What am I doing wrong?

[jmdeegan]

I swear I did this before with my MacBook, but apparently, I am missing a step or something....

So, I have a new MBP. I bought a 500gb drive to swap out with the 250gb drive. I did make a time machine backup, I have formatted the 500gb drive to be bootable etc.

However, I was hoping to do a fresh install and pick and choose what I moved over from Time Machine. So with the blank drive in the MBP, I have tried 2 different OS X discs. 1 that came with the MBP, and the upgrade disc I bought for my MacBook (in case the discs somehow behave differently)

Holding down C on restart does nothing in most cases
Holding down Option tends to get my pointer on screen allowing me to select the DVD, then it goes off and sounds like the DVD is seeking/running, and the screen alternates from it's blue and black, like its doing reboots without loading. That has gone on for a long time with no new messages/errors/status/reason for me to believe anything is actually happening.

My question is this....what am I not doing right, or what can I do different, so that a blank HDD can load Leopard? I'd rather not clone or load off of time machine, just never loved the image I have, wanted a fresh start.

I am all ears....

thanks

 

[r.j.s]

Sounds like something is wrong with the DVD drive if it will not boot from DVD at all.

 

[5855997]

or you might press the C button at the wrong time (I am not sure myself anymore, does it have to be before you hear the start up sound or afterwards?)

 

[r.j.s]

or you might press the C button at the wrong time (I am not sure myself anymore, does it have to be before you hear the start up sound or afterwards?)

Start holding it as soon as you press the power button, and only let go once it starts to boot to disc.

 

[jmdeegan]

tried all of that...the option key is the only thing that does anything, and even after that, it dumps me into the blue/black cycle anyways

i called apple, they tried to tell me upgrading voided the warranty (even tho prior macs with similar user upgrades were not seen that way) and then he even thought my install might have broken the dvd drive. yea, i doubt that. done way too many installs to screw it up....nowhere near the drive....and it works regularly, ie it will play discs and you can browse discs. just never wants to boot them apparently. pretty sure if you broke/damaged a drive physically, it wouldn't be damaged just from booting dvds. that would be damn skilled.

so i guess i can lug it to an apple store for some support, but the question is, should i leave the blank drive in and work that angle, or re-install the original drive?

speaking of which, one thing i did do was to have the 500gb in the enclosure, 250gb osx drive in the MBP, and try to install OS-X to the enclosure, and it wouldn't even do that.

i guess it must be hardware, cuz i didn't have this much pain with the MacBook drive swap. that, as I recall, went like a breeze (especially considering I did not have time machine or any cloning.

 

[r.j.s]

Put the original drive in, can you boot from dvd?

 

[jmdeegan]

So the Apple stores don't even have anything appointment wise tomorrow, so I booted off the old drive and I am trying some things...partly because if i break something, i have backups, and mostly because I am impatient and believe i can make it work,....

first thing I am trying is just copying the OS X install disc to the blank drive using superduper. Its odd that now, if I enter startup manager (holding down the option) it sees my firewire drive (original MBP HDD) and the install disc. that wasn't always the case, but i wasn't clever enough to note the other specifics (ie, was I using my leopard disc from the MBP or my standalone leopard disc I purchased when it came out, stuff like that)

So if it works, great. And if it doesnt...I dunno. Ill try something different, and try to take the MBP into the Apple Store next week, in case it really is a funky drive.

Put the original drive in, can you boot from dvd?

ill give that a try after my next meeting, just to be sure. that's probably the safest way to take it to apple for a dvd drive issue

tho, while not exactly the same....booting from the original drive via firewire, i launched the os x install, did the restart, and got the same blue/black loop......and i did do it in reverse with the blank drive in the external enclosure, hoping to install os-x to that volume, with the same blue/black loop.

i could understand if it was doing some checking of the drives, but i'd expect a message of some type, and i wouldn't expect to let it run for 30 minutes and have no visible change or message of any type....

 

[jmdeegan]

Some updates:

Config 1: Original drive and OS X install DVD (CPU drop in or retail):
Mac boots, loads the OS X upgrade splash, click restart to upgrade, and then goes into the loop of blue and black screens.

Config 2: Blank drive and OS X install DVD (cpu drop in or retail), same impact--looks like it will reboot, only to end up in the loop.

I can have either drive externally via firewire, same thing happens.

I should be able to do a clean install to a bare drive with either disc, right?

Disc one is the one labeled CPU Drop In, which came with my late 08 MBP.
Disc two is a retail copy of 10.5 I bought when it came out. I had used this on my now-retired MB to do a clean install on a bare drive, no issues.

Also tried connecting a known-good external USB DVD drive, hoping to prove it was the Drive, and it also failed. So it surely appears to be the media, though I don't really get how it could be the media.

Expected this upgrade to go a lot smoother than it has....
And to make matters more of a bummer, I can't get an appointment at a genius bar till next week...