[FX.php List] [OFF-TOPIC] A bug discovery in OS X Server and OS X 10.4 installers

[John May]

Right, but you can get to Disk Utility from the installer under one 
of the menus.  This has always worked for me, and I know for sure 
I've reinstalled over previous OS X Server installs.

	- John


>You would think so, but it wouldn't work either; it hung up just 
>like OS X Server did.
>
>Believe me, I tried everything; with OS X you can't boot your Mac 
>with a DVD and get to the Finder, so your options are limited. I did 
>just create a bootable system on a flash drive this weekend, but 
>fortunately haven't had an opportunity to try it yet.
>
>Bob Patin
>Longterm Solutions
>bob at longtermsolutions.com
>615-333-6858
>http://www.longtermsolutions.com
>
>   CONTACT US VIA INSTANT MESSAGING:
>      AIM or iChat: longterm1954
>      Yahoo: longterm_solutions
>      MSN: tech at longtermsolutions.com
>      ICQ: 159333060
>
>
>On May 22, 2007, at 2:54 PM, John May wrote:
>
>>Can't you just boot from the install disc and run Disk Utility from 
>>there to format the drive?
>>
>>	- John
>>
>>>Recently, in the process of setting up my new web server, I 
>>>discovered a bug in OS X Server and OS X's installers that I was 
>>>able to reproduce:
>>>
>>>If you do an install of OS X Server and it doesn't completely 
>>>install properly, or if you wanted to reinstall OS X Server for 
>>>some reason, you would normally put the install DVD into the 
>>>machine and reinstall. The installer tells you that you have to 
>>>initialize the drive, so you click that button and proceed.
>>>
>>>In my testing, I discovered that OS X Server would hang up forever 
>>>at the beginning of the install, UNLESS the drive was already 
>>>initialized. I went through hours of grief over this; I tried 
>>>installing OS X (not Server), again checking the box to init the 
>>>drive, but it too hung up. I suspect it has something to do with 
>>>OS X Server being on the machine; I didn't test to see if I could 
>>>overwrite OS X on a previously-installed disk that had OS X on it.
>>>
>>>When I realized that the problem was that the drive had a previous 
>>>version of OS X Server on it, I started thinking of how I might 
>>>initialize the drive:
>>>
>>>a) put a 2nd drive into the machine, install a system on it
>>>b) get a new drive
>>>
>>>But here's the solution: I mounted the drive to my laptop using 
>>>Firewire target disk mode; I then was able to initialize the 
>>>drive. Once I did that, I was able to put OS X Server on without 
>>>any trouble.
>>>
>>>Thought I'd share it in case someone else stumbles into this same problem...
>>>
>>>Bob Patin
>>>Longterm Solutions
>>>bob at longtermsolutions.com
>>>615-333-6858
>>>http://www.longtermsolutions.com

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Point In Space Internet Solutions             jmay at pointinspace.com

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