Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Need Help.. MBP 13in M2010

-Ray-

-Ray-

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 2, 2011
225
138
Pennsylvania
My harddrive failed in my 2 month old MBP. I replaced it with a larger 500GB drive. Now when I tried to install off of my restore disk it fails. I presume because the disc is scratched.

I purchased the retail snow lepord disc at my local best buy. (10.6) and when it boots it says i must restart my computer and try again. Is there a reason for this? I know 10.6 came out in 2009 and my computer is about a 1 1/2 newer so I assume this is an issue with the drivers?

What are my options to get OSX up and running?
 
Did you erase the disk first? It's not usually required but it may help. Boot to OSX, run Disk Utility, and erase the disk. Then, make sure there's only 1 partition that takes up the full drive.
 
At lease your computer is still under the 1 year warranty, so you might want to schedule an appointment to get it looked at.
 
not exactly.. it has cracked screen glass due to me punching it after my harddrive failed.. not very smart. anyways,, its a 79$ fix for the glass


I tried installing 10.6.7 and 10.6.3 and im getting the no symbol? what is going on. My original disc at least boots but freezes due to a scratch. I wish there was somewhere online i could get this cd digitally
 
-Ray- said:
My harddrive failed in my 2 month old MBP. I replaced it with a larger 500GB drive. Now when I tried to install off of my restore disk it fails. I presume because the disc is scratched.

I purchased the retail snow lepord disc at my local best buy. (10.6) and when it boots it says i must restart my computer and try again. Is there a reason for this? I know 10.6 came out in 2009 and my computer is about a 1 1/2 newer so I assume this is an issue with the drivers?

What are my options to get OSX up and running?
Click to expand...

Wait, when you say 2 month old MBP, do you mean the HDD failed 2 months into brand new ownership or do you mean after getting it used (after the factory warranty has run out)? If it's under warranty, I'd always suggest going to Apple first for service. Now if you did the work, since I can't validate the quality of work you performed, it could involve other factors too. Not trying to knock your work quality but just saying it in general since I don't know you.

If you bought a replacement hard drive from a local store, if it doesn't specifically say that it's Mac Ready or something along those lines, I would suggest using Disk Utility upon bootup of the OSX disc and use the Erase Disk feature as someone previously mentioned, that's the safe route and allows OSX to partition and lay down the HFS+ filesystem before the OS gets installed.
 
thats the issue.. i cant even get into the disc utility with any disc but the original restore one that is scratched.

the HD i purchased is mac ready and was recommended by other mac users
My computer is 2 months old as i just bought it.
All other mac os discs including the retail one i bought hang with no symbol and spinning wheel or state i must restart right when i choose to boot from disc..

should i use the original disc to erase the drive, then try to install the OS via a a retail disc?
 
It sounds like there may be an issue with hardware itself. Is it possible that you may've affected the machine by replacing your hard drive? If so, I'd start with opening the unit up carefully, check and reseat the hard drive... however if you have someone that can check your new hard drive on a different machine, I'd do that first, just to make sure there's nothing wrong with the new hard drive.

Once you confirmed that the hard drive's in good working condition, check the RAM and make sure it didn't get jarred loose for whatever reason. Pull them out carefully, clean off the connectors and reinstall them. Take your time when doing this and under good lighting. Reinstall your hard drive properly.

Now insert the 10.6 disc and boot, if you're still seeing the spinning circle and the machine isn't booting to the CD, it's possible that either the disc is damaged and/or your optical drive isn't working properly. You could try and borrow an external USB/Firewire CD/DVD drive. Connect it and hold the OPTION key upon bootup (with your disc inside it).
 
im A+ certified. My install was clean and the HDD is in working order as im running windows on it as we speak. All cds work ie windows install, linux, but mac os is what im getting at. everything but.

My actual restore cd that comes with the computer actually takes me to the install but fails because it is scratched. i think i confused everybody.

i read online that 10.6 isnt compatable with my machine so that was a waste of 30. i need atleast. This is the one that states i must restart constantly. 10.6.3 which i downloaded. May be an issue with my burn? this is the one that displays no symbol.. so

10.6 - i must restart
10.6.4 restore cd fails as its scracthed.
10.6.3 displays no symbol..

hope thats clear
 
Being A+ certified means as much to me as me being MCSE/CCNA/CISSP certified means to you, but I'll have to take your word on the installation quality since I have no means of verifying it in person.

Well you provided some good info so now we can forget about the HDD and focus on your discs.

If you have a valid 10.6.4 restore disc but it's scratched, you could try and give a local store a call to see if they'd be willing to burn you a replacement disc. I was a prior PC/Mac service tech for 6 years and I used to keep ISO's of every single disc I used for servicing. Depending on the shop, they might charge you a small fee for the disc + time or if they're like me, I charged nothing for something like that.

I don't like using optical media too much because certain drives can have issues reading certain types of media/brands of discs. You could try burning it again, or trying a different type of disc. Another thing to look at when you use "downloaded software" especially full recovery/OS software is check to see if the poster provided a MD5 checksum hash so you can verify the integrity of the software you downloaded.
 
-Ray- said:
im A+ certified. My install was clean and the HDD is in working order as im running windows on it as we speak. All cds work ie windows install, linux, but mac os is what im getting at. everything but.

My actual restore cd that comes with the computer actually takes me to the install but fails because it is scratched. i think i confused everybody.

i read online that 10.6 isnt compatable with my machine so that was a waste of 30. i need atleast. This is the one that states i must restart constantly. 10.6.3 which i downloaded. May be an issue with my burn? this is the one that displays no symbol.. so

10.6 - i must restart
10.6.4 restore cd fails as its scracthed.
10.6.3 displays no symbol..

hope thats clear
Click to expand...

10.6.3 won't work either. You need at least 10.6.4, probably 10.6.5 if it isn't your specific restore disk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back