Reinstall Snow Leopard from Disk: No entry warning sign on boot
Hello
I am currently running the latest build of Mountain Lion on my mid-2009 macbook pro.
Due to it being sold soon I need to reinstall Snow Leopard onto the laptop using the disk.
I have tried using the internal superdrive and an external superdrive to boot from, and I can hear the disk being read but it doesn't seem to load. All i get is the spinning symbol waiting and after approx 5 min it displays the grey no entry sign.
There is nothing wrong with the hdd as when i press the Alt button when booting i can boot into the primary partition or the recovery partition without any issues.
I can also reinstall Mountain Lion without any problems.
I have both the Leopard and Snow Leopard disks, but can't boot from either of them.
Any suggestions on how to fix this problem and get SL installed? Is it a problem with having the ML recovery partition?
Thanks in advance
I am currently running the latest build of Mountain Lion on my mid-2009 macbook pro.
Due to it being sold soon I need to reinstall Snow Leopard onto the laptop using the disk.
I have tried using the internal superdrive and an external superdrive to boot from, and I can hear the disk being read but it doesn't seem to load. All i get is the spinning symbol waiting and after approx 5 min it displays the grey no entry sign.
There is nothing wrong with the hdd as when i press the Alt button when booting i can boot into the primary partition or the recovery partition without any issues.
I can also reinstall Mountain Lion without any problems.
I have both the Leopard and Snow Leopard disks, but can't boot from either of them.
Any suggestions on how to fix this problem and get SL installed? Is it a problem with having the ML recovery partition?
Thanks in advance
ASKER
It originally came with Leopard, and when Snow Leopard was released I purchased and installed it.
Original disks for Leopard and Snow Leopard
Original disks for Leopard and Snow Leopard
Have you tried restarting the computer while pressing and holding the "option" key with the SL disk inside?
This should give you a choice of where to boot from. You can boot from the SL disk and before installation go to menu > disk utility and reformat the hard disk before installation.
This should give you a choice of where to boot from. You can boot from the SL disk and before installation go to menu > disk utility and reformat the hard disk before installation.
ASKER
Yes i've tried that
When i hold the option key at boot, it gives me three options
1) boot to ML partition
2) boot to recovery partition
3) boot to OS X Install Disk
So from the above it can see that there is the installation disk inserted, but when i select that I just get the spinning loading symbol for approx. 5 min, and then the grey no entry sign.
The only way to do anything from that point is to manually hold the power button to shutdown
When i hold the option key at boot, it gives me three options
1) boot to ML partition
2) boot to recovery partition
3) boot to OS X Install Disk
So from the above it can see that there is the installation disk inserted, but when i select that I just get the spinning loading symbol for approx. 5 min, and then the grey no entry sign.
The only way to do anything from that point is to manually hold the power button to shutdown
Have you tried booting off of the original Leopard Discs? I think the reason it is giving you the no entry sign is because of the recovery partition and your computer knows that its trying to boot off of something older which Mac's do not like to do.
Do you happen to have another Mac that you can use to put into target disk mode to reformat the hard drive and get rid of the paritions/recovery partition?
Do you happen to have another Mac that you can use to put into target disk mode to reformat the hard drive and get rid of the paritions/recovery partition?
ASKER
I've tried booting from both the leopard and snow leopard disks, same problem.
Yes, I have a brand new iMac, but not sure how to do target disk mode? Do i connect them both with an ethernet cable?
Yes, I have a brand new iMac, but not sure how to do target disk mode? Do i connect them both with an ethernet cable?
I see. You need to remove the "Recovery Partition" first.
The idea is to basically boot to the Recovery Partition and from there delete it using the Disk Utility.
Beware that this will wipe all data and you will loose all information on the hdd. But, I think that's what you wanted anyway.
Here are some links with instructions:
http://www.techparaiso.com/89-steven-paul-jobs-apple-inc/apple-mac-osx/101-deleting-the-osx-mountain-lion-recovery-partition-tutorial
http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/21/remove-os-x-mountain-lion-boot-partition/
The idea is to basically boot to the Recovery Partition and from there delete it using the Disk Utility.
Beware that this will wipe all data and you will loose all information on the hdd. But, I think that's what you wanted anyway.
Here are some links with instructions:
http://www.techparaiso.com/89-steven-paul-jobs-apple-inc/apple-mac-osx/101-deleting-the-osx-mountain-lion-recovery-partition-tutorial
http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/21/remove-os-x-mountain-lion-boot-partition/
to boot into target disk mode you need a firewire cable and connect the two mac's together. Turn off your laptop and when you turn it on hold down the "T" key. Once it is in target disk mode you will see the symbol for firewire moving around on the screen.
From there your hard drive will appear on the other Mac computer and you will be able to launch Disk Utility from the Utilities folder to wipe the hard drive on the laptop.
From there your hard drive will appear on the other Mac computer and you will be able to launch Disk Utility from the Utilities folder to wipe the hard drive on the laptop.
ASKER
Thanks for the all the help, this is how far i've now got:
1) Can't use target disk mode as my new iMac doesn't have firewire
2) Everything I tried I couldn't remove the recovery partition, or install anything from the disks
3) I then created a bootable USB stick with Snow Leopard and was able to install SL this way, however the recovery partition was still there
4) Next I tried booting with the USB again and using Disk Utility erased the HDD using the 7-pass security option. This finally removed everything, including the recovery partition!
5) However, I am still unable to boot from the original Leopard or Snow Leopard disks using either the built in SuperDrive, or a brand new external SuperDrive that came with my iMac. I can only use the USB Stick to install SL
When I try and boot from the disk I still get the grey no entry sign
Any ideas?
1) Can't use target disk mode as my new iMac doesn't have firewire
2) Everything I tried I couldn't remove the recovery partition, or install anything from the disks
3) I then created a bootable USB stick with Snow Leopard and was able to install SL this way, however the recovery partition was still there
4) Next I tried booting with the USB again and using Disk Utility erased the HDD using the 7-pass security option. This finally removed everything, including the recovery partition!
5) However, I am still unable to boot from the original Leopard or Snow Leopard disks using either the built in SuperDrive, or a brand new external SuperDrive that came with my iMac. I can only use the USB Stick to install SL
When I try and boot from the disk I still get the grey no entry sign
Any ideas?
Did you try the instructions in the links I had referenced in my post on 2013-05-24 at ID: 39195110 ?
http://www.techparaiso.com/89-steven-paul-jobs-apple-inc/apple-mac-osx/101-deleting-the-osx-mountain-lion-recovery-partition-tutorial
http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/21/remove-os-x-mountain-lion-boot-partition/
http://www.techparaiso.com/89-steven-paul-jobs-apple-inc/apple-mac-osx/101-deleting-the-osx-mountain-lion-recovery-partition-tutorial
http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/21/remove-os-x-mountain-lion-boot-partition/
I wonder if perhaps a firmware upgrade caused this issue to occur. I would try to clear the PRAM. See below for accomplishing this.
How to Reset PRAM:
Reboot your computer and hold down the Options+Command+P+R keys at the same time. The computer will chime and then continually reset and chime while these keys are held. Allow this to restart around 3 times and then release the keys.
How to Reset PRAM:
Reboot your computer and hold down the Options+Command+P+R keys at the same time. The computer will chime and then continually reset and chime while these keys are held. Allow this to restart around 3 times and then release the keys.
Any luck with the above information?
ASKER
Sorry for the delay in coming back to everyone, but I haven't had a chance to try the above yet.
I will do tonight and report back ASAP
Once again, sorry for the delay and thanks very much for the help
I will do tonight and report back ASAP
Once again, sorry for the delay and thanks very much for the help
Any updates?
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ASKER
Yes, I tried both of those with no joy
ASKER
Solution was to use a USB stick to install the OS
Are these the original discs that came with the Mac when you bough it?