Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

[maclamb]

I installed 10.3 on my cube (OS 10.2.8/1.2G Sonnet upgrade) and had a BITCH of a time.
My story:
1. Installed 10.3 as upgrade to existing 10.2.8
Install works fine, gets through both disks and then hangs.
I reset
It restarts and get the desktop then the feared grey screen of death: "Please power off/reset" .
I try this several times- no dice.
I did get a message that Norton System works was unhappy after the first reboot.
I try again.
Reinstall, selecting "save exiting system folder as "previous System" and KEPT user and system settings.
Reboot
Now, it seems ok - but not all utilities were installed (just items up through Console - nothing past that) and Synch-pro won't run right - oh oh
Cannot add printers
Where did CPU monitor go? (oh , later I see it's now activity monitor and CPU bar won't sit over menu bar where I had it - oh well)
SO, I figure I have to do a clean install.
I back up my work and wipe the drive and do a clean install.
And VOILA
FABULOUS FAST OS -
Very nice
Nice features,
Nice Speed improvement
I like it.
However (and C/Net said the same thing) a fresh install is more stable than an upgrade.(duh)
So, I strongly recommend you grab that extra firewire/USB drive yo keep for backup/duplicate system image ( you do that, right?) and back up your existingOS>
And start fresh.
All programs were easily copied over, some will require reinstall, oh well, just takes a few minutes and mail was easily copied as well as Safari settings.
I also notice IE is no longer in the dock!
Enjoy...

PS. Upon consideration of why I had such problems, there may have been some issues with my old install of 10.2.8 - I was planning to wipe and reinstall anyway and was going to wait until 10.3 to do it.
Just thought I could squeak by w/o doing so.,

I was wrong.
No biggie and install is fast.
Some Microsuck-like moments - but I will chalk it up to my laziness. If i I had started with a clean install I would have been done faster (but, should I have NEEDED to start with a clean install is the real question...?)

 

[Flowbee]

Upgrade install went fine on my Cube (450mhz, 1.12gb RAM, 120gb HD, original Rage128 AGP). Everything's working great... so far.

 

[Stella]

Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

I never trust the upgrade options.

Clean install always. I have to spend half a day putting everything back again, but it saves the greef of when things go wrong.

Upgrade is maybe a false economy - it may seem quicker to begin with, but overall, it sucks.

Originally posted by maclamb
I installed 10.3 on my cube (OS 10.2.8/1.2G Sonnet upgrade) and had a BITCH of a time.
My story:
1. Installed 10.3 as upgrade to existing 10.2.8
Install works fine, gets through both disks and then hangs.
I reset
It restarts and get the desktop then the feared grey screen of death: "Please power off/reset" .
I try this several times- no dice.
I did get a message that Norton System works was unhappy after the first reboot.
I try again.
Reinstall, selecting "save exiting system folder as "previous System" and KEPT user and system settings.
Reboot
Now, it seems ok - but not all utilities were installed (just items up through Console - nothing past that) and Synch-pro won't run right - oh oh
Cannot add printers
Where did CPU monitor go? (oh , later I see it's now activity monitor and CPU bar won't sit over menu bar where I had it - oh well)
SO, I figure I have to do a clean install.
I back up my work and wipe the drive and do a clean install.
And VOILA
FABULOUS FAST OS -
Very nice
Nice features,
Nice Speed improvement
I like it.
However (and C/Net said the same thing) a fresh install is more stable than an upgrade.(duh)
So, I strongly recommend you grab that extra firewire/USB drive yo keep for backup/duplicate system image ( you do that, right?) and back up your existingOS>
And start fresh.
All programs were easily copied over, some will require reinstall, oh well, just takes a few minutes and mail was easily copied as well as Safari settings.
I also notice IE is no longer in the dock!
Enjoy...

PS. Upon consideration of why I had such problems, there may have been some issues with my old install of 10.2.8 - I was planning to wipe and reinstall anyway and was going to wait until 10.3 to do it.
Just thought I could squeak by w/o doing so.,

I was wrong.
No biggie and install is fast.
Some Microsuck-like moments - but I will chalk it up to my laziness. If i I had started with a clean install I would have been done faster (but, should I have NEEDED to start with a clean install is the real question...?)

 

[snickelfritz]

Upgrade (default) install works fine.
Repair permissions and HDD prior to installing 10.3, then repair permissions again.

 

[raiderz182]

i am new to macs (actually haven't even touched my powerbook yet.. still waiting for delivery) ... i had one way back and it was a performa, i remember that you couldn't format those hdd
but now you guys are talking about clean install and upgrading.. so i have a few questions
1) how do you erase everything
2) when your apple comes with all that software pre-installed... do they also give you discs to re-install in case something happens to those programs
3) how do you back stuff up

 

[Coca-Cola]

You can erase your hard drive and repair permisions a couple ways. 1)In the terminal and 2)using the disk utility that is apart of the operating system.Disk Utility is easy to find in your applications folder. For disk repair in the terminal I have found that typing fsck at the command line is an awesome free disk repair utility. It looks scary to see all of that jargon and stuff. But by simply typing fsck at the command line you can run a great disk repair utility.

You will get OS disks with your mac.

You can back stuff up many ways. You can burn it onto a dvd or cd, get external hardware, such as a zip disk(which sucks) or one of those cool usb pen drives(cheap) for your key ring. I have a .mac account and the free backup software which will backup to my iDisk or a cd or dvd. You really wont have to worry about backup as much as you would with windows Me,or 95, or Classic Mac OS, 9 or lower. Your mac won't ever crash. But, then again you never know.

 

[Flowbee]

Re: Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

Originally posted by Stella
Upgrade is maybe a false economy - it may seem quicker to begin with, but overall, it sucks.

I think it's a little too soon to claim that upgrading from 10.2.8 to 10.3 sucks. My guess is that it will work just fine for most people.

That being said, before you attempt *any* OS upgrades, you should always back up your home folder at least. That way, if you're not happy wth the upgrade, you have the option of doing a clean install and then restoring your important files.

 

[bankshot]

Originally posted by raiderz182
i am new to macs (actually haven't even touched my powerbook yet.. still waiting for delivery) ... i had one way back and it was a performa, i remember that you couldn't format those hdd
but now you guys are talking about clean install and upgrading.. so i have a few questions
1) how do you erase everything
2) when your apple comes with all that software pre-installed... do they also give you discs to re-install in case something happens to those programs
3) how do you back stuff up

1. From a running system, there is a program called Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder. This will allow you to erase/format any disks that are not being used as the current startup disk.

Otherwise, when you boot from the install CD, you can do it when the initial install screen comes up. There is a menu item under the Installer menu at the top to run Disk Utility at that time. Also, I believe you can skip that part and go on with the install -- at one point you get an options button (look for it because you'll be used to clicking Continue ... Continue ... Continue at that point) where you can select a clean/erase install method. If you are installing Panther on a brand new Mac, this method is probably much better than the upgrade method because you don't have any personal data or settings to lose yet!

(note that I'm going to be picking up my copy of Panther later today, so slight details may be different but from everything I've read it's just about the same as the Jaguar install)

2. Yes, the Software Restore disc you get has everything needed to restore your Mac to the factory configuration. It includes a bootable OS X installer (either Jaguar or Panther depending on when it ships). Once you install the OS, you pop in the disc and it has an Application/Classic Support installer. That installs the rest of the bundled applications that aren't part of OS X, plus Classic if you want it.

If your machine comes with Jaguar and youneed to do a full restore, I'd just skip Jaguar and install Panther (you will get upgrade discs if it came with Jaguar), then the additional Applications/Classic Support. If you were lucky enough to get Panther preinstalled, then it'll all be on the Software Restore disc.

3. If you get .Mac, Apple's Backup application does a pretty good job of guiding you through a good backup process. Otherwise, if your machine has a CD and/or DVD burner, you can easily backup your files to those (just insert a blank disc, name it, and drag files into it; it'll burn when you go to eject it). Other options include storing important files on an external FireWire hard drive or something like an iPod. Some people like to manage their backups themselves (me), and some prefer to have an app like Backup help them through it.

 

[DrGruv1]

Probelms with Panther..

Got it in the mail by: 1:45 PM Central time.

Installation took 1 hour on 733mhz g4 with 10.2.8

Issues:

-Appleworks, won't launch under any circumstances.
-Keeps asking alternate name for Idisk
I-disk color cannot be changed to match other hard drive colors

-ok speed improvement.

-expose is very nice.

-michael

 

[DrGruv1]

Problems with Panther..

Got it in the mail by: 1:45 PM Central time.

Installation took 1 hour on 733mhz g4 with 10.2.8

Issues:

-Appleworks, won't launch under any circumstances.
-Keeps asking alternate name for Idisk
I-disk color cannot be changed to match other hard drive colors

-ok speed improvement.

-expose is very nice.

-michael

 

[bankshot]

Re: Re: Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

Originally posted by Flowbee
I think it's a little too soon to claim that upgrading from 10.2.8 to 10.3 sucks. My guess is that it will work just fine for most people.

I'd love to do a poll just to get some real numbers on this:

Did you:

• Upgrade with no problems
• Upgrade with problems
• Archive/Install with no problems
• Archive/Install with problems
• Erase/Install with no problems
• Erase/Install with problems

Near as I can tell, this board doesn't have builtin support for polls in a thread. If someone wants to setup a poll on their website (or even better, macpolls.com) and start a new thread, that'd be great.

Personally, I never trust an upgrade install. At best, you'll be left with various cruft from the old system laying around and taking up space for no reason. At worst, that cruft will be used as part of the new system and screw things up.

I'll be doing one clean install and one archive and install later today when I get my copies. As other people said, the extra time spent reconfiguring and putting things back can save a lot of grief later on. Though such a process is completely unacceptable for someone like Grandma, who just wants to check email and such. It's a tough problem for the engineers working on the installer I guess.

 

[Stella]

Re: Re: Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

I'm talking generally, upgrading any OS. I think its far safer to clean install, but yes, it does take longer and you do need to backup your data. its a hassle, yes. But overall, safer.

Originally posted by Flowbee
I think it's a little too soon to claim that upgrading from 10.2.8 to 10.3 sucks. My guess is that it will work just fine for most people.

That being said, before you attempt *any* OS upgrades, you should always back up your home folder at least. That way, if you're not happy wth the upgrade, you have the option of doing a clean install and then restoring your important files.

 

[mxpiazza]

Re: Re: Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

Originally posted by Flowbee
I think it's a little too soon to claim that upgrading from 10.2.8 to 10.3 sucks. My guess is that it will work just fine for most people.

That being said, before you attempt *any* OS upgrades, you should always back up your home folder at least. That way, if you're not happy wth the upgrade, you have the option of doing a clean install and then restoring your important files.

i think they meant using the upgrade install option, not upgrading the actual OS.

 

[itsbetteronamac]

Re: Re: Problems with Panther install - You are warned!

Originally posted by Stella
I never trust the upgrade options.

Clean install always. I have to spend half a day putting everything back again, but it saves the greef of when things go wrong.

Upgrade is maybe a false economy - it may seem quicker to begin with, but overall, it sucks.

I did the upgrade, but I made sure to back up my home folder and all the "drag to install" apps, that I got from places I'll never go back to. I did this just because of it being easier and I didn't want to install all of my apps.

I was suprised that the installation took over and hour, but nothing went wrong. So far i havn't had one glitch, except for transparent dock had some problems, and I just didn't want to mess with it. It has been much faster, and I havn't had any problems.

So I feel that with panther at least you shouldn't be afraid of upgrading. But, just like a clean install, make sure that you back up stuff just incase somthing goes wrong.