at the end of my rope!

A

addict4life

Registered
So my friend gave me his Macbook (non intel with Tiger) I wanted to update or just erase the drive and do a fresh install. Sooo with my macbook pro i put the the old Macbook in target mode and formatted the hard drive BUT i can't seem to be able to install Tiger through my MB pro nor Panther for that matter. I can however get Panther to come up in my optical drive but it gives me errors installing it(i've had this problem before cuz mac drives are a lil sensitive with worn disks) but when i put in Tiger in the optical drive it doesn't show up. i have 2 different discs and neither show up. so now im stuck. i tried peressing option when i boot up the old macbook and the usb cd drive doesnt show up either. all i keep getting on the old macbook is a folder with a question mark. I know this means its looking for the os but how am i supposed to get it to work if i cant get the the operating system in there?
i am completely baffled at this point.
is there anything i might have missed?
any suggestions?
this is also my first time on here so forgive me if its in the wrong section.
Anthony
 
When you partitioned and reformatted the drive from Disk Utility did you select 'Options->Apple Partition table'.
I ask this because there is a good chance your MBP defaults to the Guid table which is the norm for Intel Macs.
 
i did not check this and yes when i run it in disk utility it is GUID. so what should it be? but that still doesn't help why the Tiger disc wont show up in the optical or external drive.
 
What Mac is it? iBook? PowerBook?

There is no non-intel MacBook.

If in doubt, open the system profiler (apple from upper left corner > about this Mac > more info.. get the Mac model from there, with specs about processor and speed, hd size, amount of RAM, and first 5 digits of the serial. The part of serial will also help date the Mac and with the specs we can see what it is and what can or cannot be installed on it).

First we need to know which Mac it was, and then find out what OS it was shipped with.
A non-intel Mac and an intel-Mac will need different things (and discs) from the OS.

If it's an intel-based Mac (MacBook or MacBook Pro, and not iBook or PowerBook), it simply will not be able to have Mac OS X 10.3 aka Panther of any version ever made available for the public. All Panther discs and builds ever released were for PPC Macs.

Also a Mac can never have an older version of Mac OS X installed on it than it was shipped with from the factory. So if it was an iBook that shipped with 10.3.7, you will not be able to use the retail (or CPU-spec.) discs of Mac OS X 10.3.5 to do a reinstall. You would not be able to use even a retail disc set that had 10.3.7, as the CPU-specific version that the Macs are shipped with are with a newer build than the retail discs with the equivalent update ships with.

A PPC- (aka the non-intel) and Intel-based Macs use a different partitioning scheme. If you manage to get a PPC-based Mac to have a GUID scheme on it's HD, you won't be able to install any Mac OS X on it. The PPC-based Macs would need to keep their APM scheme to keep functional.

Another few details that will help are the specs on the discs you are using: are the install discs you are using black or gray? They should not be gray; those are CP-specific discs, and will not install on other Macs than what the discs were shipped with.
 
It appears your opening post "So my friend gave me his Macbook (non intel with Tiger)" is misleading.
A google search finds there were never any PPC (non Intel) MacBooks manufactured.
So your MacBook having an Intel CPU would require the Guid Partition table.
As for your other installation woes, it could be anyone of several things.
You do know I hope that you cannot install an Operating System that came with one model of Mac on to another different model.
Any operating system disc that is older then the computer also will also fail to install.
The only install that will succeed is from the original install discs (that came with the computer) or a current retail boxed disc.
 
"Non-intel with Tiger" means an iBook. It would say iBook underneath the display (and not MacBook)
If you try to install from an intel Mac, such as a MacBook Pro, or another MacBook, it will not allow you to install unless the target hard drive is formatted GUID.
The 'non-intel MacBook' will be a PPC processor, which won't easily boot from a USB drive.
 
thanks for all the replies. it is a Macbook(thats what it says and its white). the discs i am trying to install are both retail Tiger and Leopard(sorry for even mentioning Panther i meant to say Leopard)
cant do a system profiler cuz i formatted the HD and there is no OS on there unless there is some way someone can explain to me how to get to this without an OS on the HD.
i have done this before numerous times but this one seems to not like the discs i am using. The Tiger disc won't come up and the leopard disc which has been barely used keeps getting read errors.
I want to install the OS from my macbook pro using the macbook as a target disk. thats the only way i can think of doing it. Also the external cd rom i attach to the macbook also doesnt come up.
any ideas of what could be happening or any steps i could be missing?
 
There is no version of Tiger commercial installer (the black DVD with a big X across the label) that will install on an Intel Mac.

Flip the MacBook over, and take out the main battery. What processor speed is showing on the serial number sticker inside the battery compartment?

What color is your Leopard disk - and what version number shows on the label?
 
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He said it's called "MacBook" beneath the screen, so let's assume it's some version of the white MacBook for now.

From what I understand, you're having problems with the optical drive on that older MacBook. But you've gone the wrong way 'round with the target mode!

1.) Put your MacBook Pro in target mode and put the installation disc in its optical drive. Let's try the Leopard retail disc.

2.) Start up the MacBook, connected to your MacBook Pro via target mode (remember: The MBP is in target mode!) holding down the option key, in order to show you bootable devices.

3.) Select the Leopard retail disc.

4.) Partition again using GUID and install Mac OS X.
 
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ok here are the details of the what it says inside the battery compartment underneath the serial number:
2.16/2x512/120/sd-dl

i will try the target mode method described by Fryke. holy cow that totally makes sense now!! i was having errors with the disc in the macbook . lets hope i wont have the same ones in the mbp.
So what your saying is that this macbook came pre installed with leopard? can Snow leopard be installed on this machine? My snow leopard retail is brand new. i used it once and is in much better shape. i would rather do that since it is an intel based macbook.
 
the optical drive on the mbp in target mode is making all types of weird sounds. it sounds as if it is having a really hard time reading the disc BUT it finally showed up. its now installing! i will keep my fingers crossed...and return with an update later.
thanks soo much to everyone who responded. you guys opened my eyes to alot of new things.
 
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