Really bricked it this time....

[unstablefears]

Hi!

I have 13" Late 2008 model and have recently been having some problems with getting it upgraded from Leopard. I decided to just stop looking for a Snow Leopard upgrade disk since it seemed impossible to find and (now don't hate on me too much for this) decided to just reformat the drive and throw Windows XP on it. This seemed like a good idea at the time, though for some reason Wifi/Network Driver didn't seem to work (with Boot Camp installed).

Trying what I could to get it to work, I then got tired of it and put in my Install DVD disc for Leopard that came with my MacBook. Well, low and behold, it won't install. For some reason it says "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer". It's the original Install DVD I received, so I'm not sure why I'm getting this message. Did I perhaps mess something up by formatting the whole hard drive for XP? I reformatted it back to Mac OS Extended, yet still says it can't be installed and only gives a Time Machine option (which, I don't have).

Anyway to get around this? I have the Install DVD, so not sure why it just doesn't simply install

Thanks for any tips, hopefully it's recoverable.

EDIT: Well, I did come across a Snow Leopard install disk on the Apple Store, not sure how I didn't come across it before. Would that install on a blank HDD? Or would I run into the same issues as the Install DVD I have?

 

[Ccrew]

EDIT: Well, I did come across a Snow Leopard install disk on the Apple Store, not sure how I didn't come across it before. Would that install on a blank HDD? Or would I run into the same issues as the Install DVD I have?

The SL disc on the store is labelled an "upgrade" disc but in reality is a full install. Provided your machine is in the support matrix for SL (it should be) it will install just fine.

 

[Essenar]

lol it's okay. You're not bricked.
The problem is, you installed Windows on exFAT or NTFS and neither of these file systems is compatible with OSX and Snow Leopard more importantly and specifically. Formatting the drive with the proper partition type is necessary.

Here's what you need to do.

After you open the OSX Install, click English, continue and Agree.

When the install "Choose your hard disk" comes up, don't click your hard drive. Instead, click on "Utilities" -> "Disk Utility".

Then, click the internal hard drive on the left, click on "Partition" tab, then open the partition drop menu and select "1 partition", click "Options" and make sure you pick GUID.

After selecting GUID, select "exFAT" or whatever the type is and change it to "Mac OSX Extended (Journaled)". Name it "Lion" (You can change this later).

Then click Apply and "Partition". After it's done partitioning, you can close the Disk Utility and continue your installation. Good luck!