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Can't install Snow Leopard...

T

triplemoons

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2011
14
0
In preparation for the release of Lion, I'm trying to get my new (used) iMac up to snuff with Snow Leopard. I have the box set (iLife & iWorks) installation and my iMac is an Intel 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1GB of memory running 10.4.11 Tiger.

The iMac reads the disc, opens up the installer, but doesn't actually run the installer. Just reboots my machine back to the 10.4.11. I've tried holding down "c" to boot the DVD drive at reboot. I've tried holding down option during reboot to be able to select the DVD drive to boot to (the DVD drive doesn't load) and I've tried changing the Startup Disk in System Preferences.

Thoughts?
 
Sorry, just to clarify: you double clicked the 'Install Mac OS X' icon whilst booted into Tiger right?
 
When you say it opens the installer, how far does it actually get? Does it prompt you to select a language? Or does it get as far as the start screen where you click Next to do license and select a partition.
 
I believe the included screenshot is what you mean?

This is as far as I get.

Picture1-3.png
 
I did try attaching but this version of Safari won't let me attach anything to this forum. Basically after double clicking the Install Mac OS X image another window opens up to "Click the button below to restart your computer and begin the installation process." and when I click the restart button, it just loads back to the Tiger login screen.
 
My guess is that there's something wrong with the Snow Leopard DVD itself that is making it unbootable. E.g., scratches or some other defect.

If you can, try another copy of the media.

As a way to confirn whether or not the disc is bad, you could also try making a disk image of the DVD using disk utility (if you have HD space), as a way to do a low-level read of the entire contents of the DVD... if that results in read errors, that would pretty much confirm a problem reading the disk.

I guess it could even be the drive that is bad, not the media, but that seems a lot less likely.
 
Apple released a special pack for $150 that allowed Tiger users to upgrade to Snow Leopard, it included iLife and the upgrade to Snow Leopard, this is what you need to upgrade from Tiger. If you are trying to use a regular Snow Leopard install DVD then it won't work as you would need to upgrade to Leopard first.
 
I just attempted to open the Disk Utility App and it won't open. Double click it and it closes right away?

I would think if it were the drive, it wouldn't load anything, right?

rjeffreyproctor said:
I believe Snow Leopard required leopard for installation.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't. Google it (or run a search on these forums).
 
Weird one, I don't know if has anything to do with Tiger being the current OS but...

Usually the SL installer would begin the install process on the desktop whilst still booted into the current OS. It then restarts after doing a couple of bits. Looks as though yours is asking to restart immediately though?
 
rj86 said:
Usually the SL installer would begin the install process on the desktop whilst still booted into the current OS. It then restarts after doing a couple of bits. Looks as though yours is asking to restart immediately though?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what it appears to be trying to do. I purchased the kit used off of eBay, I wonder if something is off with it?
 
Last edited:
Looks like something was up with the disk as I was able to install my brother's copy of OSX Snow Leopard on the machine. :apple:
 
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