Problem installing OS X.

[Loafmanuk]

Hi all, I'm afraid I'm new to Macs, so I may just be dumb, but I have spent about 8 hours so far trying to install OS X. I bought a sencond hand Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook which came with OS discs etc. but everything was password protected and I couldn't do anything with it. I formatted the hard drive (this was the main mistake I think). Now when I put the OS X 10.4.10 disc in and hold down the alt/option button I see a picture of a disc on the screen, with Mac OS X etc written under it and an arrow pointing up. I click on the arrow and the machine just reboots. I just saw that holding down 'D' while powering up runs diagnostics. When I do this it says it's not for this machine. Have I been done? And given the wrong discs for this machine? If so is there a workaround?

I really appreciate any help, as I have spent a lot of money on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[iBookG4user]

What happens if you hold down the 'c' key?

 

[Loafmanuk]

What happens if you hold down the 'c' key?

If I hold the 'c' key I hear the disc spinning up and reading a bit, then it reboots.

The only thing I see is a grey screen which goes black and reboots.

 

[leighonigar]

How did you manage to reformat the drive? If you couldn't log in before you must have booted up through holding down c or option with the disk in. I cannot fathom why this would no longer work to boot from the OS disk.

 

[Dan73]

Maybe the discs you received were not the original ones that came with the computer (and they're the type that only works with specific computers?)

 

[Consultant]

Probably the wrong disks. Ask to get the real disks.

 

[Loafmanuk]

Hi all, I formatted it with a windows based utility disc. I deleted all partitions (Wish I hadn't now of course). I am a very capable PC user and have no problem building/upgrading PC's and installing OS's on PCs.

I phoned the second hand shop earlier and they said it had a 7 day warranty, which has now expired (I've had it 9 days) and they don't want to know. I just hadn't used it until now.

I may have to buy a retail version of OS X, assuming of course it will work! Anyone know if that will work?

Thanks everyone for the replies!

 

[old-wiz]

Retail versions usually install on any system.