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Problems installing Leopard

Install problem

I got the same basesystem error when I tried to install on a core duo 17 inch iMac. This was the second machine I tried to install. My macbook pro (core 2 duo) worked just fine....

I had some problems initially where it didn't like the filesystem of the imac.. it seemed to really mess up the hard drive.. I couldn't repair the disk... eventually I had to just erase the disk to move on... that's when the basesystem error started happening...

this is a bought (mailorder) dvd... family pack actually...

I'm going to erase the had drive and try again....

:(
 
iNewbie said:
I got the same basesystem error when I tried to install on a core duo 17 inch iMac. This was the second machine I tried to install. My macbook pro (core 2 duo) worked just fine....

I had some problems initially where it didn't like the filesystem of the imac.. it seemed to really mess up the hard drive.. I couldn't repair the disk... eventually I had to just erase the disk to move on... that's when the basesystem error started happening...

this is a bought (mailorder) dvd... family pack actually...

I'm going to erase the had drive and try again....

:(
Click to expand...

Try again w/o the erase- took my PB 3x to work w/my DVD it may be a combo drive issue w/DL data disks
 
Same problem

I bought OSX Leopard family edition and installed yesterday on my 2.4GHz Mac Book Pro-- worked perfectly. Writing this post on that machine.

This morning took the same install disk and installed leopard on my PowerBook G4. In this case I chose to do an erase disk + install. I got the "Install Failed" error due "could not validate the contents of the 'BaseSystem' package."

It would appear this is NOT a problem with the install DVD because it installed fine on my MacBook Pro yesterday, so unless I damaged the disk in between (like not a chance) it's some other kind of problem.

Perhaps it's a problem between intel processors (MacBook Pro) vs. PowerPC (PowerBook g4)?

Totally stumped. Meanwhile my g4 is dead as a door nail.
 
Another factoid

I reinstalled a clean version of OS X Tiger on the dead PowerBook g4. It installed perfectly.

Then I "upgraded' to leopard again, thinking maaaaybe that BaseSystem error would go away. WRONG

It failed to install.

I wonder if this is a problem with powerPC macs installing Leopard.
 
both bases covered

I have a macbook pro and a g5 powerPC, and neither of them will correctly install Leopard.

After installing on the macbook pro all I got was an installation error. Upon restarting all I got was a black screen and the root directory. The only cure for this was to re-install tiger. (which is how I am able to post this)

I have installed it twice on the G5 and each time I get the blue screen on restart.

In both cases the disk passed verification.

I was on the phone for a total of 4 hours today (mostly on hold) and the best they could tell me is that "there must be something wrong with the disk" and they will send me a new one.

Just thought I would add to the pile...
 
Install Problem

I was able to re-install tiger on my core duo imac with the original disks....

I'm not sure if I should try Leopard again or not yet... Does anyone know if I could install leopard in Target disk mode? I wonder if that's an option or not...
 
TodVader said:
If you pirated the OS, at least don't talk about it in a forum visited by lots of apple employes.
Click to expand...

I thought you were going to stop posting in this thread, but I see it was just regarding the last matter. Stop getting on people's backs with no due reason, you petty troll.
 
A friend purchased a 5 license and tried to install leopard on his CD black macbook and the "essential package" could not be verified. He said it installed fine on his mac mini. What to do in this situation? He can't log back in to tiger...the gray screen is there with the apple icon and the spinning circle..can't do anything else. I helped hook up his mac to mine and by holding T to retrieve his information off of it as he did not back it up. I have a copy of leopard and I'm scared to open it and install it on my MBP. lol What do you guys think? Some people in the apple forums are claiming the GUID HD partition or something of that sort? Do you recommend running the apple hardware test before upgrading?
 
austindev said:
Do not do the install. I just got off the phone with AppleCare, according to them, "lots" of the DVD are corrupted. I did a "skip" on the check and it totally fried my hard drive.
Click to expand...

Same here fried drive, and for sure I got a bad disc well its in repairs now.. they will need to fix it and my machine :apple:
 
purealloy said:
I had the same problem as You Am I describes at the beginning of this thread. I thought it weird that the DVD passed the verification, yet the 'basesystem' package could not be verified. Anyway, I took my mail order copy of Leopard to the store, and they exchanged it, no questions asked. I tried the new install DVD and had the same problem. I had been having strange problems with Tiger over the past 2-3 weeks (programs would not start, or would crash for no reason, etc.), so I then wondered if it was a hardware issue. Turns out it was. I ran the Apple Hardware Test, and found that I had a bad memory stick (Error: 4MEM/4/40000000: 1e156bc8). To narrow down which stick it was, I took one out, to see if the error kept happening. Turned out it was the aftermarket memory I installed about 6 months ago. I put the original factory memory back in it, and things are going better. Leopard is 80% installed.

So for those of you having the problem, you may want to try the Apple Hardware Test just for kicks. It may be on the Leopard DVD, but I ran it off the DVD that came with the MacBook. Instructions for running the test are on the Apple Support site here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081

Good luck.
Click to expand...

My macbook is so broken that when apple support asked me to put in that leopard disc all I got on screen was the folder with the question mark on it.. once I told the tech that I was given the case number and sent off to the apple repair shop!!!!!
 
For all who are experiencing problems installing Leopard.

What you can try is: After you click on the install icon and click start. You will be asked to restart to begin the installation. So when the box pops up for the administrators password, enter it and when the computer goes into reboot, press and hold the "C" key until the first screen of the installation pops up. Remember, just hold the "C" key down and you should be able to install Leopard with no problem

Bnite
 
Bnite said:
What you can try is: After you click on the install icon and click start. You will be asked to restart to begin the installation. So when the box pops up for the administrators password, enter it and when the computer goes into reboot, press and hold the "C" key until the first screen of the installation pops up. Remember, just hold the "C" key down and you should be able to install Leopard with no problem

Bnite
Click to expand...

The error validating the package happens _after_ you start the install. Took three tries for my PowerBook to successfully read the disk.
 
Leopard Trouble

Bought Leopard two days ago went home did the erase and install clean copy on my Mac Mini 1.4 G4 1gig Ram 80 Gig, cdr\dvd drive. Wipes out my complete operating system starts to install about 5 minutes into it. Giant error message can't verify basesytem. This is great. Restarts Crashes. I get back into the installer holding C. go to disk utility reformat erase to zero. everything is fine i restart to the disc again starts installing hangs up error message similiar to before with can't verify something. Checked everything ram is fine hard drive is fine logic board is fine. Been reading about damaged disc's only working on some units yet having issues on macbook macmini. now i'm getting angry any help or should i just take it back and get another disc and try again.
 
5 days after I started this thread I get a replacement disk. And guess what? Same error message. Does anyone have a solution to this?


After wasting another day of my life i've managed to get my machine back to tiger where it will stay.
I'll be looking for a full refund, never ever again will I buy new release software.
It looks like Apple have rushed this to market and have tried to blame 3rd party apps for their problems.
 
i gave up too

Tried everything to get leopard on powerbook g4: erased the hard drive, zero whatever erase, reinstalled fresh tiger, then upgraded to leopard. every time same "error" about the base system. i sent the log file to apple.

Right now I have given up.
 
Mine has gone into an apple care centre. They admit that they don't have a clue what the problem is. They've got one other machine with the exact same problem. It really frustrating all right.
 
A definitive answer for anyone getting the:

"the installer could not validate the contents of the "basesystem" package"

or similar message.


The problem in 99.9% of cases arises from faulty RAM. The RAM can be factory installed Apple RAM or 3rd party ram. My machine had Apple RAM, passed all RAM tests, and worked fine with Tiger. The install of Leopard highlighted a problem with one of the sticks not picked up previously.

Despite the pain of losing and having to reinstall data, spending hours on the phone to Apple, hours researching the problem and 2 weeks without my machine while it was with Apple, I feel very lucky as my warranty was out in 2 weeks. Others may not be so lucky. :rolleyes:
 
Leopard installation problems and RAM

i had the same problem when i tried to install tiger on my powerbook g4. first apple said it was a bad disk. i ended up going back to the store so they could install it from their drive. then had to go back a couple months later so they could reboot my system from their drive (it had frozen up). i had continued problems with applications from that point on. each rep i spoke with said my hard drive was failing. i decided to try upgrading to leopard and got the same 'basesystem' error described on this thread, followed by a black screen and a root prompt. another bad disk?? i tried the installation process three times. same result. after reading the ram comments, i tried swapping out the 3rd party ram i installed last year with the original ram that came with my computer. leopard installed just fine! so i had to register on this forum and reply to this thread. thanks for the help from everyone. hope this helps someone else.
 
Same thing

I have had the same error. The ironic thing is that I bought a family pack, and the first 3 computers before me who installed this (all within my family) installed it totally fine. I installed it and it installed fine. Then, after a month of having leopard, it gets really slow and it feels like i don't have any RAM. (I have 2 Gigs straight from apple when i bought it). i tried to restart, and it took an hour to restart and did nothing. Then i tried to reinstall leopard, and it had the same error. After erase and install, now it has a different error. It shows the sweet leopard "welcome" video, then asks me to register. I register, then it takes me to the leopard "welcome" video, then back to registration. This process repeats endlessly. I'm calling apple in the morning.
 
epsonprinterdriver

When installing Leopard on my Intel Duo Core iMac I got an EpsonPrinterDriver error saying installation failed. While still in the installer, I changed the startup disk to my hard drive and rebooted. It rebooted with Leopard installed and everything seems to be working okay. So I'm wondering if I should go to the trouble of getting a new install disk.
 
Im apparently not alone on this issue. just bought my copy @ best buy today and so far im getting the basesystem error message 3 times already.

Still have a little patience left in me so far.....that could change though....

if i get it up and running ill let you guys know....
 
"basesystem" error fixed!!!

A definitive answer for anyone getting the:

"the installer could not validate the contents of the "basesystem" package"

or similar message.

The problem in 99.9% of cases arises from faulty RAM. The RAM can be factory installed Apple RAM or 3rd party ram. My machine had Apple RAM, passed all RAM tests, and worked fine with Tiger. The install of Leopard highlighted a problem with one of the sticks not picked up previously.

Mine fixed when I put back the old RAM Upgrade of RAM to 2 GIG sounded good till my MacBook crashed repeatedly. Then the reloading of OSX Lep wouldn't go with the "installer could not validate the contents of the "basesystem" error. So frustrating till I got the above hit that it could be the RAM. It sure was. Old RAM back in and now OSX Lep loaded. I'm back to 1 GIG RAM now but a happy machine. I now need to find out what was the deal with the brand new RAM upgrade. But for now a running laptop is a happy one. :)
 
Memory issue

Thanks for the tip. I was having a difficult time upgrading a machine to Leopard. I removed a stick of memory, that was recently added, and the upgrade completed successfully. Once the upgrade finished I put the memory back and the system works fine. Keep up the good work.
:)
 
Cannot Validate Base System Error

I am Sooooo glad I found this thread. After 3 nights of trying endlessesly, I removed 2/3 of the 512M RAM sticks and Lo and Behold, Leopard Install started to work instead of giving that stupid error message.

Don't apple's developers test this stuff before they sell it?????




Sparky37 said:
A definitive answer for anyone getting the:

"the installer could not validate the contents of the "basesystem" package"

or similar message.

The problem in 99.9% of cases arises from faulty RAM. The RAM can be factory installed Apple RAM or 3rd party ram. My machine had Apple RAM, passed all RAM tests, and worked fine with Tiger. The install of Leopard highlighted a problem with one of the sticks not picked up previously.

Mine fixed when I put back the old RAM Upgrade of RAM to 2 GIG sounded good till my MacBook crashed repeatedly. Then the reloading of OSX Lep wouldn't go with the "installer could not validate the contents of the "basesystem" error. So frustrating till I got the above hit that it could be the RAM. It sure was. Old RAM back in and now OSX Lep loaded. I'm back to 1 GIG RAM now but a happy machine. I now need to find out what was the deal with the brand new RAM upgrade. But for now a running laptop is a happy one. :)
Click to expand...
 
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