Yeah you’re right, I was in a bad mood yesterday. I agree that the machine is pretty old and can’t expect miracles. I’m annoyed because I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m in Dublin by the way. I will try the install option while holding down the C button. Thanks everyone for your help.
There is definitely a learning curve to Macs. Not everyone thinks they’re easier. After being a PC user for most my life, I tried, and much preferred a Mac, but the idea that they’re somehow objectively better for everyone is silly. There’s still minor things that annoy me about it but, overall, it’s the first computer I’ve had that I truly enjoyed working with. I don’t expect this to be the same for everyone.
That said, don’t base your judgments on a possibly faulty machine. Also, is your copy of Tiger a retail copy (as opposed to a machine-specific one)? I don’t think that the installer will let you install a machine-specific version of Tiger on the wrong machine, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.
No problems - I’ve want to defenestrate a fair number of computers in my day… 
You might try these folks: ClubMac
I’m sure there is someone who will be happy to look at your machine.
I made a mistake earlier. I said it was OSX 10.4.11, it is actually 10.4.6 that I got. When I installed I checked for updates and now it is 10.4.11, could this be the problem? How would I know if I had a machine specific version? The box doesn’t say what machine it is compatible with.
10.4.11 should run just fine on that machine.
Sometimes, it’s worth downloading the “combo updater” and re-applying.
If you have a box for it, you should have the retail version. The machine-specific version is one that ships with the computer itself. The disc is gray (as opposed to the colored ones with the big “X” logo on them) and will say, for example, “MacBook Pro, Mac OS X Install Disc 1.”
I bought it off a guy in Dublin who has 6 copies of OSX to sell, 50 euro each I thought it was a good deal as opposed to paying129 euro for Leopard.
If you try to install on hardware that is not supported, the generic OsX installer won’t let you install. Normally, it is saver to do a clean install (“install and archive”, if you have the disk space) than choosing the “update” option of installing, as installed third party utilities might interfere with the new version of the system. Minor updates, such as that from 10.4.6 to 10.4.11, you can download and install from the web, by choosing “software update” from the apple menu while you are connected to the internet.
Actually, 10.4.6 is a funny version for a generic OsX Version. For Tiger, the generic version would be 10.4, which you would then update to the most current version of the 10.4 release using “software update”.
I ended up doing an erase and install on the thing, I had to boot from the install disk. So far it seems to be working fine. On the ‘About this Mac’ info pane it now reads OSX 10.4.11, when I first installed it was 10.4.6. All the current software updates have been applied.
Sometimes the “bigger hammer” approach works the best.
Let us know how it goes…
Certainly. I ran disk utilities before I did anything and the disk checked out fine, it’ll do. I hope.
If I wanted to install OSX on a windows PC, how hard would it be? I have an old laptop I’m not using at the moment, it has a dual core processor, 2 gigs of RAM, I think the hard drive needs replacing, aside from that, it’s in good shape. I would like to get some use out of it, seems a shame to not use it. It would be different to have OSX on it, make a change from the usual. If you don’t recommend OSX, how about Ubuntu? I’m curious to know if anyone thinks this is a good idea.
It’s possible, but it’s not supported and I don’t know what the legality of it is. (It requires a hack to get it to work). My brother did this, but couldn’t get the OS to recognize the full resolution of his monitor, so he’s never bothered with it since. If you Google it, you can find information about this, but I cannot exactly say I recommend it. Ubuntu would be a more tested approach.
Ok, that’s good, I will probably try Ubuntu. I don’t want to spend ages trying to fiddle with the thing if it’s not going to work.
Sent off for a copy of Ubuntu just now. Cool that it’s free.