Trouble installing OS X on older MBP...

[nStyle]

Ok... I have a late 2009 15" Unibody MBP.

My friend has pre-unibody MBP (still accessible to battery and silver keys). Not sure the year in which his was released.

Anyway, long story short, he tried to install Windows and failed miserably, effectively wiping his OS X partition out. He doesn't have a OS X install disc.

I tried using my OS X disc in his computer and the language menu comes up and after that, it says "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer."

Any ideas? Need to get this fixed for him ASAP.

 

[Kyzelios]

The Mac OS X Install DVD that shipped with your MacBook Pro will only work on your computer as it looks for the model number (for example MacBookPro5,1) when you try to use it.

That being said, there are a few things you could do:

1. Contact Apple (for more information on how to contact Apple, please see http://support.apple.com) and request a replacement set of software installation discs. They may be able to provide them to you for a fee.
2. Look on eBay or other auction sites for a set of discs specific to that model of MacBook Pro.
3. Purchase a retail installation disc for Mac OS X and use that to install the operating system.

Hope that helps, have a great day.

 

[GGJstudios]

The grey install disks that come with a Mac are model-specific and will not work on other models.

 

[nStyle]

Thanks.

No idea of knowing that without asking, so again, thanks.

Kind of crazy how different things are with Mac vs Windows installation processes.