totaly new to mac

[EDDYW]

Hello all brainiacs
I have a second hand G4,733mhz,256 ram 60gig hd. The hard drive was formatted and outside the case when I bought it, it is now in place. I also purchased tiger 10.4
includes Xcode 2.
All I get when trying to install is the smiley and flashing ?,otherwise its a blank screen
the CD is reading but is then ejected. any help to a 50+ novice, nomatter how stupid it may seem to you will be appreciated
Thankyou

 

[Ric]

Hi there and welcome !

The Tiger disk...it's a DVD !

What type of drive do you have ?

regards

Ric

 

[EDDYW]

Hi Ric
It says its a DVD
Ihave tried (I book) disks it do,nt make any differece
Eddy

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

try restatring with the DVD in and hold down the c key, this should force the Mac to boot from the DVD.

Give that ago, and let us know !

regards

Ric

 

[EDDYW]

Hi Ric ,
Tried that no joy, It just ejects the disc after about 1,1/2 mins

 

[EDDYW]

I also tried to boot from a norton systemworks disc no good,by the way the screen is completely blank exept for the file smiley and the flashing ?

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

Is the Tiger DVD the retail one...in the black box ?

The iBook disks would not boot that Mac.

What version of Nortons SystemWorks have you got ?

regards

Ric

 

[EDDYW]

dont know the norton version but its got 2000 copyright and tells you to hold down c to reboot, it is for MAC.
the tiger is a German version 2005 I got it in Ireland, it is genuine it came with
i work'05 test version

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

try taking the hard drive out...and reboot with the Tiger DVD.

Was the drive originally in a Mac ?

Can you check the pins on the end of the drive...is it set as master, slave...cable select ?

A dead hard drive wouldn't stop the Mac booting from the Tiger DVD...

Do you have access to another DVD drive ?

It's a process of elimination, if the DVD is 'good' no scratches/dirt etc then it would boot that Mac if the DVD drive is working.

Do you have access to any one else's Mac ?

regards

Ric

 

[Kyomii]

Hi Ric
It says its a DVD
Ihave tried (I book) disks it do,nt make any differece
Eddy

Have you tried a standard DVD movie in the drive to see if it can read that? It sounds like the drive is struggling to read the DVD - this can be because the disc is scratched, or the laser in the drive has gone, or you have been told it is a DVD drive and it is just a standard drive.

Ric's advice above about trying another drive etc is a good idea . Let us know how you get along.

 

[EDDYW]

Hello again, sorry for taking so long to get back to you,
Both are faulty I have replaced th HD with 1 that has Tiger 10.4.already installed, this seems to be OK now, The DVD drive is dead Can you tell me what drives are compattible for MAC all of the ones I have looked at only come with windows software, or do I need to get a " MAC specific" CD/DVD re writer?
I dont have a spare one to try, all conections hve been checked and are OK
(Im getting to know the inside of my pc)
thanks EDDY

 

[Ric]

Hi there.

glad you are getting it sorted !

I'll have a look for 'known' good models that will work.

Would you prefer an internal one or external ?

regards

Ric