Installing Leopard over OS X 4 Server

[E_B_A]

Hello...

I'm new to the forum, but I've been using Apple and Mac products since I got my first Apple II many, many years ago.

I recently bought a G4 on eBay and it was a G4 server which I thought I could just install OS X Leopard on and be done with. Unfortunately, it's not been that easy.

Here are my problems:

1) it does not have Classic installed so I can't run the OS X.3 disc installation by booting it up in server
2) the CD drive will recognize and run the OS X.3 disc but not the OS X.5 disc I have
3) whenever I try to erase the disc it does not feature the server volume as one I can choose to erase
4) whenever I try to install it off the OS X.3 disc it does not bring up the server volume as one I can install it on
5) I can access the OS X.5 disc on an external DVR drive but I can't boot from that drive and it won't let me select that drive as the destination for booting up on reboot

So I'm kind of stuck. I have a feeling it's as simple as turning off some security settings to allow me to access the drive and then I'm good to go (I hope) but I have no clue what they are. I know OSX reasonably well but haven't used it as much as OS9. I don't know OSX Server at all.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Can you provide the full specs of your G4?

Do you know what version of Server it has installed?

When you write OS X.3, are you trying to upgrade it to Panther, before Leopard?

The G4 needs a DVD drive as Leopard is a DVD release only.

 

[E_B_A]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Memory (RAM): [/FONT]1,000 MB

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Hard Drive Capacity: [/FONT]80 GB

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Processor Speed: [/FONT]533 MHz

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Operating System: [/FONT]Mac OS 10.4 Server

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Processor Configuration: [/FONT]Single

 

[E_B_A]

And I'm trying to replace the Server OS X with regular OS X.

I also can't make a partition and install it on that.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Have you tried using Disc Utility in the regular OS X disc and erasing the HD? When you load and boot from the disc you should go through a few steps then see a menu bar up top where you can navigate to Disc Utility ...

 

[E_B_A]

Yeah... whenever I try to erase the disc, it does not give me any volumes to erase as an option. All the items are there, but they are greyed out so I can't select them.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

This may sound stoopid but I need to double-check you are booting from the Disc holding the "C" key after the startup chime?

 

[E_B_A]

Of course. And when I get into the installation process, it gives me no volumes to install OS X on.