Problems installing new OS X

Discussion in 'Mac Basics and Help' started by manikku, Oct 12, 2012.

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  1. manikku, Oct 12, 2012

    manikku macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2012
    #1
    Good evening,

    I'm here to ask for help. Suddenly my macbook suddenly stopped working, It wont boot the MAC OS at all, it stays on loading then turns itself off when failing.

    Or usually boots into the disk utility menu automatically, I've tried everything I could find on google including some other threads in here.

    I've been trying to create a boot disk on an external hard drive, so that I could install snow leopard (also tried normal leopard) on the hard drive again to make it boot but no luck.

    Whenever I try to "restore it" using the disk utility that comes with the machine, it says "Resources are busy" or "I forgot the word is Invalid" no matter what I do, I tried highlighting the drive I was installing it on, I tried using my iphone as a USB drive with an APP i found, I used my normal 8gbs usb, also tried an external drive of 160GB all freshly format, into either FAT, NTSC or even format it with the disk utility it keeps telling me the same damn error whenever it tries to scan the DMG file.

    Tried getting different DMG files but no luck either. I dont know what to do and I need that laptop urgently.

    Oh forgot to mention the CD ROM is damaged so its not working it wont read the original disc that came with the machine hence why im not doing it that way :(

    Ive tried lots of weird gimmicky hot fixes but no luck... any ideas? I also tried formatting the original HD but its "locked" so it wont let me delete it so i cant install the thing directly either it seems.

    Help? Thank you in advance
     
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  2. r0k, Oct 12, 2012

    r0k macrumors 68040

    r0k

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2008
    Location:
    Detroit
    #2
    What version of OSX are you trying to install or recover?

    Do you have access to another Mac? Assuming your machine came with a disk, you can copy your OS DVD to a dmg file and then restore that dmg file to an 8 GB usb stick.

    To make a drive bootable in OSX:
    1) Use an empty drive, you are about to wipe it.
    2) In Disk Utility, select the drive and pick partition
    3) Select 1 partition and in options, pick GUID partition scheme
    4) make the partition an HFS+ Journaled partition

    You can now "restore" a disk image you made from an OS X install DVD to that USB stick. This is all legal and proper as you are using the disk that came with your Mac to make a USB stick because your optical drive is broken.

    Once you have booted to the usb stick (by holding option when you power on your Mac), you can click the apple logo on the menubar, pick disk utility and then go take a look at Macintosh HD to see what is going on before you simply install to it. I suggest you try to repair it and see if it becomes bootable again. If not, then at least you have made yourself a bootable USB stick so you can install the OS on another disk. Yes you can boot from an external USB drive. Once you have installed to it, you go to system preferences and pick it as the default boot disk and your mac will always boot from it. I did this when I was experimenting with Mountain Lion developer preview. I installed it on an old 160 GB disk I had taken out of one of my Macs and the mini booted from it until I went in system preferences and made it boot from its own internal disk again.
     
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  3. manikku, Oct 14, 2012

    manikku thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Oct 12, 2012
    #3
    I tried installing Snow leopard 10.6.0
    And also Leopard 10.5.8

    No sadly I dont have another MAC :( this is what I'm trying to do with an already DMG file that I got but its been giving me those errors.

    Okay, I'll give it one more shot and I'll let you know what happens, thanks alot!
     
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  4. r0k, Oct 15, 2012

    r0k macrumors 68040

    r0k

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2008
    Location:
    Detroit
    #4
    One solution is to get a USB optical drive.

    Once you get the OS reinstalled, remember to make yourself a bootable USB stick and test it by booting to it by holding option while you boot. I don't know about Leopard or SL, but Lion and ML require 8 GB sticks ($6 at Microcenter).
     
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  5. manikku, Oct 21, 2012

    manikku thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Oct 12, 2012
    #5
    Well I tried

    "4) make the partition an HFS+ Journaled partition" this part wasnt avaliable to me, my macbook is like from 2007 so it might be an older version of disk utility

    Hm which optical would you recommend for this kind of task and situation?
     
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