[Ti] Re: Problems installing Tiger on Powerbook G4

[Obrecht, Jerry A]

Andre,

I suspect that part of your problem may be due to the HD being
practically full.  The installer uses a fair amount of space in order to
perform the installation.  I don't know the total size of your HD, but I
would clear off enough files so that you have at least 10% available for
the installation (~ 5 GB might do it).

Unix-based operating systems, like OS X, can have problems when the HD
gets to within 10% of being full. So, once you do successfully get it
installed, free up enough space to get to this 10% number.

Jerry

Andre Truter wrote:
> I have an old Powerbook G4 (550 MHz, 512 MB Ram) which I bought second

> hand.  I had OS X 3.9 on it and worked fine, but the disk was full of 
> applications that I never use and only 2.4 GB space left.  It has been

> through a few hands before I got it, so a lot of users have been 
> created and deleted, apps installed, etc.
> I did not get any of the original software media with it, just the 
> Powerbook as is.
> So I decided to buy Tiger for it and do a clean installation so I can 
> have a fresh system and have the media.
>
> But, I am not able to install Tiger on it.  The installation will get 
> to the part where it installs the BSD system and then it would tell me

> that the installation failed and I should try again.
> Sometimes it would get to a point (Normally during installing the BSD 
> system and once a few steps further) and it would just hang there.  It

> says "Writing files: 11% Completed" and 7 minutes remaining, but 
> nothing advance.  I can still use the mouse, open menu options and 
> look at the log.  The last message now is "Extracting files"
>
> It has been sitting there for at least an hour.
>
> I swapped the hard drive with another one, but still the same problem.
>   
A bit more info.
I suspected the DVD reader to be faulty, so I took an external USB disk,
and copied the DVD image onto it.
Then I boot the PowerBook from the USB disk.
Installation starts up fine, but it gets stuck at virtually the same
place.  Now it gets to 12% of Installing the BSD Subsystem.

So, the DVD reader is not the problem.

Can it be the hard disk (both of them?) or maybe the DVD was mastered
incorrectly, so my image on the USB disk is also faulty.

Anything else it could be?

With the last number of attempts it has always stopped at the same
place.  It only once managed to get past the BSD Subsystem, but then it
got stuck at 11% of the next section.

Any ideas?