OS 9 Clean Install - "Can't Read Installation Tome"??

NetMinder · Apr 19th, 2004, 02:34 PM

I was having some problems with OS 9 on my Powermac 7500 and so decided to do a clean install which I have done many times before without problem. I re initialized the drive, started the installation process and up came this meassage that halted the process.

"Problems were encountered reading source file "Installation Tome". Installation cannot continue"

Here is what I have tried, to no avail, so far.
1. Cleaned the disk
2. Tried alternate OS install disk
3. Ran Tech Tool Pro 3 on the drive (passed no issues)

I read a previous post on this with Gordguide where he suggested doing a basic install. However under the "customization' option in the install process does not tell me what is the minimum I can get away with. (PS I am not that technically savvy)

Any suggestions or guidance on what to do next would be most appreciated.

Lawrence · Apr 19th, 2004, 08:18 PM

If you have 8.5/8.6 then try installing that and then do an
install of OS 9 on top of it.

Dave

Lawrence · Apr 19th, 2004, 10:07 PM

Another thought...
Did you run Apple disk utility prior to installation?
You may have gotten that error if you didn't install the OS9 drivers.

Dave

HJS · Apr 19th, 2004, 10:20 PM

The Installation Tome is on the CD; this is sometimes a glitch with OS9 installs; might complete if you retry/reinstall after the initial attempt. Or the CD is damaged...

NetMinder · Apr 19th, 2004, 10:58 PM

I am canvassing friends right now for an OS 8.5 disk.

You are right the Installation Tome is on the installation disk. I have tried two different OS 9 Install CDs that I have kicking around and the same thing happens with both, which leads me to believe that it is not a disk defect. I have also tried several times with both disks and the same error message comes up each time. I am almost starting to wonder if there is an issue with the CD R but it scans properly with other disks.

Still a bit of a mystery.

PS Yes I did run disk firstaid, Diskwarrior 2.1.1 and Tech Tool Pro 3 on the drive and no issue or repair required

Lawrence · Apr 20th, 2004, 08:09 AM

Did you install the CDR drive recently and have you ever
installed a new system from scratch using the CDR before with the 7500?

The CDR drive that you are using could be the problem,
Try reinstalling the stock CDROM drive and then install OS9.
(That's if you still have the stock CDROM drive)

Dave

NetMinder · Apr 20th, 2004, 04:54 PM

Well I got my hands os 8.5.1 install disk. The problem is that OS 85.1. will not install with a PowerMac with an upgrade card, which this one has.

Oh well back to the drawing board. I suspect that you are right in that something is awry with the CDR. Yes I have reinstalled the os before on this achinewith this CDR but I think it has probably gone somewhat south recently.

Fortuantely this is my back up "oldie but goldie" so not a crisis. So here is a question in terms of back up. On my beige G3 - my current principal machine - I have my operating systems (9.2.2 and 10.3.3) backed up on an external drive. If anything untowards were to happen on this machine, is there a magic boot key on the keyboard that would search for my external drive and would I be able to boot from the 10.3.3 os on the external drive in an emergency?

Lawrence · Apr 20th, 2004, 05:35 PM

	Quote:
	PowerMac with an upgrade card

Which card is it?

	Quote:
	If anything untowards were to happen on this machine, is there a magic boot key on the keyboard that would search for my external drive and would I be able to boot from the 10.3.3 os on the external drive in an emergency?

Which machine are you using?
Is it a Firewire, USB1 or USB2 or SCSI external drive?.

I'm sure that there is a keyboard shortcut...
I've just never had to do it yet though.

If you have to and you don't know the short cut then you can
always boot from the cd and choose the startup as the external
disk from the startup control panel on the boot cd and then reboot.

Dave

NetMinder · Apr 21st, 2004, 09:54 AM

The card is a Sonnet Crescendo G3 300. The installation guide on OS 8.5.1 said that the os installer will not work on a computer with an upgrade card and that is exactly what happened when I ran the installer.

The external drive is Firewire (using a combo USB/Firewire card given the limited number of PCI slots on the G3) Your suggestion of using the boot OS 9 CD to access the OS on the external drive makes sense.

In terms of the other beast, the older Power Mac 7500 with the Sonnet card, everything seems to be pointing to a defective CD R. So as soon as I can find a way to install from second machine with a CDR that works and if that proves successful, that may well be my best short term solution and if it does work as well,then I will know that the CD R itself is the issue and will replace the CD R.

Thanks Dave for your help on this

Lawrence · Apr 21st, 2004, 03:13 PM

I've only done this once and I'm not sure how I could explain it,
But you can connect the two computers together by a scsi
cable and install the OS by way of scsi disk mode.
I know it can be done, I just can't remember exactly how I did it,
I installed onto a laptop from an Lc475 using this method.

Do a search on Apple support if no one else knows how to do it.

Dave