Blank screen after Snow Leopard clean install.

[sameersbn]

Hello,

I was helping my brother do a clean install of the MAC OS on a macbook. The macbook was running version 10.6 (Snow Leopard), so i went and downloaded the disk image of Mac OS X Snow Leopard since i did not have the installation media with me.

During my first install attempt i got a "Install Failed". So i retried again and this time i formatted the HDD so that it would be a clean install. And the install went ahead smoothly this time and i was able to install without any errors.

After the install, the macbook restarted automatically and booted up. The first thing i noticed after the reboot was the apple mac os first boot animation (the one that says Welcome in several languages). At the end of that animation the display just goes blank/black and nothing happens after that. No mouse cursor or anything is displayed on the screen.

Has anyone seen this issue and is there anything i can do to fix it. I was thinking that a software update would have fixed this issue. But since the display is not displaying anything there is no way for me to perform a software update.

I am new to mac os x (its not even mine, just trying to help), so i am not sure what are the options here. If you guys have anything that i should try please let me know.

Regards
~Sameer

[justperry]

Insert the Snow Leopard disk again and instead of installing again choose Disk Utility, then first repair the disk, if it is green nothing was repaired, you could first verify disk and if this turns OK nothing was wrong.
Then after this there is also a repair permissions option, click on it and it will repair permissions.
After this restart and boot into the HDD, is it working now?
Also you could clear the PRAM, hold Command-Option-P-R all at once just after startup, hold them until you heard the startup sound for three times and release.
Have you tried to startup in Safe mode, hold the Shift key at startup.

[sameersbn]

Originally Posted by justperry

Insert the Snow Leopard disk again and instead of installing again choose Disk Utility, then first repair the disk, if it is green nothing was repaired, you could first verify disk and if this turns OK nothing was wrong.
Then after this there is also a repair permissions option, click on it and it will repair permissions.
After this restart and boot into the HDD, is it working now?
Also you could clear the PRAM, hold Command-Option-P-R all at once just after startup, hold them until you heard the startup sound for three times and release.
Have you tried to startup in Safe mode, hold the Shift key at startup.

I tried the second and third option. But did not work.
Unfortunately i formatted the USB installation disk that i had created. So could not try the first option. Will be recreating the USB install disk tomorrow using my friends mac.

When i tried the safe mode option, after boot there was the same blank screen with a busy mouse cursor.

Will let you know if it works.

Regards
~Sameer

[justperry]

Originally Posted by sameersbn

I tried the second and third option. But did not work.
Unfortunately i formatted the USB installation disk that i had created. So could not try the first option. Will be recreating the USB install disk tomorrow using my friends mac.

When i tried the safe mode option, after boot there was the same blank screen with a busy mouse cursor.

Will let you know if it works.

Regards
~Sameer

Did you format it as GUID, if not it won't boot!!
If you for instance formatted it as Apple Partition Map only PPC Macs boot from it.
So be sure it is GUID, you can check this in Disk Utility, click on the HD and in the bottom it will say the Partition Scheme.

[sameersbn]

Originally Posted by justperry

Did you format it as GUID, if not it won't boot!!
If you for instance formatted it as Apple Partition Map only PPC Macs boot from it.
So be sure it is GUID, you can check this in Disk Utility, click on the HD and in the bottom it will say the Partition Scheme.

I just left it on for a long time and after a long time, maybe 3 hours something showed up on the screen and i was able to create a new account and login. It just seems to be extremely slow. Even the clean install kinda blows. Not what i had come to expect from a mac.

So far so good. Even after a reboot it was logging in quicker. Didn't have to wait 3 hours

Thanks for all the help.

Regards
~Sameer

[monkeybagel]

I think your first problem is installing an OS from an untrusted source. It is never a good idea to install software from an untrusted source - especially an OS!

[justperry]

Originally Posted by monkeybagel

I think your first problem is installing an OS from an untrusted source. It is never a good idea to install software from an untrusted source - especially an OS!

The problem before was that Apple didn't have a way to download or order the disk but they do now, you can order a OS X Snow Leopard disk again for $19.99 online.
Just a while ago this was not the case and then you could run into problems, the only way was to download a disk illegally.
Is this a good idea, probably not, there is always a chance someone installed malware on it although the chance isn't that big.
Windows does have a much higher chance to have viruses inside than OS X.
If I had an older machine and Apple doesn't have a legit way to get one legally I would download it but then at least clean it before I would go online.

[monkeybagel]

Originally Posted by justperry

The problem before was that Apple didn't have a way to download or order the disk but they do now, you can order a OS X Snow Leopard disk again for $19.99 online.
Just a while ago this was not the case and then you could run into problems, the only way was to download a disk illegally.
Is this a good idea, probably not, there is always a chance someone installed malware on it although the chance isn't that big.
Windows does have a much higher chance to have viruses inside than OS X.
If I had an older machine and Apple doesn't have a legit way to get one legally I would download it but then at least clean it before I would go online.

OS X discs are easier to modify that Windows installation disks. Look at all of the version that came out for Tiger and Leopard that had custom installers, kexts, etc. Windows can be modified, but they also use more digital signatures in their installers.

You may not get anything malicious in a downloaded OS X installer, but you very well could (did) get a broken one.

Even if you have a gray restore disc, which you should be able to locate, you could edit some files on that and make it work and know what you have.