How to Factory Reset PowerPC G4 10.4.11

[DCBUS]

Hello,

I have read through many messages and it seems you need the discs to complete a factory reset. I do not have the originals, so can I complete this task through the internet?

I do have Mac OSX 10.2 dics and I thought I could use them and just do a complete reinstall, but it kicks the dics back out. Is there another method, or am I going to have to try and fine the 10.4.11 discs.

Thank you, JR

 

[Wild Hare]

Have you tried…

Inserting the 10.2 disc - then shutting the machine down.

Then restarting the machine (with the install disc still in).
(If it kicks out, push it back in.)

BUT, holding down the Option key as you restart, until the boot picker screen appears.

Then, selecting the 10.2 disc as the startup device.

If that works then you can possibly install 10.2.

Or download a copy of 10.4.6 and burn an install disc from that.
Which you could then attempt the above steps with as well.

If this works not, post back for other methods.

 

[DCBUS]

Hello,
Thank you very much for the advice. I tried the above, but for some reason it keeps ejecting the disc, strange as I have used it before. Do you know where to download 10.4.6 and I can try it.

Thank you

 

[mustagcoupe]

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-osx-mac-os-10-ppc

Download number 32 if you have a dvd. The 4 cd set if you only have cds is 27-30.

 

[DeltaMac]

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-osx-mac-os-10-ppc

Your download for OS X 10.4.6 installer is #32 on the list.

And - your G4 iMac might not have a DVD burner. It might have shipped with a CD-RW (can't do anything with DVDs), or a Combo drive (reads DVDs or CDs, but will only write to CD-R), or a superdrive (reads and burns DVDs and CDs)
If the optical drive is original, it's 20 years old - a long time for an optical drive.
Even if you have a superdrive, and you can get it to work (try cleaning the laser lens!), Tiger requires a dual-layer DVD (8.5 GB capacity) for burning the full Tiger installer -- dual-layer are getting harder to find now.

 

[mustagcoupe]

Tiger requires a dual-layer DVD (8.5 GB capacity) for burning the full Tiger installer -- dual-layer are getting harder to find now.

This is false. Tiger is single layer, Leopard is dual. The Tiger DVD is only 2.4 GB. The Leopard DVD is over 6GB. A single layer dvd holds 4.7ish GB.

 

[DeltaMac]

Whoops! You caught me, it's been a couple of years since I did anything with a Tiger installer.
I was thinking of the Leopard DVD, for sure...
But, your numbers are a bit small... You probably were thinking of the zipped downloads, not the final, burned DVD.
The 10.4.6 installer is slightly more than 3GB, but certainly well within a normal DVD-R.
Leopard 10.5.6 install ends up about 7.5GB - and really needs that dual-layer DVD-R.

Hopefully, OP's optical drive is a DVD burner, and it still works. (Or, OP has another way to burn to a DVD-R)

 

[Wild Hare]

And sometimes… a very light, delicate cleaning / wipe down of the Jaguar (10.2) install disc with windex (etc.). Can make a world of difference.

And if that fails, there’s always the old open firmware route…

Of course, you've also tried cold booting with the disc in... and holding down the "c" key at boot?

 

[DCBUS]

Thank you for all the replies. I will try the above and see if it helps.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Thank you for all the replies. I will try the above and see if it helps.

I wonder if the elderly imac g4 disk drive's optical eye needs to be cleaned or if the drive itself is malfunctioning? If that were true, additional potential options include

1.) Install from an external usb2.0 DVD drive if you have one
2.) Use a external usb2.0 cd/dvd drive to burn new Tiger media if the 10.2 disk is damaged
3.) If you have another firewire400 PowerPC mac & cable around, you can use target disk mode to utilize the host mac dvd drive to install to the target mac
4.) Using TDM, Restore to the target mac hdd via disk utility using the Tiger disk image downloaded from macintosh garden

Best of luck to you.