Cannot install Snow Leopard on Late 2006 iMac with 10.5.8

I tried already two times to update my iMac (currently on OS X Leopard 10.5.8) to Snow Leopard. The update process runs for about 20 minutes. The iMac restarts, and then there's a message that Snow Leopard cannot be installed. One shall contact the software's manufacturer. I checked in the Installer log file and it says something like it could not u(n)mount a volume.
There are 2 external hard drives connected to the iMac via FireWire (one for TimeMachine). Do I have to disconnect them before installing? There's also a TV tuner (DVB-S) from Terratec connected via USB and EyeTV (a version compatible to Snow Leopard) is installed. I already thought that it is maybe the EyeTV software (that came with the Terratec tuner) that prevents the installer from proceeding ...
As stated, I gave it two tries:
The first time I booted the iMac from an external hard drive with 10.5.8 installed on it, ran disk utility to check, repair permissions and verify the iMac's internal disk (--> everything was fine) and then inserted the Snow Leopard DVD and launched the installer.
The second time I booted the iMac from its internal hard disk (with 10.5.8) (=the disk on which I wanted to install Snow Leopard), inserted the DVD and launched the installer.
No success in both cases.
Any suggestions, help ??
Thanks a lot in advance!
Rainer

I think it will work if you restart from the Snow Leopard installation disc. Insert disc. Restart with the C key held down to force startup from the optical drive. You have already done a +Repair Disk+, which is a smart move before doing any system installation. So when Installer comes up, just proceed with the installation targeting your internal drive.

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Cannot install Snow Leopard on late 2006 MacBook

I have been trying to perform an erase and reinstall of this machine for my daughter to use. The ram had been upgraded to 2GB, and my son had it partitioned to run Windows also. There was never any problem with the machine -- I just bought him a new MacBook Pro last year.
So - I have successfully performed the "erase" part - but Snow Leopard (from retail discs - that this machine had been upgraded to) will not complete installation. I have gotten as far as "28 minutes remaining" and then it hangs up - spinning beachball - etc.. I hear the drive start up, and then stop, over and over.
I booted from the disc and ran the Disk Utility - and it shows that the hard drive is working properly.
And of course Apple says that they do not support machines over 5 years old (something to that effect).
Any help anyone can provide is greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Kim

kiminfl wrote:
Ok - so I am back into Disk Utility (booted from disk and selected disk utility). There are 2 hard drive icons on the left hand side ' 60.01 GB Toshiba, and then below it (indented) "Untitled".
The 60GB Toshiba is your entire boot hard drive, the "Untitled" below it is a partition on that drive if it's indented or else it's the optical drive.
What you want to do is select the "60GB toshiba" and click Erase, then Security Option > Zero All Data and click Erase, this will map off any bad sectors that old drive might have. Will take some time so wait about a hour.
(Ideally it would be good to replace it with a newer/larger one)
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's
Once that is complete you head to Partition: Select 1 Option: GUID and Format: OS X Extended Journaled, give the drive a name and click "Apply"
Now your drive is formatted, quit Disk Uitlity and select the drive and install OS X 10.6.
Once it's completed reboot and setup, enter your wifi/network and get online and Apple menu Software update until clear.
The machine is ready to use.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

I'm about to install snow leopard on my 2006 macbook, OSX 10.4.11. I read that I'm supposed to copy my old OS to an external drive before hand. Why is this? What does it accomplish? If I upgrade to 10.6.3, why do I need a copy of my old 10.4.11?

I'm about to install snow leopard onto my 2006 macbook with OSX 10.4.11. I read that I should copy my old OSX to an external drive before I start. Why? What is the purpose of this? Once I have snow leopard, why do I want a copy of 10.4.11? Won't I be able to import what I need while installing?   Also, what is the point of partitioning my disk? I don't understand what that's for if I'm only going to run one OS on there. Any experience or advice is greatly appreciated.

It is always wise to have a copy of your latest working system ... preferably on an external drive.   As Neil says, you may run into trouble and if you do you can always return to the original situation and start again.
Once you have installed Snow Leopard (an excellent system if I might say so) then you probably won't need 10.4.11 though you can never have enough back ups in my opinion.   It's amazing how often a need arises.
Having a backup on an external drive allays the need to partion your hard iMac drive for the same purpose..

I'm attempting to install snow leopard on my 2008 Imac and it stops installing less than 1/4 way through?

I'm attempting to install Snow Leopard on my 2008 Imac and before it 1/4 way done installing, it ejects the disc and restarts the computer. Is there something I am doing wrong?

See:
How to Install OS X Updates Successfully
A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
Boot from your current OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
C. Important: Please read before installing:
If you have a FireWire hard drive connected, disconnect it before installing the update unless you will boot from this drive and install the update on it. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.
You may experience unexpected results if you have installed third-party system software modifications, or if you have modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)
The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update. While the installation is in progress do not use the computer.
D. To upgrade:
Purchase the Snow Leopard Retail DVD.
Boot From The OS X Installer Disc:
Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
Restart the computer.
Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
Wait for installer to finish loading.
E. If updating:
Download and install update(s)
Use Software Update, or
Download standalone updater(s).

Cannot install snow leopard. Keep getting"os product manager domain error-100"

Cannot install snow leopard. Keep getting"os product manager domain error-100"

Just to double check,
1: you are hold c or option/alt key booted from the 10.6 disk that came with your machine
2: you are in Disk Utility and you have selected the drive makers name and disk size on the left
3: you attempt to click Partition tab, click on the big box, select 1 partition, select option: GUID and format OS X exteneded Journaled and it reports "can't unmount disk"
4: you do have no other drives connected to the machine
If that's all true, then you need to quit Disk Utility and use Terminal and try to force unmount the disk
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/309784-official-mac-os-x-1 0-6-snow-leopard-thread-faq-33.html
Once the drive is unmounted, then hopefully you should be able to format it in Disk Utility

Have a late 2006 iMac with new Ram installed in late 2011 . I am currently running Mountain lion. Did/ hit something while half asleep and was asked for my recovery password didn't know it.Not sure what i did after that but wont boot just searches,

I have a late 2006 iMac with new Ram installed in late 2011or early2012 . I am currently running lion. Did/ hit something while half asleep and was asked for my recovery password, I didn't know it & not sure what I did after that but it wont boot up just searches with a light grey whit -ish screen. Cant get it to clear. Any advice?
Charlies Secret Angel-

Try to boot in Safe mode, see if you are able: Hold down shift and then power on. For wireless keyboards, hold down shift after the chime.
Safe Boot
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk

Can you install snow leopard on Intel based mac with less than one GB of ra

As the subject relay I have an Intel mac mini with 750GB of ram? will th einstaller let me install Snow Leopard?

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If you want to run Snow Leopard you will need to upgrade to at least 1 GB of installed RAM. If you want it to run efficiently, you should install more. Typically, 2 GB will get you most of the benefits of a larger memory space but if your Mac supports more & you want the best possible performance, install the maximum the Mac can handle.

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I am trying to install Snow Leopard on "Vintage" iMac that is currently running 10.5.8. I have the Snow Leopard DVD but when I put it in I get an error message that says "Mac OS X Snow Leopard cannot be installed on this computer". I have already confirmed with Apple Tech Support that my system meets the requirements and should be able to run Snow Leopard. Any suggestions? Is there another way to install the Operating System. Tech Support said they couldn't help any further because it is a Vintage. But they suggested posting a question to the apple community.
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Try this first:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Now boot from your Snow Leopard installer and try the installation.

Cannot install Snow Leopard over 10.5.8 because "can't boot from" boot disk

I closed all my apps.
I ran the installer.
I agreed the terms.
I am ask where to install Snow Leopard.
Only one disk is available - my boot disk.
It has a yellow triangle on it.
Selecting the disk tells me "Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer.".
Rebooting and attempting an install direct from CD yields the same results.
My machine is a six month old aluminium MacBook, and the only difference between it in the shop and today is that it has a customer-installed 500GB hard drive and ditto 4GB RAM in it.
Help.
Neil.

Hi Mike,
Sorry you're having the same problem. It's very frustrating! I'm making some noise about it because as a consequence of being in the software biz for years, I keep machines as vanilla and default as possible whilst serving my purposes as best I can - so I hopefully tread a very well worn QA path. That I am suffering problems probably means a great many more are doing the same.
Unfortunately your solution isn't a good one for me - I simply don't have 400GB of space anywhere nearby. I do have Time Machine backup to a Time Capsule so maybe a solution is to do a vanilla install and clean disk and then a restore. I don't fancy this much though.
I can't help feeling that this is a simple defect in the installer disk detection though, that it uses some custom code rather than systemwide routine to detect bootability.
Neil.

Cannot install Snow Leopard

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You can't use a disk which came with another Mac model to upgrade.
(60971)

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I have an older white MacBook that I want to install Snow Leopard onto again. I swapped the existing harddrive back to the original one I received from Apple when the MacBook was purchased. Before putting the hd into the MacBook I made sure to partition and format with Mac Journaled.
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What you are saying boils down to the MacBook is not recognizing the HD now installed in it. (Regardless of the formatting, Disk Utility should at least list the drive if it is communicating with the MB's hardware.)
Open the MB & make sure the HD is installed correctly, if necessary by removing it & reseating it, making sure connectors are fully mated, nothing is interfering with its fit into the space for it, etc. Close everything up & restart it, listening for any sounds that indicate the HD is spinning up. If not, it may have been damaged. You can also run the Apple Hardware Test from your original grey system disc set (see the label of the disc for instructions about how to do that if necessary) & see if it detects any hardware problems. If so, make a note of the error code & report that.

Cannot install Snow Leopard, Icon just bounces and disappears

So so complicated to Use a Mac, absolutely the opposite of user friendly after coming from a PC: everything is hidden on Macs!
So I want to install Snow Leopard (I currently run Leopard - got the computer 2nd hand)
I have a new copy of Snow Leopard in a box with the leopard on the front.
The Adobe user guide opens fine from the disc itself so the disc works.
I double click on the install Mac os x with the blue arrow pointing down at the top.
IT bounces 3 or 4 times in the bar at the bottom. Then nothing else happens
Don't understand this. It won't even tell me what's going wrong.
Machine Model: Mac mini
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.9f1
Thanks for any help

You need a Intel machine

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lord1908,
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Not necessarily. Use a backup utility so that you can deselect all the data from within your Home folder as well as third-party applications in order to create a bootable disk but without some of the excess. Any of the following should be suitable:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
Synk Pro
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Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Cannot install Snow Leopard on Late 2006 iMac with 10.5.8

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