Have a file with a ? mark after trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard.

I am running Leopard on my MacBook Pro and wanted to upgrade to Lion. Wouldn't work so friend suggested I try to upgrade to Snow Leopard first. Followed the Snow Leopard Installation instructions which said it would take 45 minutes and it would automatically reboot when it was done.
After hearing the familiar boot up chime, I check to find a black screen. Managed to eject the Snow Leopard installation disk by shutting down and starting up with the EJECT button pressed.
Tried to boot up and I get a file with a flashing question mark in it.
Tried to boot with the Snow Leopard disk holding down the OPTION key and I get a very dark screen with the first screen of the installation instructions that can only be seen with a flash light. Can't find the curser so tried the ENTER key which takes me to the next page which is very dark too. Can't find the curser so tried the ENTER keY to no avail. Tried the Leopard Disk with the same results.
Tried to boot with Leopard disk holding down the X key and I get a very dark screen with the first screen of the installation instructions that can only be seen with a flash light. Can't see or find the curser so tried the ENTER key which takes me to the next page which is very dark too. Can't find the curser or Disk Utility but with the aid of the flashlight I can read the screen which says:
"Welcome to Installer
To install OSX click CONTINUE and follow instructions.
To quit choose Quit Installer from the installer menu and click the start up disk."
Can't find the curse so tried the ENTER key to no avail.
Tried command+S with the installation disk in and fsck -fy yields "installation DVD appears OK".
Tried command+S WITHOUT the installation disk in and I get a file with a flashing question mark in it.
Tried OPTION key WITHOUT the installation disk in and I get a blank screen with a moveable curser but nothing else.
I have tried all the above with both the Leopard and Snow Leopard Disk with the same results.
I do run Time Machine so I have the ability to restore what I had this am but I can't seem to get to that option.
How do I get to my latest Back Up on Time Machine or boot from TM?

Unless he controls your machine (same household), you can't. At $30 USD, pop for your own copy.

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TS1545 I have downloaded 10.5.8 combo several times and cannot get it to install because the disc won't mount or the installation gets hung up after restart. My current os is 10.5.1, and I am trying to upgrade to snow leopard. This is on a dual core macbo

I have downloaded 10.5.8 combo several times and cannot get it to install because the disc won't mount or the installation gets hung up after restart. My current os is 10.5.1, and I am trying to upgrade to snow leopard. This is on a dual core macbook pro.

You don't need to update to Leopard 10.5.8 unless you want to keep Leopard. Upgrading to Snow Leopard requires that your purchase the retail install disk.
The following covers Leopard:
Some general advice on updating:
It is worth noting that it is an extreme rarity for updates to cause upsets to your system, as they have all been extensively beta-tested, but they may well reveal pre-existing ones, particularly those of which you may have been unaware. If you are actually aware of any glitches, make sure they are fixed before proceeding further.
So before you do anything else:
If you can, make a full backup first to an external hard disk. Ideally you should always have a bootable clone of your system that enables you to revert to the previous pre-update state.
Turn off sleep mode for both screen and hard disk.
Disconnect all peripherals except your keyboard and mouse.
1. Repair Permissions (in Disk Utility)
2. Verify the state of your hard disk using Disk Utility. If any faults are reported, restart from your install disk (holding down the C key), go to Disk Utility, and repair your startup disk. Restart again to get back to your startup disk.
At least you can now be reasonably certain that your system does not contain any obvious faults that might cause an update/upgrade to fail.
3. Download the correct version of the COMBO update from the Apple download site.
The Combo updater of Leopard 10.5.8 can be found here:
http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_8_Combo_Update
If you prefer to download updates via Software Update in the Apple menu (which would ensure that the correct version for your Mac was being downloaded), it is not recommended to allow SU to install major (or even minor) updates automatically. Set Software Update to just download the updater without immediately installing it. There is always the possibility that the combined download and install (which can be a lengthy process) might be interrupted by a power outage or your cat walking across the keyboard, and an interrupted install will almost certainly cause havoc. Once it is downloaded, you can install at a time that suits you. You should make a backup copy of the updater on a CD in case you ever need a reinstall.
Full details about the 10.5.8 update here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3606
More information on using Software Updater here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24901?viewlocale=en_US
Using the Combo updater ensures that all system files changed since the original 10.5.0 are included, and any that may have been missed out or subsequently damaged will be repaired. The Delta updater, although a temptingly smaller download, only takes you from the previous version to the new one, i.e. for example from 10.5.7 to 10.5.8. Software Update will generally download the Delta updater only. The preferable Combo updater needs to be downloaded from Apple's download site.
Now proceed as follows:
4. Close all applications and turn off energy saving and screensaver.
5. Unplug all peripherals except your keyboard and mouse.
6. Install the update/upgrade. Do not under any circumstances interrupt this procedure. Do not do anything else on your computer while it is installing. Be patient.
7. When it ask for a restart to complete the installation, click restart. This can take longer than normal, there are probably thousands of files to overwrite and place in the correct location. Do nothing while this is going on.
8. Once your Mac is awake, repair permissions again, and you should be good to go!
If your Mac seems slightly sluggish or ‘different’, perform a second restart. It can’t hurt and is sometimes efficacious! In fact a second restart can be recommended.
9. Open a few of your most used applications and check that all is OK. In this connection please remember that not all manufacturers of third party applications and plug-ins, add-ons, haxies etc, will have had time to do any necessary rewrites to their software to make them compliant with the latest version of your operating system. Give them a week or two while you regularly check their websites for updates.
N.B. Do not attempt to install two different updates at the same time as each may have different routines and requirements. Follow the above recommendations for each update in turn.
Lastly, Apple's own article on the subject of Software Update may also be useful reading:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106695
[b]If you are updating Safari (or just have):[/b]
Input Managers from third parties can do as much harm as good. They use a security loophole to reach right into your applications' code and change that code as the application starts up. If you have installed an OS update and Safari is crashing, the very [i]first[/i] thing to do is clear out your InputManagers folders (both in your own Library and in the top-level /Library), log out and log back in, and try again.
So, disable all third party add-ons before updating Safari, as they may not have been updated yet for the new version. Add them back one by one. If something goes awry, remove it again and check on the software manufacturer's website for news of an update to match your version of Safari.
Most errors reported here after an update are due to an unrepaired or undetected inherent fault in the system, and/or a third party add-on.
Additional tips on software installation here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106692
To reiterate, Input Managers reach right into an application and alter its code. This puts the behavior of the affected application outside the control and responsibility of its developers: a recipe for problems. That's not to say that issues absolutely will ensue as a result of Input Managers, but you, as a user, must decide. If the functionality of a specific Input Manager or set thereof is really important to you, you may well choose to assume the associated risk.
Again, the advice is to remove all Input Managers from the following directories:
/Library/InputManagers
~/Library/InputManagers
especially prior to system updates (they can always be added back one-by-one later).
Solutions for troubleshooting installation, startup, and login issues in Mac OS X v10.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1541?viewlocale=en_US

!!!HI, SO I BOUGHT MOUNTAIN LION ON MY MACBOOK PRO TRYING TO UPGRADE FROM SNOW LEOPARD, AND WHILE TRYING TO REINSTALL THE OS SETUP AS IT SHOWED IT COULDNT BE VERIFIED, I CROSSED OUT MOUNTAIN LION FROM MY PURCHASES, ITS NOW GONE, DO I HAVE TO BUY IT AGAIN?

HI, SO I BOUGHT MOUNTAIN LION ON MY MACBOOK PRO TRYING TO UPGRADE FROM SNOW LEOPARD, AND WHILE TRYING TO REINSTALL THE OS SETUP AS IT SHOWED IT COULDNT BE VERIFIED, I CROSSED OUT MOUNTAIN LION FROM MY PURCHASES, ITS NOW GONE, DO I HAVE TO BUY IT AGAIN?

Please google search for "Mountain Lion disk crash" before upgrading you mac pro. You might need to replace you Mac hard drive after the upgrade.So many people had the same problems including me.
Be aware of the Mountain Lion upgrade problem.

I have ver 10.5.8 with 4Gb of memory, can I upgrade to snow leopard?

I have a Mac Pro running version 10.5.8 with 4Gb of memory, can I upgrade to snow leopard?
My info is:
Processor 2x2.8 Ghz Intel
Memory 4GB
but when I saw the upgrade for Snow Leopard it said something about needing 5GB?
I'm not the best with tech stuff (obviously never upgraded since I got this one) and not sure if I will be able to.
Any advice most appreciated.
Need to know as I can't seem to get new itunes to download.
Thank you in advance.

Luckily prices have dropped while the quality has improved. Your system can take DDR2 FBDIMMs of 800MHz and 667MHz
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $30
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
http://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-PC2-5300F-Buffered-FB-DIMM-Heatspreaders/dp/B0 05HIWD5U/
http://www.amazon.com/DDR2-800-PC2-6400-800MHz-Certified-MA970LLA/dp/B0085MGTEQ/
http://www.amazon.com/2008-PC2-6400-Buffered-FB-DIMM-MA970LL/dp/B007GB1I7K
Ideal is to pick up a new drive and leave your system as is and do a clean install and let Setup Assistant merge your old system files.
You may be using the original ATI 2600XT it shipped with? I would replace it with Apple's ATI 5770.
Also plan to start with a new TimeMachine backup set and leave the old one as is, you can reuse it later.
4GB is 'fine' but also is on the "I would not want to run with less" department.
What will make your Mac run faster and smoother is a small SSD boot drive, Samsung 840 128GB.
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE120BW/dp/B00E3 W15P0/
For now Snow Leopard is still supported but Apple wants to move as many users and systems as possible to 10.9 Maverick, free upgrade from Snow Leopard. But a major overhaul and doing so 10.7 and later dropped support for older applications.
You might even want to see what you use and if you need to purchase or make upgrades to apps you use now in going to 10.6.8. http://www.roaringapps.com

I have a Mac OS X v 10.4.11 and trying to upgrade to snow leopard but it says I don't have enough RAM, what do I do?

I have a Mac OS X v 10.4.11 and trying to upgrade to snow leopard but it says I don't have enough RAM, what do I do?

What machine are you running on?
As far as I recall, Snow Leopard's memory requirements were 1GB of RAM. All Intel-based Macs have shipped with at least that much, so I don't understand how you have a machine that doesn't have enough memory.

My iPhone 3gs does not sync with itunes anymore after installing Mac Os X Snow Leopard, what can i do?

My iPhone 3gs does not sync with itunes anymore after installing Mac Os X Snow Leopard (iTunes does not recognize the iPhone anymore) , what can i do?

Try removing and reinstalling AMDS:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1747
(I requested deletion of your duplicate post.)

I need to upgrade to mac os snow leopard from 10.5.8, and have the lion OS usb. I can't upgrade to snow leopard as my father doesn't remember the admin password. If anyone can help it would be appreciatedeas

I need to upgrade to mac os snow leopard from 10.5.8, and have the lion OS usb. I can't upgrade to snow leopard as my father doesn't remember the admin password. If anyone can help it would be appreciated

Restart with the Mac OS X 10.6 DVD in the drive or with the Lion USB drive connected, hold down the Option key just after the restart, tab to the installation disk, and press Enter. If the computer has a firmware password set, it needs to be provided for this to work.
(66822)

I have OS X 10.5.8, how do I upgrade to Snow Leopard or Lion?

I have OS X 10.5.8, how do I upgrade to Snow Leopard or Lion?

As Ralph Landry1 mentions, you need to upgrade to Snow Leopard first (so you can access the App Store), but if your Mac qualifies, you can upgrade directly to Mountain Lion without installing Lion first > Apple - Upgrade your Mac to OS X Mountain Lion.

App Store crashes when trying to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Yosemite

I'm running Snow Leopard v. 10.6.8. I've installed Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 so that the App Store appears. I am now attempting to upgrade to Yosemite but every time I click "Get" in the App Store, I get the spinner of doom and App Store ends up not responding so I have to force quit. I've submitted the crash report to Apple. Here's a link to a Gist with the crash report.
A possibly related issue is that every time I put something in the trash and try to empty it, somehow there are lots of new files created and it takes a very long time to empty. In order to isolate this issue, I put one single item (a PNG) into the trash, and when I emptied it I saw the message "Deleting 4 items". When I put 2 PNG files, it said "deleting 5 items" and so on. When attempting to delete an application file (or files) it appears to create thousands of files before deleting and takes a very long time to empty the trash. I have turned on "show hidden files" using the relevant terminal command, and so I can see that there are no hidden files at the time that I attempt to empty the trash.
Any help much appreciated!

Try resetting the App Store and Clearing Cookies.
Reset Learned from Old Toad

Trying to upgrade to snow leopard and my macbook pro keeps ejecting the DVD-R

I downloaded snow leopard and am attempting to burn it to DVD-R, as per the instructions, but everytime i insert the DVD-R (Maxell 4.7 GB) it spits it right back out.

Did you download Snow Leopard (ie, Mac OS X 10.6)? If so, you have gotten it illegally, as it is not available for download legally. You should delete whatever you downloaded, as it could possibly contain malware.
If, OTOH, you purchased and downloaded Lion (10.7) from the App Store, then it sounds like there's either something wrong with the disk you're trying to use or with your optical drive. Try putting the installer on an 8 GB flash drive instead, I like that approach better anyway. (BTW, what instructions are you following, in this case?)

Trying to upgrade from snow leopard to lion. Father already purchased Lion online a few months ago but did not use upgrade (did not know cmp was already running on lion). How can I use his upgrade on my computer without having to buy another Lion upgrade?

Hi,
Basically my computer is running on Snow Leopard. My father bought the Lion upgrade to install on his computer, however, it ended up being that his newly purchased lap top already came running with Lion -- thus, he never ended up using the Lion upgrade he purchased. Now, I would like to use the Lion upgrade he purchased but did not use to upgrade my computer to Snow Leopard. The information he gave me for this was the Web Order Number, Part Number, and Content Code for the Lion upgrade. How do I redeem/use his upgrade to update my computer to Lion without having to purchase another copy of the Lion software from the App store? Is that possible?
Thank you so much!!!

Unless he controls your machine (same household), you can't. At $30 USD, pop for your own copy.

I'm trying to upgrade from Snow Leopard (10.6.8) to Lion.

I thought it would be a simple download in the Apple Store and I'm pretty sure I saw it there a month or so ago, but now I keep getting stuff about Mountain Lion coming out in July, but no way to purchase the upgrade to Lion right now. Has it been discontinued?

Phil Bergin wrote:
I thought it would be a simple download in the Apple Store and I'm pretty sure I saw it there a month or so ago, but now I keep getting stuff about Mountain Lion coming out in July, but no way to purchase the upgrade to Lion right now. Has it been discontinued?
Have you tried this direct link?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12
I would suggest waiting for Mountain Lion if your system supports it, most system requirements remained the same when compared to Lion.
You can learn more about Mountain Lion here:
OS X Mountain Lion
Hope this helps!

IMac harddrive S.M.A.R.T. errors when trying to upgrade from snow leopard to mountain lion

When I try to install OS X Mountain Lion on my 2010 iMac version 10.6.8 I get a message that says "This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't be repaired." Is there a way to fix this? Is apple just trying to get me to buy a new computer?

The S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics that are built into your hdd are designed to warn of impending hardware failure.
Take a look at this Wikipedia article... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.
You may be able to use Disk Utility to run the Repair Disk routine and get the drive to map out any bad sectors that might be causing some problem. And the drive may perform well again for a while. But once a disk begins to display performance degradation because of a hardware issue, it's only a matter of time before it fails.
I think the best thing for you to do is to back up your data and replace that drive ASAP.
Drives are relatively inexpensive mechanisms and they will all fail sometime. And never at a good time.

Mail Notes "Hidden" after upgrading to snow leopard

I have a ton of "notes" in my mail program and after I recently upgraded to snow leopard, none of them appear under my "Notes" mailbox. However, they do still exist in the my inbox when I search for them (since whenever a new note is created or edited, it appears as a new email). So in other words, my notes are not gone, they just don't show up in my notes box. Does anyone know how to make them reappear in there? Thanks

Quit Mail and try trashing the ~/library/caches/com.apple.mail folder then restart, empty the trash and relaunch Mail. Might work. I've had success with this when the trash is "hidden"

Upgrading to Snow Leopard from Tiger with an external DVD drive.

I am trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6.3 from Tiger 10.4.11 with an external DVD drive. The disc loads OK and prompts me for my password to restart and begin the installation. On restart, instead of being asked to accept the terms of use and etc... I just get the same prompt to restart and get caught in a loop. Any tips?

Try this instead:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the disk icon of the Snow Leopard DVD.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.

Have a file with a ? mark after trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard.

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