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New MBP Gone Awry - This Is A Nightmare

spooky69 said:
What advantage would a fresh install have if you are happy with the pre-installed software?
Click to expand...

The only advantage is that you can slim down the system with a few GB by not installing a huge load of printer drivers and language support - although if you want you can remove them from the preinstalled system so it is really not a big deal.
Fortunately the Mac doesn't come with a bunch of crapware installed like the Windows PCs so you are good to go out of the box...
 
I was quite impressed by how little space was taken up and the lack of bloatware included. I reckon most users can simply start it up, give the battery a full cycle and off they go.
 
BigBeast said:
Learn to go to apple.com/support or search google. I made you a shortcut tho... This is taken from the straight from the Mac Installation and Setup guide written by Apple and retrieved from apple.com/support>click on Mac OS on the left side of the page>click on the OS you need help with. All copyrights reside with Apple blah blah blah.

1 Insert the Mac OS X installation disc, and then double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
2 In the Installer, click Utilities, and then click Restart. 3 When the Language Chooser appears, select your language, and then click the
Continue button (looks like an arrow).
4 Choose Utilities > Disk Utility.
5 Select your disk from the list on the left, and then click the Erase tab.
6 Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format pop-up menu, type a name for your disk, and then click Erase.
After the disk has been erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility, and then follow the instructions in the Mac OS X Installer to reinstall Mac OS X.

Seriously tho, search apple.com/support- there's a wealth of knowledge there, and also google it.
Click to expand...

Would you still do this with the new Apple supplied SSD?
 
I'm knew to this too, sorry for side tracking. If I'll be installing win. too is this the time to split the hard drive to make room for win?
 
spooky69 said:
I thought that they would receive boxed products with the system pre-installed and ready to sell. Are you suggesting that they remove the products from the box, mirror a system onto a blank disc and then carefully repackage them? Really?

I used to do a fresh install with Windows machines simply because of all the rubbish that came pre-installed - happy to have the iLife stuff on here so I didn't do this with my MBP. What advantage would a fresh install have if you are happy with the pre-installed software?
Click to expand...

I did a fresh install on my new one as well last week when i recieved it. Only because i immidiatly swapped hard drives.

But, contrary to popular belief, OSX comes with several gigabytes of blootware. In the form of extra languages and a random assortment of printer drivers that take up in the ballpark of a 4th of the instal space required. You don't need any of these, (for the average person), so by doing a fresh install you gain about 2.5 GB of harddrive space back. This is a must for anyone doing a SSD configuration.
 
mike8717189 said:
I'm knew to this too, sorry for side tracking. If I'll be installing win. too is this the time to split the hard drive to make room for win?
Click to expand...

you can partition at any time. Its just as easy to wait and use the bootcamp utility to partition after you are already running osx
 
Alright, so they replaced the hard drive and everything is running swimmingly. The battery isn't quite living up to expectations, but I'm going to calibrate it and obviously won't be installing as many applications as I get settled into the new system. Really enjoying it now. Thank goodness.

One question, I have a version of MS Office 2008 for Mac on ISO (obtained legally through work, don't worry). Do I have to burn this to a DVD or is there a program that will let me install it straight from the HDD?
 
NateDogX said:
Alright, so they replaced the hard drive and everything is running swimmingly. The battery isn't quite living up to expectations, but I'm going to calibrate it and obviously won't be installing as many applications as I get settled into the new system. Really enjoying it now. Thank goodness.
Click to expand...
awsome that its working man! i thought they would have tested the HDDs more thoroughly! it must have been damaged in transit :(

One question, I have a version of MS Office 2008 for Mac on ISO (obtained legally through work, don't worry). Do I have to burn this to a DVD or is there a program that will let me install it straight from the HDD?
Click to expand...
hahaha - you really do have a lot to learn ;)

you should be able to mount that .iso file on your mac. double click it (to mount it) and then open the installer. it should run the installer, away you go!
 
Hmmm, the installation failed when I double-clicked on the CD image that appeared on the desktop of the Mac.
 
spooky69 said:
Are you suggesting that they remove the products from the box, mirror a system onto a blank disc and then carefully repackage them? Really?
Click to expand...

Nope... But there is no Chinese guy in the factory sat at the end of the assembly line with an OS X disk manually installing each MBP as it comes off the line.

OS X will be pre installed onto the HDD from a master image, with all the un-necessary bloat as well.

I have always built my own Windows systems and installed system builder versions of Windows, and so have missed out on all the crap that comes installed with a shop bought product. So yes, it makes sense to format and re-install OS X.
 
I managed to find another means of getting Microsoft Office 2008. All is well on that front. Now my concern is battery life. I just unplugged it from the AC adapter where it had been sitting all night. Previous to that charge, I had run the battery down until the computer fell asleep and let it sit until there was no response at all when I pressed the power button.

CoconutBattery currently lists the battery capacity at 98% at 5710 out of 5770 for the maximum charge. Not only that, but the timer for the computer says that it's got about 5 and a half hours left. I've gotten keyboard brightness on one notch and the brightness at about a quarter of the way full.

Any advice?
 
Could the fact that I didn't do a fresh install have something to do with my slightly lacking battery life in the new 13"?
 
As luck would have it, I did a clean install today and was able to get roughly a five-hour increase in the displayed battery time. Yay! Wondering if they flashed it with a 15" disk image. I noticed that the wattage going out cut in half after I did a clean install and used the pack-in OSX disc.
 
Not sure...

Lord Flashheart said:
Would you still do this with the new Apple supplied SSD?
Click to expand...

I personally don't reinstall when I get a new MBP- unless I see problems. Some people LIKE to reinstall when they get a new computer. I see no harm in doing a factory reinstall. It's up to you really. I just gave tips HOW to reinstall. In the originial poster's case, who was having system problems with a NEW Mac, I would just reinstall the OS- since he wouldn't be having to back up tons of files. If however, he'd been using his machine for a while, and had a lot of backing up to do, I would possibly look for ways to diagnose my problem and fix it manually.

As for me, the new Core i7 MBP that is on it's way to me in my sig, I will most likely do a fresh install right out of the box. Just because;)
 
tamasvarga67 said:
The only advantage is that you can slim down the system with a few GB by not installing a huge load of printer drivers and language support - although if you want you can remove them from the preinstalled system so it is really not a big deal.
Click to expand...

It (reinstalling the OS out of the box) also checks that you have a good set of discs and the drive works.
 
NateDogX said:
8. I turned it back on and got the prohibited sign after it sat on the Apple logo for a good while.
9. I've tried reinstalling Mac OS X a few times. I've gotten several errors messages including the disk can't be written to and a general "Install Failed" screen.
Click to expand...

This happened to me, and as people have said it is most likely the HDD as swapping it out for a new one fixed it for me. Don't waste any more of your time- you paid a premium to get a nice computer and Apple owes you to fix it asap.

During the install, it first copies files to the HDD, then it does a validation against the install DVD to make sure all the files copied correctly. The sign you are seeing is when the files on the HDD didn't match what was on the DVD.
 
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