an arrow that is in a circle shape, an icon for the hard drive and an arrow to the right.
We think it can read the double layer DVDs because it has the server installed on it.
And the DVD is in the drive and it doesn't show up on that screen? If it is, you should have the refresh arrow button, hard drive button, DVD drive button, and right arrow button.
Which leads me to believe the disk might be scratched, or the DVD drive in the system is flakey.
uninstalling mac server
Since other macs can see it, we are beginning to think that it is the dvd
Thanks for the suggestions
Since other macs can see it, we are beginning to think that it is the dvd
Thanks for the suggestions
I agree. Try an external USB or FireWire DVD Drive, if you have one around. If the disk works in other computers, the DVD drive is probably dying/dead.
If it spits the disk back out at you, I'm 99% certain you have a bad DVD drive. I used to have 100 PowerMac G5s at my institution and I ended up replacing about 30 of their drives over the course of their thee year life span. They would do exactly what you are describing. Not read, and eventually spit it out.
If you have a PowerBook G4, or MacBook or Pro with a firewire port on it (well, actually if you have another Desktop set up nearby you could use that as well), turn it on and hold the T key in. That will boot the laptop into Target Disk Mode. Connect the two machines via Firewire. You can then put the DVD in the laptop's drive and connect the laptop to the PowerMac and it will be able to install off the laptop drive.
uninstalling mac server
Since other macs can see it, we are beginning to think that it is the dvd
Thanks for the suggestions
Since other macs can see it, we are beginning to think that it is the dvd
Thanks for the suggestions
Awesome!!!
It worked, I went and got a mac mini and it worked like a charm
Thank you for the help
It worked, I went and got a mac mini and it worked like a charm
Thank you for the help
Glad I could help! Using target mode to share the optical drive is a little trick I learned back when I was getting my ACMT. It was very helpful when Apple was still shipping units without DVD drives. Its another reason I was real bummed when the MacBooks dropped the firewire - we lost a valuable tool. But thats for a different thread
