Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HOW to do a fresh install of OSX Lion?

K

kona0197

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
68
7
So I have a 2007 Macbook. 2 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive. When powered on it will drop me in Disk Utilities and pop up a box with the following options: Retsore computer using Time Machine, Do a fresh Install of Lion, Get help online, and I forget the last option, LOL. So when I choose to install Lion it checks my Apple ID and says I have never downloaded Lion with my account. I bought the machine on eBay with Lion already installed. No disc came with the machine.


So now the machine will not let me install Lion, Nor will it boot a Snow Leopard disc I have even after holding down the control or C buttons. Just defualts to the that screen with the four options.


So I have a Leopard disc and a Snow lepoard disc. And all I have at my disposal are a Windows 7 machine, DVD-R discs, and a 8 GB USB stick.


HOW do I get Lion reinsatalled or at least Snow Leopard?

Would TransMac do the trick?
 
are your lion and snow leopard disks legit?

if so try booting while holding down alt/option key (will show you all bootable medias...hd,cd ect)
 
Yes the discs are legit. I think the Superdrive in the MacBook is on its last leg as it will not read them. I can use the Windows laptop to make an image of the discs. Again, would TransMac work to reinstall OSX?
 
kona0197 said:
Yes the discs are legit. I think the Superdrive in the MacBook is on its last leg as it will not read them. I can use the Windows laptop to make an image of the discs. Again, would TransMac work to reinstall OSX?
Click to expand...

I have not used TransMac, but from looking at their web page... I have an idea that might work.

Can you use Transmac on the PC to make a DMG of the Snow Leopard DVD installer? Then save that DMG to a USB key. Now go back to the Mac in that recovery screen you can use Disk Utility to follow these instructions to make a USB installer. You would need two USB keys, one for the DMG and another for the SL installer. I think this would work.

Another option... do you have access to another Mac somewhere? If you do, you can call 1800MYAPPLE and for $20 they will sell you a code to enter in the App Store to get Lion. Login to the App Store with your AppleID and redeem that code but don't DL the Lion installer. Now go back to your Mac and when you are prompted for the AppleID to install Lion just use yours and it will now work since you bought Lion.
 
I'm bit worried about this:

Has been formatted with a GUID partition type

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948

Of course TransMac uses the Leopard image when it formats the USB stick. Hope this works. I have no other way to make the Mac work until payday.
 
If it's your macbook's dvd that is causing the issue...you could

-try borrowing a friends mac and doing a "target" install using firewire

-go to bb and get a usb portable dvd,boot using alt/option,install osx,take portable dvd back to bb ;-)
 
I don't have any friends that own a Mac. Sorry. And I own a 8GB USB drive. I will see if TransMac does the job. Just worried it will not boot the USB stick.
 
kona0197 said:
I'm bit worried about this:

Has been formatted with a GUID partition type

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948

Of course TransMac uses the Leopard image when it formats the USB stick. Hope this works. I have no other way to make the Mac work until payday.
Click to expand...

Your recovery partition on your Mac is still working. Just command-r boot to that and use Disk Util from there to format the USB key how you need it.
 
So everything went OK. I have Snow Leopard installed. The question is should I go for Lion or just stick to Snow Leopard. I only have 2 GB of RAM.
 
kona0197 said:
So everything went OK. I have Snow Leopard installed. The question is should I go for Lion or just stick to Snow Leopard. I only have 2 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Just stick to snow leopard unless you need lion or mountain lion to run a specific app you need.
 
Congrats...I have a black macbook 2.4GHz,2 gigs ram,ssd....have run both snow leopard and lion on it...found snow leopard to be slightly more responsive and the fans rev up less often.....stick to snow leopard.
 
kona0197 said:
So everything went OK. I have Snow Leopard installed. The question is should I go for Lion or just stick to Snow Leopard. I only have 2 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Glad it worked out. :)

I agree with my friends here... unless you need iCloud or something specific Lion brings to the party, I would just leave it be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back