White Macbook 3,1 issue - OS X Cannot be installed (10.5 *retail* DVD)

[Heinekev]

Help!

I have a white Macbook 3,1 but no restore DVDs. I just purchased Leopard from the Apple store, and upon attempting to install it asks me to select the language and then tells me:

"Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer"

This is a supported machine that was running 10.5 before. I am giving it to my sister and wanted a clean install, but now I'm just screwed.

Any ideas? I've already formatted the HDD (doh).

 

[r.j.s]

That's odd ... there is no reason why it shouldn't work.

Call Apple, or take the disc back - it might be defective.

You have the Late 2006 MB, correct?

I've heard this issue happening when the disc is older than the MB, but MB 2,1 is older than Leopard.

 

[Heinekev]

That's odd ... there is no reason why it shouldn't work.

Call Apple, or take the disc back - it might be defective.

You have the Late 2006 MB, correct?

I've heard this issue happening when the disc is older than the MB, but MB 2,1 is older than Leopard.

I am mistaken - System Profiler from the installer says it's a 3,1. Not sure why I was thinking 2,1.

Regardless, I have an old eMac in the bedroom that's running 10.4. I just attempted the same disc on that machine, and it lets me proceed. It also lets me proceed on my new unibody Macbook.

Grasping at straws (and understanding that OS X disks are bound to the specific platform) I just tried my restore DVD's from the unibody on the white 3,1. No go.

I gave a phone call to Apple support earlier, and she gave me some leads, but they didn't pan out and the support line is closed right now. Argh!

 

[r.j.s]

I still think you might need to get the disc replaced.

 

[sickmacdoc]

After you formatted the disk and booted the installer again, does it still fail at the same point (just after the language selection) and does it still show the same message?

 

[Chundles]

You can't install an earlier build of Mac OS X than what came on the machine to begin with. It's highly likely that the retail disc is a build prior to that which came pre-installed on the machine. What MacBook is the 3,1 model?

I would contact Apple for a proper copy of the system discs that came with the machine.

 

[sickmacdoc]

You can't install an earlier build of Mac OS X than what came on the machine to begin with. It's highly likely that the retail disc is a build prior to that which came pre-installed on the machine. What MacBook is the 3,1 model?

I would contact Apple for a proper copy of the system discs that came with the machine.

Chundles- that was my first thought too-- but the 3,1 (the "Late 2007" MacBook) is shown by this cool Apple document (showing the versions/builds of OSX that shipped with all Intel Mac models) as having only shipped with 10.5.0.

 

[Heinekev]

Thanks for all the help everyone - I need this machine up ASAP (I am giving it to my sister tomorrow while she's in town from Florida). Found a work around but it's not future proof for her should she encounter any problems.

1 - Pulled the HDD out of the Whitebook 3,1 and put it in a USB enclosure
2 - Used the 10.5 DVD in my Unibody MB and installed to the USB drive
3 - Reinstalled the HDD in the whitebook

All is good now. I'll follow up with Apple in the morning and maybe set up a genius bar appointment to find out what is going on (and order replacement install discs).

Thanks again, I'm impressed at the quick replies this late in the day.

 

[MisterMe]

Chundles- that was my first thought too-- but the 3,1 (the "Late 2007" MacBook) is shown by this cool Apple document (showing the versions/builds of OSX that shipped with all Intel Mac models) as having only shipped with 10.5.0.

MacOS X 10.5 was released on October 26, 2007. Its build number was 9A581. The MacBook (13-inch Late 2007) was released in November 2007--after the release of MacOS X 10.5. It shipped with one of four builds of MacOS X 10.5: 9A3110, 9A3111, 9A3115A, or 9A3129.

On November 15, 2007, Apple released MacOS X 10.5.1 (Build 9B18), the first update the the retail version of MacOS X 10.5. It would appear that the OS that shipped with your machine was closer to MacOS X 10.5.1 than it was to the retail version of MacOS X 10.5.

The bottomline is that your retail version of MacOS X 10.5 is too old to boot your computer.

 

[clank72]

I had the same problem today because I have an older 2006 MacPro and lost the original install disks.

If you have a newer MacPro, you can get it to work.

1.) Take the drive out of the computer you are trying to install the OS to.
2.) Remove the drive from slot 1 from the new MacPro.
3.) Insert the drive without an OS into Slot 1 of the new MacPro.
4.) Restart the the computer, but hold down the Option key while it's restarting. When you get to the boot screen press the eject button and insert the OS disks.

For what it is worth. I know how it feels when this happens. Hope it helps at all.