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Just got a used 15" i7, snow leopard DVD won't boot.

R

Rotary8

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 24, 2006
170
0
I recently got this mbp off a buddy of mine who lost his restore DVD. Luckily for me I have a retail install DVD here. I tried to do a fresh install but the boot up disc just hangs at the grey screen with the apple logo. The DVD just stops spinning. I shut down and tried it again, and eventually different install methods from holding option, c, install through the OS with no luck. I even made an image and load the sucker up on a USB drive to no avail. The DVD, SuperDrive are all fine, I've installed this same DVD on other, older MacBooks.

Is it safe to assume that I need an updated (perhaps 10.6.3) install DVD? If so would borrowing the restore DVD from another similar mbp i7/i5 owner work on my machine?

It'd be nice to know before I spend the money on another disc.

Thanks!
 
Will the computer boot at all to the desktop? In other words, did it boot up to the desktop since you bought it from him?
 
Rotary8 said:
Is it safe to assume that I need an updated (perhaps 10.6.3) install DVD? If so would borrowing the restore DVD from another similar mbp i7/i5 owner work on my machine?
Click to expand...

That may be the problem, you could also call Apple - they will ship the restore DVDs for that model (they generally charge $15/disc).
 
Yup. Been using it fine for the past couple of days. There are little things here and there I find annoying with his settings, installs, and disk utilities has a weird log full of permissions which I fixed. But still I'd rather have a fresh computer.
 
r.j.s said:
That may be the problem, you could also call Apple - they will ship the restore DVDs for that model (they generally charge $15/disc).
Click to expand...

Let's just say I know someone with a similar Mac, and they have that DVD, would it run on my machine?
 
r.j.s said:
Yes.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I may need to call apple then. Thanks. And I'll update this thread after it works. I intend on upgrading the ram and hdd but what good would that be if I'm unable to install the os on it.
 
You don't need a restore DVD, the retail DVD should work. Just make sure it's very clean and fingerprint free. Unless your retail DVD is faulty, the restore disc won't do better than the retail version. Reset the PRAM first, then shut it down. Boot it up and place the retail SL DVD in the superdrive. Click Install Mac OS X and see where it goes from there. Keep in mind that it does take a while sometimes to get to the install screen.
 
HLdan said:
You don't need a restore DVD, the retail DVD should work. Just make sure it's very clean and fingerprint free. Unless your retail DVD is faulty, the restore disc won't do better than the retail version. Reset the PRAM first, then shut it down. Boot it up and place the retail SL DVD in the superdrive. Click Install Mac OS X and see where it goes from there. Keep in mind that it does take a while sometimes to get to the install screen.
Click to expand...

The retail DVD is clean, it has worked on three other machines. My theory has been the difference in install versions. I have 10.6. The restore DVD with thus MacBook i7 might've started the machine off at 10.6.3 right from the factory.

I did reset PRAM as well as SMU. I'll give it another go.
 
It's likely that you DO need the 10.6.3 DVD or newer to boot your MBP, the 10.6 Retail DVD by itself won't work. The new MacBook Pros ship with 10.6.3 (or 10.6.4) and they come with updated drivers for the model. The 10.6.3 DVDs they are selling in the stores now have drivers for every Mac model currently on the market, and will boot any new Mac machine. Good luck!
 
WardC said:
It's likely that you DO need the 10.6.3 DVD or newer to boot your MBP, the 10.6 Retail DVD by itself won't work. The new MacBook Pros ship with 10.6.3 (or 10.6.4) and they come with updated drivers for the model. The 10.6.3 DVDs they are selling in the stores now have drivers for every Mac model currently on the market, and will boot any new Mac machine. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I figured that's what it was. I'll call apple and fork over the $15 for the restore disc.

I really hope that's it. The machine works fine currently, just rather it be customized to me with my name on it.

Thanks!
 
If the disk is older than the shipped image it might not have the drivers.

If that's the case you can go into the Apple Store with your Snow Leopard disk and complain; sometimes they'll let you swap it out.
 
Got a hold of a friends' 10.6.3 retail DVD and still has the same problem. I tried using another mac to install that dvd onto a USB external drive and booted up perfectly on my older macbook. I take it to my new i7 mbp and it won't get past the grey apple icon screen. I think there is something wrong with my boot up process, where nothing will boot other than the main drive.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have one card left, which is the restore dvd I ordered from apple, specific to my machine.

This is pretty frustrating, starting to think I got a lemon. Good thing is applecare travels between owners. Worst comes to worst this is going to the genius bar.
 
Rotary8 said:
Got a hold of a friends' 10.6.3 retail DVD and still has the same problem. I tried using another mac to install that dvd onto a USB external drive and booted up perfectly on my older macbook. I take it to my new i7 mbp and it won't get past the grey apple icon screen. I think there is something wrong with my boot up process, where nothing will boot other than the main drive.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have one card left, which is the restore dvd I ordered from apple, specific to my machine.

This is pretty frustrating, starting to think I got a lemon. Good thing is applecare travels between owners. Worst comes to worst this is going to the genius bar.
Click to expand...

if someone here has successfully booted their mid 2010 mac through the dvd or usb with a retail snow leopard disk then your computer is most likely faulty. i did a restore on my i7 the other day with the original restore disk and it booted perfectly. i should have tried it with the retail snow leopard disk which i do have, but it's too late.

Has anyone restored using a SL retail or drop-in DVD?
 
Even if the machine shipped with 10.6.3 on it (which they did I believe), that will not be the same installation as a 10.6.3 Retail DVD. If you had a 10.6.4 Retail DVD it would work though (though these do not exist to my knowledge).

Apple has in the past released newer machines with the current OS + additional drivers needed to make them work. The only way a Retail DVD works for these newer machines is if it is one . release past the initial release of that machine (so 10.6.4 in this case).
 
bamf said:
Even if the machine shipped with 10.6.3 on it (which they did I believe), that will not be the same installation as a 10.6.3 Retail DVD. If you had a 10.6.4 Retail DVD it would work though (though these do not exist to my knowledge).

Apple has in the past released newer machines with the current OS + additional drivers needed to make them work. The only way a Retail DVD works for these newer machines is if it is one . release past the initial release of that machine (so 10.6.4 in this case).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply,

I have another question for everyone else though. I'm having upgrade ram and bigger hdd coming today. Could I throw my new hdd in an enclosure, use an older MacBook to install the os via USB, run it through the update then finally install that hdd on my mbp i7?


Would that work?

It could be a week before my restore DVD arrives.
 
If you go to 10.6.4 it might. Doesn't hurt to try it. Use the combo update though, not the software update download.

In theory, you are supposed to be able to move HDDs from one machine to another in the Mac family...
 
bamf said:
If you go to 10.6.4 it might. Doesn't hurt to try it. Use the combo update though, not the software update download.

In theory, you are supposed to be able to move HDDs from one machine to another in the Mac family...
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance but what's this combo update you speak of?

Thanks
 
The combo update is designed to work on all Mac machines that run a given OS (Snow Leopard for instance), so they will update any machine to 10.6.x. They contain the drivers for all machines, which is why I was suggesting you use that to update your machine since you will be using a MBP in the end and are using a Macbook to install to the drive.

Here is a link to the update for 10.6.4 on the Apple site: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048?viewlocale=en_US
 
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