Mac OX Snow Leopard installation from DVD failed

Question

I tried to install the new OS Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (bought today) on my iMac. But is constantly failed (message: installation failed) and now it's in a loop where I can't get out. Because the only action there is is to try it again. What should I do?

Answer 1

What specific iMac model do you have? Does it meet these requirements?
Snow Leopard General requirements
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of memory
5GB of available disk space
DVD drive for installation
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To shut down the computer press and hold in the Power button until the computer shuts off. When you restart the computer you can eject the DVD as follows:
Five ways to eject a stuck CD or DVD from the optical drive
Ejecting the stuck disc can usually be done in one of the following ways:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the left mouse button until the disc ejects.
2. Press the Eject button on your keyboard.
3. Click on the Eject button in the menubar.
4. Press COMMAND-E.
5. If none of the above work try this: Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following:
     /usr/bin/drutil eject
If this fails then try this:
Boot the computer into Single-user Mode. At the prompt enter the same command as used above. To restart the computer enter "reboot" at the prompt without quotes.
If you are currently running Leopard and it's still working then do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow 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.
If all is OK then reboot from your Snow Leopard DVD and try the installation again.
BTW, I encourage you to make a cloned backup of your current working system before trying to upgrade.