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thisbechuck

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 11, 2004
9
0
Hey guys. I was traveling in Latin America with my MacBook last week, and one day when I pressed the power key, all I got was a gray screen. I took it to an Apple "authorized retailer" down there, and the 'genius' determined that my hard drive had failed. When he inserted the install CD with the hard drive still in place, the computer still wouldn't start up, but when the hard drive was pulled, the computer happily booted of the CD. Hence, I ordered a new 250GB Western Digital Scorpio Notebook Hard Drive from newegg.com and installed it myself when I got home (today). Once this was done, I booted up from my MacBook install/recovery CD that came with my computer, and began the install process (selecting English as the main language). But once I reached this step, the computer flashed a dialog box displaying "Alert: This software cannot be installed on this computer". I've tried zapping the p-ram (cause that's just about the only thing I could think to try at the moment), and I don't have another Mactel machine to try booting off of (nor do I have a Mactel compatable Mac OS X install cd other than the apparently defective one included with the Macbook), so I'm stuck until my genius appointment (earliest one available is 8pm tomorrow), but in the mean time I'd appreciate any advice anyone might have regarding this and how it can be fixed. Many thanks in advance.

Eagerly awaiting your responses,
Charles
 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Most obvious answer -- your OSX install DVD is not actually the same one that came with your Mac new. Retail OSX disks, and any other model OSX disk won't work.

Assuming you have covered that --

Number two obvious answer: Did you Format (Erase) the new Scorpio drive with Disk Utility (under the Utilities menu at the top of the Installer screen) before attempting installation?

If the disk isn't formatted, you can't install nuttin' on it.

If you are confident that you have indeed formatted the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journalled), then I don't have an obvious answer number three...
 

thisbechuck

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 11, 2004
9
0
Hey CanadaRam, thanks for your reply. Yes, I checked the obvious answer #1, the CD reads "MacBook Install CD 1" and there is only 1 MacBook in the household. You were right, though, in that I had forgotten to format the drive as Mac OS Extended, but after doing so I still got the same alert, right after selecting English as the main language. (At first I was worried that the alert would prevent me from formatting the drive, but the menu options were available to me).

If it helps at all, the Installer version is 2.1.5 (94), and the install log up to the error message reads as follows: "
Launching the Installer using language code "English
@(#)PROGRAM:Install PROJECT:Install-138 DEVELOPER:root BUILT:Mar 1 2006 21:36:45\n
@(#)PROGRAM:Install PROJECT:Install-94 DEVELOPER:root BUILT:Jan 13 2006 18:32:16\n
Hardware: MacBook2,1 @ 2000 MHz (x2), 1024 MB
Running OS Build: 8I2025
Mac OS X Installation Log
Opened from: /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg
Entering Introduction section
Physical Memory Allocation: 156 MB wired, 43 MB active, 63 MB inactive, 262 MB used, 741 MB free, 1024 MB total
Distribution: Mac OS X
It took 1.579849 seconds to finish launching
Installation checks failed.
Installation check failure. (null). This software cannot be installed on this computer..
\n

Ideas anyone?
 

thisbechuck

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 11, 2004
9
0
Upon some reflection, I think I know what's wrong here. Back a few months after I first got my MacBook, I was having some problems with something (can't quite remember what at the moment), but the genius I brought it too decided it was necessary to replace it altogether. This was right after the Core 2 Duo MacBooks had just come out, and I was able to talk him into giving me one of those instead of a simple replace with an older Core Duo model. Problem is that the only thing he gave me was the computer, since he figured that I still had all the accessories and software from the Core Duo model. Since the software is system specific, however, the Core Duo install disk won't function on my Core 2 Duo laptop. I called up AppleCare and they are shipping me the appropriate software for my machine. So, I guess that's it for now-- unless anyone knows how to override the install checks...
 
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