Can't boot from OSX 10.6.3 retail disk

Hi.
I have a macbook pro and want to boot from a retail osx 10.6.3 disk that I purchased. When I try to boot from the disk I hold C or option on startup I get the apple logo with no spinning gear. It hands here for hours. Nothing happens. I hear the disk begin to work and then it shuts down.
I want to boot from the disk and install an instance of OSX on my external hard drive. I do not have administrator access to the main OS, so booting is my only option for install. Do I HAVE to have the repair disk that came with the computer or can I use the retail copy I purchased?
Thanks.

In a production environment we don't run around with the original media.
It would be nice to get a new retail release soon so I can throw it a few USB thumb drives and be able to do an install on the i5s, i7s and older core 2s. Anyone know when a newer retail DVD will be on sale?

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Can't boot from OSX and may have a virus

I'm having a similar problem as Davo21 in "computer won't boot up in os x". After running Norton System Works to try to resolve an issue that I was having with my computer, I'm getting a message, "/etc/master.passwd:not a directory" on a black screen when I try to start up.
It started in early December after I downloaded some stuff off the internet and it seemed like I might have picked up a virus. I know, that's not supposed to happen with OSX, but my computer started doing wierd things like switching out icons for whole types of files - i.e., .wav files would show up with a totally different icon. Restarting solved that problem, but I noticed that on both my wife's and my computer (both Macs - hers a Single core Intel Mini running OSX 10.4 and mine a G3 700MHz running 10.3.9) the internet was running exceptionally slow, while on my work computer (a Dell PC running Windows XP) it was running just fine. All three computers are networked, so I surmised that something was affecting the Unix system but not the Windows, but when I ran Norton Anti-virus, it came up clean. More wierd things kept happening, so last week I decided to run Norton Disk Doctor and it changed thousands of directory settings and now my computer won't boot up from my main boot drive with OSX 10.3.9. I've run the Disk Utilities on the 10.3 Install Disk and I've run Disk Warrior and they both say that the boot drive is repaired, but I still get the same message when I try to start up normally.
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2) Where can I get help to figure out what's going on with my computer and how to remedy it?
I've been looking at some of the information on the Leap-A malware and it seems like there are some similarities, however I'm running OSX 10.3.9 and not 10.4.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
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G4 700MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

DMcSantaFe,
as was said before Norton Utilities and Disk Doctor were discontinued almost 3 years ago (for some very good reasons!). It caused much more trouble than it solved.
Here are the articles:
Symantec discontinues Mac Norton Utilities, SystemWorks
Norton Utilities, SystemWorks development halted
TMO Scoop - Symantec Confirms Norton Utilities & SystemWorks' Demise [Updated]
Tech Tool Pro and DiskWarrior are presently the most reliable utilities. For more information on regular housekeeping read this: MacOS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance
Unfortunately Norton usually damages the file system beyond repair. The only cure is a reinstall.
If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

Can not boot from OSX disc

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The only solution was to erase hd and restore from time machine backup......
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Greetings, All! I've looked at all the articles related to this that I can find, here and on other sites, but have not been able to solve the problem. Here's a list to briefly describe my issue:
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Hey Guys!
I think I know the "why", but not the solution...
I have a PowerMac G4 400Mhz Dual Processor, and some day I had the same troubles. No boot on OS X, but I can in OS9. Checking the Open Firmware commands, I saw one of the processor marked as "dead". So, (dont't ask how) I removed one processor from the logic board. Now I got the same "Processor dead", I can boot on OS9, (with an alert for the processor) but is stable. No boot in OS X.
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Pls. send me your comments.
LY

Can't boot from OSX Install disc.

Hello,
I am trying to restore my iMac from a Time MAchine backup and to do that I remembered that I had to boot off of the OSX install disk and choose Disk Utility. I thought that restoring from timeMAchine would be the hard and long part, but I am having trouble booting off of the OSX disc.
1.) I popped it into my iMac and it mounts and loads. Its runs fine so I know there is nothing wrong with the disc.
2.) I restarted my iMac and held C.
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4.) I shutdown the machine by holding the power-button and when it restarted I held D. It ran the hardware test fine and I passed the hardware test.
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Thanks in Advance & Best Regards,
theirf.

Sorry, OE = Original Equipment - the grey discs that came with your Mac.
SL = Snow Leopard - Mac OS X 10.6.x.
theirf wrote:
What do OE and SL mean?
I think i understand though. You mean that any disc with a higher version of something will still work on a machine with a lower version of that thing right?
Not any disc. The only grey ones that will work are those that came with that Mac.
Any retail disc of a later OS version will work, and in most cases it would boot from an external HD with a later OS installed.
However, as Snow Leopard only came on two retail versions, 10.6.0 and 10.6.3, the choice is a bit limited.
The current retail version is available here.

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Are you saying that it is impossible for any beige to run master/slave configurations in os x?
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Darwin uses built-in Disk Drivers that are completely different from those in Mac OS 9. Users no longer have the benefit of all the extra forgiveness built into the traditional Mac OS 9 Drivers over the years. This has produced a rash of superstitions that various features "do not work under Mac OS X." The truth is that you must have hardware that meets the letter of the law to work in Mac OS X, it is no longer forgiving.
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Can't Boot from OSX Install DVD

my problem is identical to this one and i can't find solution. so i don't unerstand what's wrong. i try Tiger and Leopard dist on CD and DVD media without success. if i restore distributive disk on partition on hard disk my mini is boot ok from it. DVD-drive seems to be ok coz i'm boot from that drive on Ubuntu or MorphOS without any trouble.
Message was edited by: hooddy
Message was edited by: hooddy

no it doesn't. and now i know that i need disk which complected my mini or retail box. thanx.

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Hi,
hope someone can help me.
Bought the new imac 21" and replaced the superdrive with a ssd drive.
Works great but it seems that the imac is not able to boot from any usb device.
I put my osx install disk in my external dvd drive and powered my mac.
While booting up (pressing cmd) the mac does not recognize my external dvd drive. This works great with my MBP late 2008. But the imac can not boot from the dvd drive. Also pressing "c" while booting does not work. Doing that a grey screen appears and after some time mac boots from hdd.
So i installed mac os via target mode over firewire withbmy old imac. This works.
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It seems that there is no way to boot from ANY external usb device like dvd drives or thumbdrives......
What more can i do? I tried for 2 evenings now, but nothing worked out for me......
Currently i don't see any any to install win 7 without an internal superdrive, but can this be??
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Kwicks

Internal is definitely the easiest but you can boot from external HD or external optical drive, the mac is just very picky on what works and what doesn't.
For an external drive or usb stick it has to be GUID partition table and have 10.4.5 or better installed on it, for more info check this link out ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948 )
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Like in title, installed 128gb ssd on macbook pro and can't boot from any windows based dvd.
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Hi all,
I have to run two Mac OS's on my MacBookPro because a piece of software that I use does not support Snow Leopard.
I was really happy to find that SL allows repartitioning without having to erase any volumes! (glad I didn't have to try gparted) However, though I was successful with repartitioning, I have come to find that I can't boot from my older OSX 10.5x CD.
Is it not allowed by apple to run two different OSX OS's on one machine?
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Donovan
P.S. Holding down the 'C' key prompts multiple repeated "chimes" (reboots).

Donovan Brooke wrote:
Hi all,
I have to run two Mac OS's on my MacBookPro because a piece of software that I use does not support Snow Leopard.
I was really happy to find that SL allows repartitioning without having to erase any volumes! (glad I didn't have to try gparted) However, though I was successful with repartitioning, I have come to find that I can't boot from my older OSX 10.5x CD.
Is it not allowed by apple to run two different OSX OS's on one machine?
it is certainly allowed. However, you can not use an older DVD to install OS on a newer computer. this will not work and that is what is happening to you. the older DVD lacks the necessary hardware drivers for the new computer. don't try to force your way about it. don't try firewire target mode or anything else. it will only result in a non-functioning system. if your computer can not boot from this dvd then you can not install the OS provided by this DVD on your computer.
Thanks,
Donovan
P.S. Holding down the 'C' key prompts multiple repeated "chimes" (reboots).

Disk Repair Boot from OSX Disc...

Have a bad issue: my iMac has been found (using disk verify) to be corrupt. It tells me to boot from the installation disc to repair. Only problem is my DVD SuperDrive is dead! How can I boot from a disc if the drive won't mount? I've used three other external drives and none are recognized.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!!

Hi Gully, I agree with iyacyas
{quote:title=iyacyas wrote:}If you have another Mac to use you can place the sick Mac into Target Disk Mode and plug it into the good Mac via firewire and run DU against it from their.{quote}
See > http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/itdojo/?p=198
and > http://www.selfreliantfilm.com/?p=143
Even if you can't repair the drive from the MacBook Pro in TDM, you should be able to move your user files to either the MacBook Pro or an External HD until you can repair or replace the iMac.
Dennis

Trying to install SL on a new hard-drive for my iMac, when asked which disk to install on it gave me no options, i followed advice from another forum and created a partition, now can't boot from the new drive at all. Help?

I've had **** with my iMac, the hard-drive failed so i replaced it with a new 1TB Samsung drive. Then when i tried to install SL from the install disk, all went to plan until it asked me which drive i wanted to install it on, where it came up with a box where my options should have been, but instead it didn't give me any options to install it on any drive i.e. it asked which drive i wanted to install it on but no drives came up to select.
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( https://discussions.apple.com/message/10576009#10576009 )
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Hi db2
That off the shelf MS-DOS / FAT-32 drive needs to re-partitioned GUID Partition Table / Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before you can install OS X and Startup your Intel iMac from it.
1. Boot from your original install or retail SL DVD and open Disk Utility.
2. Highlight the new HD in the list of drives and select the Partition tab.
3. Under Volume Scheme select 1 Partition and click on the Options... button.
4. Select GUID Partition Table in the drop down window and click OK.
5. Set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click the Apply button.
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Dennis

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That probably wasn't very clear was it? I have several ext. HD's, some with bootable systems and some just backups. One bootable disk was made with CopyCloner and the other was a clean format and only had an original install of the OS just to use for an emergency boot. They both booted just fine. Then at some point, they stopped being bootable. I have used the Control Panel "Startup" and also used the Option key boot and picked the bootable disk. Neither one boots anymore. It started doing this on the old PowerBook and then also refused to boot on the MacBook Pro. This is not the problem with the HD since it happens with any bootable HD. Something is going on at the system level and it was transfered from the PowerBook to the MacBook.
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Which keyboard layout you were using? German, French ... I suppose your layout is reset to the default: US and you are unable to find the "?" or "/" ...
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