Can't get old G5 to boot from external drive

[MotionMan]

I have the following:

** Circa 2003 Power Mac G5 (A1047)
** CPU: 1.6GHz PowerPC G5
** RAM: 256MB PC2700 (333MHz)
** HD: 80GB Serial ATA; 7200 rpm (with one open bay)
** Optical: SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
(http://support.apple.com/kb/SP96))

I have a 500GB SATA HD that I am planning on installing in place of the 80GB.

I currently have Jaguar (10.2.8) on the 80GB drive. I have Leopard install DVD copied to an Iomega PHD60-C (Because of no Dual-Layer DVD on the G5).

I have tried both FireWire and USB, on the front and the back.

When using the 80GB drive, I can select the external drive as the boot, but when I restart, it skips the external drive and boots into the OS on the 80GB.

When using only the 500GB drive, when I restart, I can select the external drive as the boot drive, but then it gets to a blank gray screen with the spinning beach ball.

If I boot into Verbose mode, I can see a bunch of errors like files not found and file count not correct (However, this same drive was able to boot other Mac (though all of those were much newer)), then it goes to the gray screen and beach ball.

Is there something about this G5 that is preventing it from booting to this drive?

Thanks.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

No help, I guess?

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

I have little technical experiences with G5s. So, I didn't want to bop into the thread with a 'Nope, sounds like you're screwed!' and then bop out again.

Ok, I posted that just after waking up, so after I have thought a bit, here are some questions.

How is the 500GB drive formatted?
I am going to go ahead and assume that it is in some kind of enclosure that offers both FireWire and USB. Test it on your other Macs (you are the guy that just bought like 3 of them aren't you?) and see if they will boot off it (easiest test would be to just clone one of them to the 500 and test that way.)

I know for a fact that IntelMacs can boot from either FireWire AND USB external hard drives (allegedly USB optical drives don't work). However, I THINK that PPC Macs can only boot from FireWire externals.

So, first, make sure the drive is formatted HFS+ with the correct partition map scheme. You can choose between GUID, MBR and one other. I think it is that other option that you need since it pertains to older Macs.

Next, make sure that that you can clone to the drive and boot off of it with the FireWire cable on an IntelMac.

Finally, try all this again.

I am not sure what if anything might happen if you were to clone your MacBook to the drive and then pop it into the PowerMac.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: TheStu
I have little technical experiences with G5s. So, I didn't want to bop into the thread with a 'Nope, sounds like you're screwed!' and then bop out again.

Ok, I posted that just after waking up, so after I have thought a bit, here are some questions.

How is the 500GB drive formatted?
I am going to go ahead and assume that it is in some kind of enclosure that offers both FireWire and USB. Test it on your other Macs (you are the guy that just bought like 3 of them aren't you?) and see if they will boot off it (easiest test would be to just clone one of them to the 500 and test that way.)

I know for a fact that IntelMacs can boot from either FireWire AND USB external hard drives (allegedly USB optical drives don't work). However, I THINK that PPC Macs can only boot from FireWire externals.

So, first, make sure the drive is formatted HFS+ with the correct partition map scheme. You can choose between GUID, MBR and one other. I think it is that other option that you need since it pertains to older Macs.

Next, make sure that that you can clone to the drive and boot off of it with the FireWire cable on an IntelMac.

Finally, try all this again.

I am not sure what if anything might happen if you were to clone your MacBook to the drive and then pop it into the PowerMac.

The 500 is IN the Mac, not in an enclosure. The external with the installation program on it is a 60gb FireWire/USB. I do not have an external enclosure for the 500gb to go in.

The 60gb will boot on other (Intel) Macs, just not this one.

I tried both the FireWire and the USB on this G5.

BTW, last night I cloned the original 80gb internal HD onto the 500gb internal HD and removed the 80gb from the computer. I then set the 60gb external installation drive as the boot drive, restarted and again got the gray screen with the beach ball.

I hope that makes sense: I just woke up.

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

How did you put the install DVD onto the 60GB? There is a fairly specific process IIRC, but I cannot remember it off hand. It, I believe, involves copying the DVD as a .DMG, then converting that .DMG onto the 60GB. Again, you have to make sure that that in this case, the 60 GB is formatted HFS+ (obviously) and with the correct partition table scheme.

And, just to clarify, you tried the OS X Install DVD in the PowerMac before dismissing it? I only ask because I had an old G3 PowerBook that only had a DVD-ROM drive and it was able to read dual layer DVDs.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: TheStu
How did you put the install DVD onto the 60GB? There is a fairly specific process IIRC, but I cannot remember it off hand. It, I believe, involves copying the DVD as a .DMG, then converting that .DMG onto the 60GB. Again, you have to make sure that that in this case, the 60 GB is formatted HFS+ (obviously) and with the correct partition table scheme.

My Mac-guru brother-in-law did it for me and we have confirmed that it worked on other Macs.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

SOLVED!!!

I reinstalled the 80gb drive into the computer (along with the 500gb), used Carbon Copy Cloner to burn the contents of the external drive (OS installation disk) onto the 80gb drive, then booted off the 80gb drive.

All is well.

On to my next question.

MotionMan