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Trouble re-installing OS X on my 2 formally stolen MacBook Pro's

M

muaythai

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2009
39
0
My wife and I had both of our MacBook Pro unibody's stolen about two weeks ago. We were able to recover them because we both had Undercover installed- YES! The trouble now is I can't reinstall OSX on either machine, which prevents me from erasing the drives and enjoying a fresh install. The OSX disc I have is a stand-alone Snow Leopard DVD that I bought a few years ago- the same disc I used to put SL on both machines before they were ripped off. The thieves deleted both our user accounts and made their own, and who knows what else they did. All I know is that when I try to reinstall OSX I get the following errors:

Machine 1
When I try to install from desktop (double click disc) the installation stops halfway through, machine reboots and then stalls at Apple logo screen
When I try to install from startup (hold C with disc inserted) the machine freezes at the same Apple logo screen

Machine 2
Install from desktop- installation stops halfway through, machine reboots and does a kernal dump
Install from startup- immediate kernel dump

The funny thing is that machine 1 gave me a kernal dump when I was working on a Photoshop file. Funny because it's machine 2 getting the kernal dumps during installation… I didn't really laugh when it happened. Anyway obviously both machines are pretty screwed up, and I would really appreciate any suggestions!
 
muaythai said:
My wife and I had both of our MacBook Pro unibody's stolen about two weeks ago. We were able to recover them because we both had Undercover installed- YES! The trouble now is I can't reinstall OSX on either machine, which prevents me from erasing the drives and enjoying a fresh install. The OSX disc I have is a stand-alone Snow Leopard DVD that I bought a few years ago- the same disc I used to put SL on both machines before they were ripped off. The thieves deleted both our user accounts and made their own, and who knows what else they did. All I know is that when I try to reinstall OSX I get the following errors:

Machine 1
When I try to install from desktop (double click disc) the installation stops halfway through, machine reboots and then stalls at Apple logo screen
When I try to install from startup (hold C with disc inserted) the machine freezes at the same Apple logo screen

Machine 2
Install from desktop- installation stops halfway through, machine reboots and does a kernal dump
Install from startup- immediate kernel dump

The funny thing is that machine 1 gave me a kernal dump when I was working on a Photoshop file. Funny because it's machine 2 getting the kernal dumps during installation… I didn't really laugh when it happened. Anyway obviously both machines are pretty screwed up, and I would really appreciate any suggestions!
Click to expand...

These are odd problems indeed. My first guess would be the machines were handled roughly while the drives were spinning. Can't you run disk utility from the install disk and wipe the drives?

Another thing to check: are the machines otherwise in the same condition? Still have all the memory installed?
 
These are odd problems indeed. My first guess would be the machines were handled roughly while the drives were spinning.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply rworne. It's entirely possible that the machines were handled roughly.

Can't you run disk utility from the install disk and wipe the drives?
Click to expand...
I tried that but no, unfortunately I can't even get to the stage of installation where I can run Disk Utility.

Another thing to check: are the machines otherwise in the same condition? Still have all the memory installed?
Click to expand...
Yes, physically they are in the same shape and I just checked the RAM- all there.

I'm thinking I should try Disk Warrior now. TBH I haven't used it in years but it's the only thing I can think of at this point. I'm open to any other ideas folks! Thanks.
 
I appreciate the reply Satch. Since the problem is on two different laptops, I think it the chances of both DVD drives failing is slim. Still, installing from a USB stick is worth a shot, so thanks for the link.

Buying new drives would be my absolute last resort. I'm not there quite yet :eek:
 
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