MacBook cleared OS, big problems (Need Fast Help)

[Branski81]

Alright,

Lets start off with this, if anyone can trouble shoot me, or give me some advice, ANYTHING; please, reply NOW.

I will try ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. I use my computer for online school, and I don't have it anymore. Let me explain more...

So I was having a problem with my MacBook, Late 2008, White 13" 2.4GHz, X3100... yada yada yada.

WAS running a 10.7.x (.5 I think) and WASN'T a legit copy. (Bought this computer used, not my fault)

Decided to reboot my computer this morning because it was running unusally slow. When I went to reboot it, well... it wouldn't reboot. So, I got it into Disk Utility, did a check to see if my Hard drive was okay.. did that test thing to see if it was sound and working.. everything turned out good.

Well, my dumb*** decided to wipe the whole drive. So... I guess my OS was cleared? (I'm typing this off of the Disk Utility troubleshooting browser, so I'm STILL able to use my computer,) but when I start it, it will boot into Disk Utility right away.

I DO have 10.4 disks that came with the computer. I TRIED booting it from the disk, but it takes me right back to Disk Utility.

If ANYONE can shed some light on this situation, because i'm rtarded when it comes to Macs. I LOVE these things, but I'm a deeduhdee.


Thanks for reading all, really do appreciate all your guys' hard work and support.
Y'all are some good dudes.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Alright,

Lets start off with this, if anyone can trouble shoot me, or give me some advice, ANYTHING; please, reply NOW.

I will try ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. I use my computer for online school, and I don't have it anymore. Let me explain more...

So I was having a problem with my MacBook, Late 2008, White 13" 2.4GHz, X3100... yada yada yada.

WAS running a 10.7.x (.5 I think) and WASN'T a legit copy. (Bought this computer used, not my fault)

Decided to reboot my computer this morning because it was running unusally slow. When I went to reboot it, well... it wouldn't reboot. So, I got it into Disk Utility, did a check to see if my Hard drive was okay.. did that test thing to see if it was sound and working.. everything turned out good.

Well, my dumb*** decided to wipe the whole drive. So... I guess my OS was cleared? (I'm typing this off of the Disk Utility troubleshooting browser, so I'm STILL able to use my computer,) but when I start it, it will boot into Disk Utility right away.

I DO have 10.4 disks that came with the computer. I TRIED booting it from the disk, but it takes me right back to Disk Utility.

If ANYONE can shed some light on this situation, because i'm rtarded when it comes to Macs. I LOVE these things, but I'm a deeduhdee.


Thanks for reading all, really do appreciate all your guys' hard work and support.
Y'all are some good dudes.

OS X 10.4 disks with a 2008 late macbook? That doesn't even sound right. I think you need at least 10.5-10.5.5 depending on which late 2008 macbook you have. Do you have the one that looks like a MBP or the white one.

 

[Branski81]

Note:

Disk Utility keeps telling me to Install OS X Lion from the menu.

I don't have a legit copy of Lion. Don't plan on buying it, I just want this computer to have a legitimate operating system whether it's 10.4 or 10.7.

Also note:

I have no back ups or anything I want to restore. I am willing to troubleshoot under any means and erase everything over and over again... because I already did that.

Keep in mind I'm an 18 year old PC user. Love my Mac and don't plan on switching though.

----------

OS X 10.4 disks with a 2008 late macbook? That doesn't even sound right. I think you need at least 10.5-10.5.5 depending on which late 2008 macbook you have. Do you have the one that looks like a MBP or the white one.

I have the white one.

So, I got the wrong disks with this MB, eh?

I REALLY don't have the money to buy a OS X disk..

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Note:

Disk Utility keeps telling me to Install OS X Lion from the menu.

I don't have a legit copy of Lion. Don't plan on buying it, I just want this computer to have a legitimate operating system whether it's 10.4 or 10.7.

Also note:

I have no back ups or anything I want to restore. I am willing to troubleshoot under any means and erase everything over and over again... because I already did that.

Keep in mind I'm an 18 year old PC user. Love my Mac and don't plan on switching though.

OS X 10.4 isn't compatible with the mac you listed. The oldest OS X your computer will operate on is 10.5 or 10.5.5 depending on which one you have.

Which one of these do you have exactly?

----------

Note:

Disk Utility keeps telling me to Install OS X Lion from the menu.

I don't have a legit copy of Lion. Don't plan on buying it, I just want this computer to have a legitimate operating system whether it's 10.4 or 10.7.

Also note:

I have no back ups or anything I want to restore. I am willing to troubleshoot under any means and erase everything over and over again... because I already did that.

Keep in mind I'm an 18 year old PC user. Love my Mac and don't plan on switching though.

----------




I have the white one.

So, I got the wrong disks with this MB, eh?

I REALLY don't have the money to buy a OS X disk..

Sorry posted this right after you wrote this lol. Pretty much yes. It's only $20 from apple. Or you can check ebay. I don't think they're expensive.

----------

Note:

Disk Utility keeps telling me to Install OS X Lion from the menu.

I don't have a legit copy of Lion. Don't plan on buying it, I just want this computer to have a legitimate operating system whether it's 10.4 or 10.7.

Also note:

I have no back ups or anything I want to restore. I am willing to troubleshoot under any means and erase everything over and over again... because I already did that.

Keep in mind I'm an 18 year old PC user. Love my Mac and don't plan on switching though.


----------




I have the white one.

So, I got the wrong disks with this MB, eh?

I REALLY don't have the money to buy a OS X disk..

Have you clicked on reinstall Mac OSX Lion? Since the computer is registered it may install. How do you know that it's not a legit copy?

 

[seveej]

Decided to reboot my computer this morning because it was running unusally slow. When I went to reboot it, well... it wouldn't reboot. So, I got it into Disk Utility, did a check to see if my Hard drive was okay.. did that test thing to see if it was sound and working.. everything turned out good.

Well, my dumb*** decided to wipe the whole drive. So... I guess my OS was cleared? (I'm typing this off of the Disk Utility troubleshooting browser, so I'm STILL able to use my computer,) but when I start it, it will boot into Disk Utility right away.

If I understand this correctly, you've managed to boot into your (Lion's) recovery partition? I do not understand exactly how you say it wiped your drive, but IF that really happened, I'd do the following:

- buy a new drive, some USB-SATA connector and a Snow leopard disk (your local mac store should have them for around 30 €/$.
- remove the current drive and store it, install the new, and install SL on it.
- connect the old drive to your computer and use some data recovery software (I've had good experiences with filesalvage)

Keep in mind, that if you install any new (SL/Lion) OS on the same disk, you will lessen your chances of recovering your files...

RGDS,

 

[Branski81]

OS X 10.4 isn't compatible with the mac you listed. The oldest OS X your computer will operate on is 10.5 or 10.5.5 depending on which one you have.

Which one of these do you have exactly?

Image
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Sorry posted this right after you wrote this lol. Pretty much yes. It's only $20 from apple. Or you can check ebay. I don't think they're expensive.

----------



Have you clicked on reinstall Mac OSX Lion? Since the computer is registered it may install. How do you know that it's not a legit copy?

Late 2008, plastic White. Not the unibody.

I tried doing the install, but it asked for my Apple account and I didn't purchase the 10.7, and because when I first got this computer, I found the DMG file on here on the desktop, I got rid of it thinking that my disks were the right ones.

So, basically I'm S.O.L. until then. Schweet.

Well, when I do get those disks, and I were to run it using the (Option/ALT) key boot, it wont take me to Disk Utility and it will actually boot the installation?

 

[AppleFanatic10]

If I understand this correctly, you've managed to boot into your (Lion's) recovery partition? I do not understand exactly how you say it wiped your drive, but IF that really happened, I'd do the following:

- buy a new drive, some USB-SATA connector and a Snow leopard disk (your local mac store should have them for around 30 €/$.
- remove the current drive and store it, install the new, and install SL on it.
- connect the old drive to your computer and use some data recovery software (I've had good experiences with filesalvage)

Keep in mind, that if you install any new (SL/Lion) OS on the same disk, you will lessen your chances of recovering your files...

RGDS,

Just wondering...Doesn't he have to install Leopard first then SL?

----------

Late 2008, plastic White. Not the unibody.

I tried doing the install, but it asked for my Apple account and I didn't purchase the 10.7, and because when I first got this computer, I found the DMG file on here on the desktop, I got rid of it thinking that my disks were the right ones.

So, basically I'm S.O.L. until then. Schweet.

Well, when I do get those disks, and I were to run it using the (Option/ALT) key boot, it wont take me to Disk Utility and it will actually boot the installation?

I did this a couple days ago. If I remember correctly it would go straight into booting the software after you read the terms and all that crap lol. Hope this is helping. Make sure you get the correct disks this time.

 

[seveej]

Just wondering...Doesn't he have to install Leopard first then SL?

Nope (although the misunderstanding is understandable, as SL was originally very much marketed as an "upgrade" to Leopard)...

The Snow Leopard disks available from Apple (Usually 10.6.3) are fully capable of installing a fresh copy of SL on any compatible mac (The machine I'm writing with is "proof" of that).

RGDS,

 

[Branski81]

Nope (although the misunderstanding is understandable, as SL was originally very much marketed as an "upgrade" to Leopard)...

The Snow Leopard disks available from Apple (Usually 10.6.3) are fully capable of installing a fresh copy of SL on any compatible mac (The machine I'm writing with is "proof" of that).

RGDS,

Alright! So, got the .dmg file on my external hard drive, I got a 10.5.8 OS X file. How do I, from my mac that can only use Disk Utilities, can I boot from the External HD?

I have it partitioned, and it is set to read Mac's files and stuffs. The .DMG is on the partition, but it still doesn't pop up when I want to boot from that.

I forgot the process I need to do to make that a bootable device, can you shed some light?

Thank you everyone for their help. I'm really surprised in the support on this forum.

You guys rock.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Nope (although the misunderstanding is understandable, as SL was originally very much marketed as an "upgrade" to Leopard)...

The Snow Leopard disks available from Apple (Usually 10.6.3) are fully capable of installing a fresh copy of SL on any compatible mac (The machine I'm writing with is "proof" of that).

RGDS,

Ah, thanks for clarifying.

----------

Alright! So, got the .dmg file on my external hard drive, I got a 10.5.8 OS X file. How do I, from my mac that can only use Disk Utilities, can I boot from the External HD?

I have it partitioned, and it is set to read Mac's files and stuffs. The .DMG is on the partition, but it still doesn't pop up when I want to boot from that.

I forgot the process I need to do to make that a bootable device, can you shed some light?

Thank you everyone for their help. I'm really surprised in the support on this forum.

You guys rock.

Try this: http://www.ehow.com/how_6836434_boot-os-external-hard-drive.html

 

[Branski81]

Ah, thanks for clarifying.

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Try this: http://www.ehow.com/how_6836434_boot-os-external-hard-drive.html

Tried doing that. I have my .DMG file on a DVD and everything, and my mac just wont read it in the "Select boot device" and it wont even pick it up when I hold down the "C" key upon start up.

Really loosing faith in this. I tried doing this with an external hard drive and that didn't work either.

What do I do. I've been sitting on this computer for 7 hours trying to get it to work, and I have schoolwork to do in 3.

Someone please give me a detailed walkthrough.

I have the 10.5.8 DMG. I CAN ONLY ACCESS the Recovery Drive menu with the:
"Time Machine Backup" (Have no back ups)
"Install new OS X Lion" (Never bought Lion, and don't want to)
"Search the Web for Troubleshooting" (Which I'm doing, and how I'm posting this"
"Disk Utilities" (Which I've been trying to burn a DVD that will boot my system into a OS, instead of the Recovery Drive and just giving me crap.

Can anyone help? AND give detailed instructions?


Thank you, fellas.

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By the way, I am in the "Lion OS X Recovery" that's what it is formally called. Sorry for my lack of exact terms.

 

[Branski81]

I'm assuming that the "Lion Recovery" or whatever it is, prevents anyone from using DMGs and makes them download the software from the store. If true, Apple pissed me off.

 

[Branski81]

Bump?

I also now have access to a Windows 7 PC, so I can make a bootable DVD if someone gives me the right instruction. I can't seem to find any in my extensive research, but i'm SURE someone has done it and i'm sure it's very common.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Bump?

I also now have access to a Windows 7 PC, so I can make a bootable DVD if someone gives me the right instruction. I can't seem to find any in my extensive research, but i'm SURE someone has done it and i'm sure it's very common.

The only way I know how to do that is by the link I gave you. I've never had to make a bootable DVD for a Mac so I'm not sure how to do it that way.

 

[rabidz7]

Tried doing that. I have my .DMG file on a DVD and everything, and my mac just wont read it in the "Select boot device" and it wont even pick it up when I hold down the "C" key upon start up.

Really loosing faith in this. I tried doing this with an external hard drive and that didn't work either.

What do I do. I've been sitting on this computer for 7 hours trying to get it to work, and I have schoolwork to do in 3.

Someone please give me a detailed walkthrough.

I have the 10.5.8 DMG. I CAN ONLY ACCESS the Recovery Drive menu with the:
"Time Machine Backup" (Have no back ups)
"Install new OS X Lion" (Never bought Lion, and don't want to)
"Search the Web for Troubleshooting" (Which I'm doing, and how I'm posting this"
"Disk Utilities" (Which I've been trying to burn a DVD that will boot my system into a OS, instead of the Recovery Drive and just giving me crap.

Can anyone help? AND give detailed instructions?


Thank you, fellas.

----------

By the way, I am in the "Lion OS X Recovery" that's what it is formally called. Sorry for my lack of exact terms.

Try booing from a Universal Serial Bus disk that contains the Snow Leopard installer.

 

[Branski81]

Guys,

The only way I can burn is from Recovery mode and i can access the InstallESD. dmg.

I can get to the whole package .dmg, but not the install. Is there someone that can upload it or something? 4Shared? I own 10.5 and 10.6 but i can't access them. So if anyone could give me that, it would be perfectly legal by Apples standards. I'm really ****ing stuck guys. I REALLY need to get my computer running and I have. No money. I just have the .dmg files and can't access the install file, please help!

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Guys,

The only way I can burn is from Recovery mode and i can access the InstallESD. dmg.

I can get to the whole package .dmg, but not the install. Is there someone that can upload it or something? 4Shared? I own 10.5 and 10.6 but i can't access them. So if anyone could give me that, it would be perfectly legal by Apples standards. I'm really ****ing stuck guys. I REALLY need to get my computer running and I have. No money. I just have the .dmg files and can't access the install file, please help!

Did you ever get this figured out?

 

[Branski81]

Nope. I just purchased a Snow Leopard disk online.

Still hasn't came though. Sucks not having my baby working.

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Did you ever get this figured out?

Nope. I just purchased a Snow Leopard disk online.

Still hasn't came though. Sucks not having my baby working.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Nope. I just purchased a Snow Leopard disk online.

Still hasn't came though. Sucks not having my baby working.

----------



Nope. I just purchased a Snow Leopard disk online.

Still hasn't came though. Sucks not having my baby working.

I'm sorry to hear that, but I really think that you should've gotten a 10.5.5 leopard cd instead of a SL one... have you looked at anymore sites like mac-forums and whatnot?

 

[Branski81]

I'm sorry to hear that, but I really think that you should've gotten a 10.5.5 leopard cd instead of a SL one... have you looked at anymore sites like mac-forums and whatnot?

Why do you suggest Leopard over SL?

and no, i thought about just coming to this forum.
I've looked and referenced here for smaller topics, but I thought it was time to join when I screwed myself over.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Why do you suggest Leopard over SL?

and no, i thought about just coming to this forum.
I've looked and referenced here for smaller topics, but I thought it was time to join when I screwed myself over.

Just because its the original cd that came with your Mac, that's all.