snow leopard problems

[DaKyd55]

i am running mac osx 10.6.6 on a unibody macbook pro. wierd things started to happen such as disk utility not opening and me not being able to open the accounts preference pane.
i decided to wipe my hard drive and reinstall snow leopard. i saved things i needed onto an external hard drive. when i put in the install dvd, it said osx cannot be installed on this computer and quit. i will include screenshots. what should i do to fix this so that i can return my computer to factory settings?

 

[DaKyd55]

someone please help i'm dying here!

 

[richard.mac]

is it a grey install DVD? what model Mac does it say on it?

 

[eljanitor]

The easy way

Here's what you need to do if you want to keep it simple. Go get the install disks that came with your computer and install the original OS CD's for 10.5.X that came with your Mac Book Pro. After doing an install of the factory OS you then can take a 10.6 retail DVD and install it choose upgrade so you get to keep all your goodies like iPhoto and Garage band that came with your mac.

Apple puts two Discs in the box when you buy your mac, those discs are model and system specific and usually will not let you install OS 10.X.X on the wrong machine (easily). They are white or gray label discs with text only on them. Ie: the Mac pro DVD will not install on a Mac Book. There are also system specific drivers for the hardware on the factory discs.

The pretty disc the OS 10.X.X with the huge "X" on it or the snow leopard picture is the retail disc which is a general OS Disk for all apple computers capable of running that OS.

 

[DaKyd55]

Here's what you need to do if you want to keep it simple. Go get the install disks that came with your computer and install the original OS CD's for 10.5.X that came with your Mac Book Pro. After doing an install of the factory OS you then can take a 10.6 retail DVD and install it choose upgrade so you get to keep all your goodies like iPhoto and Garage band that came with your mac.

Apple puts two Discs in the box when you buy your mac, those discs are model and system specific and usually will not let you install OS 10.X.X on the wrong machine (easily). They are white or gray label discs with text only on them. Ie: the Mac pro DVD will not install on a Mac Book. There are also system specific drivers for the hardware on the factory discs.

The pretty disc the OS 10.X.X with the huge "X" on it or the snow leopard picture is the retail disc which is a general OS Disk for all apple computers capable of running that OS.

i think you're right. i just realized the disk i was using says imac on it. i have the sexy disk with the big x on it too. so what i should do is install the os with the pretty disk and then put in the gray one in and choose upgrade? which would be an option given to me when i put the disk in right

 

[DaKyd55]

new problem. i entered the big purple osx disk into my computer. everything was fine. i clicked install and it told me to restart my computer so i did. when it turned back on the disk started spinning, but then it stopped spinning and the white screen stayed, and it wont load the installer thing. could this be because my disk utility wasnt working? I JUST WANT TO START IT FRESH

 

[Gregg2]

... and then put in the gray one in and choose upgrade? which would be an option given to me when i put the disk in right

Wrong. You said the disc says "iMac" on it. It won't work in your MacBook Pro. Ever.

What is on the purple disc? If it's an older OS (you say you have 10.6.6) that could be the problem. I didn't buy Snow Leopard, but I don't think it is a purple disc. If the OS on that disc is older than what came loaded on your MBP, it won't work either.

 

[DaKyd55]

OHHH NNOOOO!!! i was using safari and the app store and they both crashed. then i got a kernel panic and had to restart my computer. something is very wrong here. what do i do?!?!? and the disk looked like this for the guy above me:

 

[hfg]

Once you locate the correct installation disk for your computer, it would probably be a good idea to run "Disk Utility" once it boots and prior to running the install. Use Disk Utility to re-partition and format your disk for OS X. When you exit Disk Utility, you can continue with the installation.

I don't recall if there is a diagnostic program on the install disk which could be used to test your RAM. A failing RAM chip could be the cause of your original crash, and the inability to reinstall fully. A failing hard disk could also be the culprit.

Good luck...

-howard

 

[DaKyd55]

Once you locate the correct installation disk for your computer, it would probably be a good idea to run "Disk Utility" once it boots and prior to running the install. Use Disk Utility to re-partition and format your disk for OS X. When you exit Disk Utility, you can continue with the installation.

I don't recall if there is a diagnostic program on the install disk which could be used to test your RAM. A failing RAM chip could be the cause of your original crash, and the inability to reinstall fully. A failing hard disk could also be the culprit.

Good luck...

-howard

most applications are working fine. thats whats confusing me. just disk utility wont open.. it gives me an error message. my computer is only a year old so i wouldnt expect any hardware problems. i'm really confused. i just want to wipe it but i cant open disk utility to do that!! arghh!!!!

 

[hfg]

most applications are working fine. thats whats confusing me. just disk utility wont open.. it gives me an error message. my computer is only a year old so i wouldnt expect any hardware problems. i'm really confused. i just want to wipe it but i cant open disk utility to do that!! arghh!!!!

Are you trying to open Disk Utility from OS X, or from the Installation DVD?

If you boot from the Installation DVD, when you get to the Start Installation screen, there is a tool-bar at the top of the screen. You will find "Disk Utility" as one of the applications you can run from there. Since it will load directly off the DVD (as did the OS), there is no problem with a corrupt program file from your hard disk OS X installation screwing things up.

If you can't run that from the DVD, you may have a hardware problem (which usually occur within the first year).

-howard

 

[eljanitor]

most applications are working fine. thats whats confusing me. just disk utility wont open.. it gives me an error message. my computer is only a year old so i wouldnt expect any hardware problems. i'm really confused. i just want to wipe it but i cant open disk utility to do that!! arghh!!!!

Insert the installation DVD with the X the retail one. restart your computer and hold the "C" key down during restart. It will boot from the Installation DVD. Then you can run the Disk Utility Application on the DVD to either wipe the drive clean, or run a permissions repair. It could be that you need to do as sometimes if the permissions are messed up on an application it may not let you run that application until you have repaired the disk permissions.

Also sometimes when RAM goes bad you can use "System Profiler" Application to see if the RAM has gone bad, before it causes issues with the machine. Anything other then "OK" in the staus field usually indicates a problem with either the Chip, or the slot it sits in. Like the picture shown here. This just shows a bad stick of RAM.

 

[DaKyd55]

Insert the installation DVD with the X the retail one. restart your computer and hold the "C" key down during restart. It will boot from the Installation DVD. Then you can run the Disk Utility Application on the DVD to either wipe the drive clean, or run a permissions repair. It could be that you need to do as sometimes if the permissions are messed up on an application it may not let you run that application until you have repaired the disk permissions.

Also sometimes when RAM goes bad you can use "System Profiler" Application to see if the RAM has gone bad, before it causes issues with the machine. Anything other then "OK" in the staus field usually indicates a problem with either the Chip, or the slot it sits in. Like the picture shown here. This just shows a bad stick of RAM.

i checked and the ram is all good. i'm trying to find the disk for my computer to run disk utility off of it. i'll update you guys from there. thanks for the help so far. my computer is being really wierd.