Mid-2010 Mac Pro: Can I still use Snowleopard boxed installer?

[reel2reel]

The first thing I do when I get a Mac is wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install (so I can customize). With my new Mid-2010 Hex, I used the included System disc to do the install.

But I'm wondering...am I able to use my boxed "universal" Snowleopard installer for the new Mac?

I'm trying to troubleshoot the display problem I'm having (random hits of static) and might try a fresh install from the boxed installer this time.

 

[Intell]

Yes, only if the boxed set disc has the same version or newer then th reinstallation disc. Meaning, don't install 10.6.1 if the reinstallation disc is 10.6.4.

 

[eawmp1]

I'm trying to troubleshoot the display problem I'm having (random hits of static) and might try a fresh install from the boxed installer this time.

If your having problems from SL install from your original system disk (and then ran Software Update), installing from a retail copy of SL will do nothing more.

 

[philipma1957]

lets say your boxed snow was a 10.6.2 lets say your mac pro disc is 10.6.4 you need to do a work around. boot the pro open the dvd tray. put the old version 10.62 in the tray don't close the tray. go upper left corner and click the apple power the machine off. the tray should close as part of the power off. once machine is fully turn off pull the plug out. open the pro and pull all the hdds. close the pro put the plug in boot holding the control c keys. since the only way for the machine to boot is off the older dvd it will try to do it. it may work it may not. depends on a lot of things mostly what drivers are on the older snow disc.

frankly your machine is new I would be at an apple store instead of trying to troubleshoot it.

 

[goMac]

lets say your boxed snow was a 10.6.2 lets say your mac pro disc is 10.6.4 you need to do a work around. boot the pro open the dvd tray. put the old version 10.62 in the tray don't close the tray. go upper left corner and click the apple power the machine off. the tray should close as part of the power off. once machine is fully turn off pull the plug out. open the pro and pull all the hdds. close the pro put the plug in boot holding the control c keys. since the only way for the machine to boot is off the older dvd it will try to do it. it may work it may not. depends on a lot of things mostly what drivers are on the older snow disc.

What? This will in no way work. The disk will do the exact same thing it did before, not boot, except now you have no hard drives in.

Not to mention, if all your drives are pulled, how do you reinstall OS X?

 

[reel2reel]

frankly your machine is new I would be at an apple store instead of trying to troubleshoot it.

I don't see the point, though, if it might be a driver issue. I already called Apple, however, and have a case file started.

Thanks to everyone for the info.

 

[philipma1957]

What? This will in no way work. The disk will do the exact same thing it did before, not boot, except now you have no hard drives in.

Not to mention, if all your drives are pulled, how do you reinstall OS X?

if it boots and it might you can install the the osx onto a usb drive. the usb drive must be added after he gets the pro to boot. the usb drive must be not formatted. use the retail older dvd to format it and partition it for a mac boot drive.

the pro will search for a boot drive you must have nothing but the dvd in the machine.

by the way the reason the disk does not boot is the pro sees a new osx on the machine in the hdds. my way will allow the pro to read the older retail dvd and try to boot it. and I don't know if it will work but this has worked for many other macs. such as minis MBP's and iMac's with tiger snow and snow leopard retro installs

 

[goMac]

I don't see the point, though, if it might be a driver issue. I already called Apple, however, and have a case file started.

Thanks to everyone for the info.

Honestly, it sounds like your card is DOA.

Your Snow Leopard retail disks don't include drivers for your card, in fact, the disk that came with your computer is the first version of OS X that does. So you're running both the newest, and oldest drivers already. The lack of drivers actually is the reason why your retail disks won't work at all.

 

[philipma1957]

yes lack of drivers may not let an older dvd install.

I mentioned that in my first post.

 

[reel2reel]

Honestly, it sounds like your card is DOA.

Your Snow Leopard retail disks don't include drivers for your card, in fact, the disk that came with your computer is the first version of OS X that does. So you're running both the newest, and oldest drivers already. The lack of drivers actually is the reason why your retail disks won't work at all.

Yes, I get that now (about the install disc) but I doubt the card is DOA. If you've been following the threads, people have already had replacements and are still getting the same problems. It's happening with all brands of monitors, some out of the Dual-Link DVI (like mine) others out of the MDP.

I've got AppleCare so I'm not too worried. I just don't see the point of needlessly switching out the hardware.

 

[WardC]

Roman23 did the board upgrade on his 2009 Mac Pro and upgraded the boards to 5,1. He kept his existing 10.6.4 install on his HD, and after running Geekbench with the 10F569 build of Snow Leopard, he was getting exactly one-half as high scores in Geekbench (5200 instead of 11400), he then installed Snow Leopard from the 2010 Mac Pro disks and he was back to his 11400 Geekbench scores (this is with the W3580 3.33GHz quad chip). It turns out that the 2010 Mac Pro Snow Leopard build has drivers for the processor bus that are different from the 10F569 build that is currently the latest update from Apple for all other machines. You MUST use the 2010 Disks that came with the machine or newer to install Snow Leopard, the older builds probably won't even install, but if you were able to run an older build your machine would be running at half speed. Kinda weird, but this is what happened. The newer build of Snow Leopard that comes with the 2010 Mac Pro contains specific drivers for the boards in the machine to interface with the processor.

 

[reel2reel]

So I booted up to a previous Snow Leopard system (10.6.4 on a FW drive) that was installed from the boxed discs (as opposed to system discs) and I haven't had one blip of static/snow on my monitor all day. I'm using Color to do some grading, btw. Also did some work in Lightroom and Final Cut Pro.

EDIT: OK, a day later I rebooted to the same drive and got (for the first time) the 'old TV' effect. The screen was just snow, coming in and out like a tv station going in and out of tune. Never had that on my main system, the one installed from the Mac Pro system discs.

Next, I'll try booting from the System install disc for a day. There's not much I can do when booted from the System Disc but I'm getting tired of waiting for a fix, so anything I can report back to Apple is worth it.