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BiteMyApple

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2010
96
0
Forest Hills, NY
Hello folks.

OK here's the situation, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Installed Lion DP and because it's buggy etc... I wish to downgrade to SL, clean install. I know how to do that but here's the problem: Lion won't find my SL (or even Leopard) DVD when I insert it. It goes on and on for a while and then simply ejects it. Tried the same on startup, holding C, ejects it.

My DVD drive is fine, it recognizes all CDs and DVDs but Leopard and SL...

Tried Disk Utility. All options under the "erase" tab are unclickable...

So I'm stuck with Lion at the moment. Any insight? Thanks.
 
Last edited:

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,934
New Zealand
Open Firmware won't work because it's not present on any Lion-compatible system. You should be able to hold Option and get to the startup manager though.
 

BiteMyApple

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2010
96
0
Forest Hills, NY
Open Firmware won't work because it's not present on any Lion-compatible system. You should be able to hold Option and get to the startup manager though.

You are right about Open Firmware.

That's the thing! Even holding the option key ends up in my install disc being ejected. I have tested that same disc on a MBP running on 10.6.8 and it was found immediately. If only I had a DVD drive failure I would understand, but I have tried numerous other discs (non Mac OS installation), and they work perfectly.

I've checked dozens of forums and could not find an explanation/fix.

I appreciate the help.
 

BiteMyApple

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2010
96
0
Forest Hills, NY
Well, I seem to have fixed this... or kind of.

I had DP 1 while having this issue, and went on to installing DP4. It still does not recognize my SL install disc, but holding the option key on startup does gives me my main HD and a recovery HD that allows me to open Disk Utility. The "erase hard drive" option is now clickable. I did not go through the process as DP4 looks much more stable, my iTunes is working again, etc... So I'm happy enough for now.

Thanks for reading/helping :)
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,934
New Zealand
Can you mount your 10.6 DVD inside the booted system?

I don't believe that there's a supported upgrade path from DP to the release version of 10.7 so you'll probably still need to get it all working at some point.

Edit: You say that it still doesn't recognise your 10.6 DVD but is that at the startup manager or inside 10.7?
 

BiteMyApple

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2010
96
0
Forest Hills, NY
Can you mount your 10.6 DVD inside the booted system?

I don't believe that there's a supported upgrade path from DP to the release version of 10.7 so you'll probably still need to get it all working at some point.

Edit: You say that it still doesn't recognise your 10.6 DVD but is that at the startup manager or inside 10.7?

Yes, I thought about that... Not too much of an issue as I am still debating whether to purchase the final version of Lion (I have a 2007 MB, no magical trackpad gestures for me).

To answer your question: Both! It just plain refuses my disc, wherever I wish to launch it from :confused: One more thing: I still have my Leopard discs that came with my MB: Disc 1 is being ejected too in all cases whereas Disc 2 can be open BUT I am unable to open its content as I get a "Power PC is no longer supported" error message.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,934
New Zealand
It seems like your drive has developed some kind of incompatibility with the type of DVDs that Apple uses. If it was me, I'd put the DVD in a second computer and duplicate it onto DVD-R in the hope that your drive can read the copy instead.

Alternatively I'd try a new DVD drive. If you're on a laptop then you may have some luck in a PC repair shop as they may have an external DVD drive that you could borrow.
 
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