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Help with macbook model A1181

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da2005pizimp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 30, 2006
276
0
Gilbert, AZ
Hello all, I bought a MacBook model A1181, but the hard drive was wiped clean. I checked to make sure the hard drive and ram were still installed, and they are.

When I turn the MacBook on, I hear it chime and then it just shows a white screen. I purchased a MacBook recovery disk set, snow leopard, and tried to install it. When the install screen pops up, I click English, but as I do that a little screen pops up and says "cannot be installed on this computer"???? I went in to disk utility and erased the hard drive and created a new partition, but this has not helped. Any advice is greatly appreciated. If you would like screen shots I can take pictures to help clarify the issue. Thank you in advance.
 
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madmacfan

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2012
282
2
London, United Kingdom
da2005pizimp said:
Hello all, I bought a MacBook model A1181, but the hard drive was wiped clean. I checked to make sure the hard drive and ram were still installed, and they are.

When I turn the MacBook on, I hear it chime and then it just shows a white screen. I purchased a MacBook recovery disk set, snow leopard, and tried to install it. When the install screen pops up, I click English, but as I do that a little screen pops up and says "cannot be installed on this computer"???? I went in to disk utility and erased the hard drive and created a new partition, but this has not helped. Any advice is greatly appreciated. If you would like screen shots I can take pictures to help clarify the issue. Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...


Boot from the snow leopard disc. Open up disk utility from the top menubar. Click partition, select 1 partition, then make sure the disk format is set to Mac OS Extended format before clicking apply. Exit disk utility and start the Snow Leopard installation. If that doesn't work then the hard drive is likely to have died and will need replacing.
 
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da2005pizimp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 30, 2006
276
0
Gilbert, AZ
madmacfan thank you for your reply. I tried that and it still has that pop up. I have posted pictures so you can see what i'm working with. I have an extra hard drive laying around I will try that and see what happens.
 
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madmacfan

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2012
282
2
London, United Kingdom
da2005pizimp said:
Just tried a new hard drive and it still happens????
Click to expand...

Ok, when you partition the disc, select 1 partition and make sure you've selected mac os extended format as I said before, but this time click the options button just below the white box showing the partitions and click on GUID Partition scheme. click apply, exit disk utility and run the snow leopard installer. This should fix your problem.
 
AppleFanatic10

AppleFanatic10

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2010
2,802
295
Hawthorne, CA
da2005pizimp said:
madmacfan thank you for your reply. I tried that and it still has that pop up. I have posted pictures so you can see what i'm working with. I have an extra hard drive laying around I will try that and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I don't see any pictures. Anyway, I know you said it's macbook a1811, but there are about 4-5 of them with that same number... do you know what year it was made in? You might have to get the actual disc that it came with when the mac was first released....
 
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da2005pizimp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 30, 2006
276
0
Gilbert, AZ
Sorry the photos had to be resized, but anyways here are the photos of what I'm seeing. It still won't let me install, even though I have done everything that you suggested. The bottom says 2007 for the date if that helps. I can go into system profiler to get more specs if necessary. Thanks again folks I greatly appreciate the help.
 

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Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
Yes Chris is right : that grey disc (10.6.1) is specific to another model of Macbook, hence the message you got (can't be installed on this computer).

You can get a Snow Leopard (10.6.3) retail DVD from the Apple Store :
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Once installed, download and install the Combo 10.6.8 update, then run Software update to get all the security updates and other as well.
 
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da2005pizimp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 30, 2006
276
0
Gilbert, AZ
chrislufc1977 said:
You need to get different restore discs as yours would not have shipped with 10.6 Snow Leopard.

I have the same model and it is running 10.5 Leopard.

Better still, get a retail version of Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, I just purchased Snow Leopard from apple for 20 bucks. Hopefully this resolves the issue. I thought that these macbooks came with this software, my bad lol.

Bruno09 said:
Yes Chris is right : that grey disc (10.6.1) is specific to another model of Macbook, hence the message you got (can't be installed on this computer).

You can get a Snow Leopard (10.6.3) retail DVD from the Apple Store :
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Once installed, download and install the Combo 10.6.8 update, then run Software update to get all the security updates and other as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the help, I am hoping that the software comes in the mail quickly as I really want to get this up and running. I'll let you all know how it goes. Thank you again.

chrislufc1977 said:
It amazes me how much people are trying to sell the retail discs for on eBay, when I can buy one for £14.00 at the Apple Store UK.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean, it seems as though everyone is trying to get one over on everyone else. that's just too bad.
 
G

gooser

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2013
514
51
are you the same guy in gilbert, arizona that i just bought an ibook from a couple of hours ago?
 
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da2005pizimp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 30, 2006
276
0
Gilbert, AZ
Just to update this thread, I purchased a snow leopard disk and it installed perfectly! Now I need to buy 11 more for the rest of them. Thanks to all of you for the help, your the best!!
 
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madmacfan

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2012
282
2
London, United Kingdom
da2005pizimp said:
Just to update this thread, I purchased a snow leopard disk and it installed perfectly! Now I need to buy 11 more for the rest of them. Thanks to all of you for the help, your the best!!
Click to expand...

Hi, if you've bought a retail disc, then you should be able to use the same disc to install snow leopard on all of your macs. Theres no need to get 11 more as a retail disc can be used on any type of intel based mac.
 
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WildCard^

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2013
152
0
da2005pizimp said:
I hear what your saying, but I do not want to break any laws by using one cd for multiple macbooks.
Click to expand...

Isn't it nice to see this behavior? You have a company make an update and charge a reasonable amount $20, and people like you and me don't have a problem paying for it. It is win-win, rewards the company for the fair pricing.

You have a company like Microsoft that charges 10x for their software, and no one pays for it.

OP, glad everything worked out for you.
 
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