Member Avatar for hubestur

I get this error message while trying to install OS X on my blue and white G3 tower that is currently running 9.2...

"An error has occurred. Startup disk was unable to select the install cd as startup disk. (-2)"

The CD drive works fine, recognizes the OS X disc, lets me view and click on individual items on the OS X disk, even lets me select the OS 9.2 disc as a startup disc, but no matter what I do, it won't allow me to select the OS X disc as the startup disc. Even when I go to the select startup disc function, the OS X cd only appears as a "gray" listing that can't be selected.

Oh, and my blue and white G3 clamshell iBook recognizes the exact same OS X disc as a startup disc with no problem. Any ideas?

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If the OS X installer shows up “greyed out” and cannot be selected as the startup disk on an older Power Mac, there are a few distinct causes to check that go beyond simple permissions or Disk Utility fixes. The most common culprits are: the CD is not actually a bootable (blessed) installer, the disc is a model-specific restore that will only boot the Mac it shipped with, older drives having trouble with burned CD-R media, or a firmware/PRAM issue on the G3 itself. The checklist below is ordered so you try the easiest, least-invasive steps first.

  1. Try forcing a CD boot: restart while holding the C key (forces boot from optical drive). If the Mac supports Startup Manager, hold Option (Alt) at boot to see available bootable devices.
  2. Try a known-good retail OS X install CD (not a machine restore or a burned copy). Inspect and clean the disc and test it in another Mac if possible. Older Apple drives are picky about burned media and multisession CDs.
  3. Reset PRAM/NVRAM: restart and hold Command-Option-P-R until you hear the startup chime twice. Unplug nonessential peripherals while testing.
  4. If the CD still won’t boot but is readable, check for model-specific discs — restore CDs are often refused by other models. If you burned the disc yourself, reburn from the original image in single-session/CD-ROM mode.
  5. Advanced: if you have a FireWire-equipped Mac, use FireWire Target Disk Mode or an external FireWire drive to run the installer or mount the G3’s drive and install from another machine. If you can, try an external FireWire CD/DVD drive (older internal drives can fail to read some media).

This expands on ’s diagnostic direction and gives practical fallbacks for someone like still seeing the symptom. If those steps fail, try another retail installer disc before opening the case or replacing parts — bootability problems are often media-related rather than logic-board failures.

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Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I guess the only question I have is WHY you want to have the OS X disk be the startup disk for users too work with?

It might be a permissions problem. After you boot from the hard drive, and have your patches and that installed, be sure to run Disk Utility, and check over the disk permissions. Youo may have an issue with /Volumes or something preventing a proper mount.

Christian

Member Avatar for hubestur

Hello,

I guess the only question I have is WHY you want to have the OS X disk be the startup disk for users too work with?

It might be a permissions problem. After you boot from the hard drive, and have your patches and that installed, be sure to run Disk Utility, and check over the disk permissions. Youo may have an issue with /Volumes or something preventing a proper mount.

Christian

Sorry, I wasn't clear... I am simply attempting to INSTALL OS X on my G3 machine (currently running 9.2) for the first time. The OS X installation process requires that the installation CD (CD #1 to be specific) be inserted and used as the startup disk, which I assume will initiate the actual installation of OS X upon re-start.

Unfortunately as I've stated, my G3 tower running 9.2 has somehow decided that the OS X disc cannot be used as a start-up disc, making the entire installation process grind to a halt before it even begins.

BTW, there is no problem using my 9.2 installation disk as a startup disc, so I know it's not the CD drive or any issue with the start-up disc program.

And when I insert the OS X disc into my other G3 (an iBook running OS X), it can be selected as a startup disc, that tells me there no problem with the actual CD disc itself.

Member Avatar for hubestur

FYI, my problem turned out to be the CD disc itself.

A nice guy at the local Mac Store used his CD to initiate the installation process, and everything worked out.

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I'm sorry I lost track of this topic -- I was married on April 30, and took some time away from the boards.

Glad it is working now.

Christian

Member Avatar for Torito

I am having the same exact problem!!!
Can someone help me, with any other ideas.... Same tower but diff. mac laptop. I am using a g4 powerbook.....

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