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Kernel Panic when trying to install 10.5 Leopard on Late '09 MBP

C

CptBucky

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
42
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Bought a new Macbook Pro 2.8 a few days ago (newest one with longer battery), it shipped with Snow Leopard.

However, I believe the Hardware is still the same as before Snow Leopard was released, so it should work with Leopard 10.5.

If I try to use a Leopard disc it just doesn't boot, or it comes up with a kernel panic. I even installed Leopard on my 2.5" in my Mac Pro first, then tried booting it on the macbook pro. Same thing, kernel panic.

Have they added some kind of lock to the hardware that stops Leopard from being loaded? I thought they would only do that when new hardware is released.
 
Where did you get this Leopard DVD from? If it's a version that was released before the hardware it won't have the required platform drivers and will just crash.
 
I got it online, I suppose it probably is an older version.

If I bought a retail copy of Leopard 10.5.6 would this work with the Late 09 MBP? I think 10.5.6 was released in November of 2008. That was when the Unibody Macbooks were just released. What kind of requirements does Leopard have? Does it have to be down to the exact GPU, Battery, CPU or just the logic board? If it's the Logic Board I would hope that the 10.5.6 Retail DVD would work.
 
CptBucky said:
I got it online, I suppose it probably is an older version.
Click to expand...
You need to find the version that was shipping with your laptop prior to SL. That is, if apple was shipping 10.5.5 with those MBPs you cannot load 10.5.4.

If you're intent on loading Leopard over Snow Leopard then I suggest you search ebay your model's system/install disks, i.e., unibody 09 MBP install disks.
 
Thanks for the info Robbie, I'll do some research and post an update if I find a 10.5.7 copy that works.
 
For anybody who is interested, I have some results to share..

I bought a 10.5.6 Retail copy of Leopard and tried to boot it from my late 09 Macbook Pro. The installation went perfectly. When I booted into Leopard after installation, the brightness function didn't work (even though it showed the brightness meter going up and down when I pressed the keys) and there was no sound. There was also no color profile installed.

All I had to do was update via Software update (to 10.5.7 and then to 10.5.8) and all the drivers were updated. A new color profile was also installed for the new Samsung LCD.

Since my main reason for rolling back to Leopard was because of a severely 'washed out' look in Snow Leopard, I am ecstatic with the results. Color is much more consistent throughout Leopard. It is deeper too. I installed a custom Spyder Profile and I couldn't be happier.

If anyone is wanting to purchase a laptop and be able to run Leopard, I suggest you do it soon because these will be the last ones that will allow you to do so.

One final note, when I ran the installation I didn't run it from the disc. I restored the disc to my iPod and booted from that. So if you don't have a retail copy of Leopard, I would assume that if you can get your hands on a 10.5.6 retail image, and have an iPod, it would work fine too.
 
CptBucky said:
For anybody who is interested, I have some results to share..

I bought a 10.5.6 Retail copy of Leopard and tried to boot it from my late 09 Macbook Pro. The installation went perfectly. When I booted into Leopard after installation, the brightness function didn't work (even though it showed the brightness meter going up and down when I pressed the keys) and there was no sound. There was also no color profile installed.

All I had to do was update via Software update (to 10.5.7 and then to 10.5.8) and all the drivers were updated. A new color profile was also installed for the new Samsung LCD.

Since my main reason for rolling back to Leopard was because of a severely 'washed out' look in Snow Leopard, I am ecstatic with the results. Color is much more consistent throughout Leopard. It is deeper too. I installed a custom Spyder Profile and I couldn't be happier.

If anyone is wanting to purchase a laptop and be able to run Leopard, I suggest you do it soon because these will be the last ones that will allow you to do so.

One final note, when I ran the installation I didn't run it from the disc. I restored the disc to my iPod and booted from that. So if you don't have a retail copy of Leopard, I would assume that if you can get your hands on a 10.5.6 retail image, and have an iPod, it would work fine too.
Click to expand...

or instead of wasting the time and money you could have just gone to system preferences> monitors> calibrated a new monitor with 1.8 gamma
 
Kat King123 said:
or instead of wasting the time and money you could have just gone to system preferences> monitors> calibrated a new monitor with 1.8 gamma
Click to expand...

I didn't waste any of my time or money. I already tried calibrating Snow Leopard to a great degree. It is well known that Snow Leopard has color calibration issues, among a list of other serious bugs and annoyances.

This thread is here to help those who have the same issue.
 
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