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.

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How to install Snow leopard over mavericks?

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That its for people whith older systems (10.5.x as example) in order to download and install Mavericks.
As you could download and install Mavericks your system was already 10.6, 10.7 or 10.8.
Second, you have installed an application that its not compatible with Mavericks, so you need to rip that only app.
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launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/net.brockerhoff.QuayMenu.plist
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Accidentally, eh? How, might I ask?
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How do I install Snow Leopard over 10.5.8

I have just recently acquired a MacBookPro from a friend of mine who's father has passed away. I am able to access the computer without a password but the admin is still set to his father and he doesn't know the password. I have the Snow Leopard OS and want to do a clean install like it came from the factory with no personalization. This is the first time I have owned a MacBookPro so I am unsure how to do a clean install of Snow Leopard over the exiting OS 10.5.8 and if I have to delete that OS first. How do I do that?

Insert a retail DVD, restart with the C key held down, use the Disk Utility to erase the internal drive, and install Snow Leopard.
While the retail DVD can be used to create a fully functional OS, it can’t perform a true factory restore; it won’t install any of the iLife applications.
(111513)

Can I install Snow Leopard over Lion to install old software after hard drive crashed?

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Might be some useful info here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1175934
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Cannot install snow leopard. Keep getting"os product manager domain error-100"

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Just to double check,
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2: you are in Disk Utility and you have selected the drive makers name and disk size on the left
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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
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If i upgrade Snow Leopard to lion, all information will be removed? from hard disk ?, if i upgrade Snow Leopard to lion, all informatio will be removed from hard disk ?

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John Hammer said it best -- backup first and always. That's why Time Machine and periodic clones of your boot drive to an external disk are so valuable.
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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.

Installing snow leopard over lion

I just bought a MBP two days ago with Lion preinstalled and i want to install snow leopard.
i have the retail dvd of SL but after it starts booting from DVD it appears the "You need to restart your computer. Hold Down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button"
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7792/pict0017lo8.jpg
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Two things,
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Second the grey disks are machine model specific, meaning you can only use them with another exact model machiine.
Thrid Apple restricts booting off of earlier OS X install disks in the firmware, but if the OS gets on the drive and it works for the hardware, it will run. But not well on all machines, but yours is likely going to be fine.
So you want to get 10.6 on a factory 10.7 Mac, it's possible if Apple hasn't done any changes lately, your likely going to need another Mac that can boot off the 10.6.3 disks and apply the 10.6.8 combo update together so the drivers are together, then imaged to a wiped hard drive or partition using Firewire Target Disk Mode and another Mac.
"The Proceedure" is here and there are links to discussions and updates all over the web.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3264421?start=0&tstart=0
You also may need to read my post about restoring Lion before you erase the disk, you need to copy the Lion Recovery Partiton first with the Lion Disk Assistant. Cloning will also help a LOT.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

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

Cannot install Snow Leopard

I am trying to install Snow Leopard on daughter's MacBook which is currently running Leopard. I install the disk and get "Mac OS X 10.6 cannot be installed on this computer". There are 2G RAM available. Any suggestions?

You can't use a disk which came with another Mac model to upgrade.
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Cannot install Snow Leopard on a new HD in MacBook

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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.)
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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

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

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