MacBook Pro Unibody Leopard Failed to Install after reformat drive.

Hello All,
Here is my dilemma. I had a triple boot laptop and everything was fine. I updated Fedora 10 to 11 and after I could not boot my computer. I have everything backed up. I decided to reinstall everything from scratch. I deleted all the partitions. Put the DVD and proceed to install a fresh 10.5.5, everything goes well. Formatted the drive using the GUID partition, HFS+ journaled, the install goes well but when it finishes it fails. The message on the screen says, " The Installer could not make the computer start up from the volume "Mac HD". You may need to select your disk using the Startup Disk Utility. I have reformatted this drive several times, even ran zeros on it onvernite and so far nothing. For some reason I can't install Leopard back on this drive. Any help...???.
Thanks,
Manuel

Unibody MBPs were originally released with a special build of 10.5.5 and then later with a build of 10.5.6. You should use only the original OS X Installer Discs that came with the computer.
Given your previous setup I suggest you start as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APT (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options or Security button, check the button for Zero Data (one pass) and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
It's not entirely clear from your post that you've done all of the above procedure.

Similar Messages

  • Macbook Pro/Airport/Leopard drops Net connection after shutdown or sleep

    I see all kinds of postings about problems with Airport and Leopard. I am pretty sure that the connectivity problem in my case stems from Leopard alone. I just bought a new Macbook Pro with Leopard installed. I have been using MacBooks running 10.4.x with Airport Extreme for several years with no problems. I still have no connectivity problems with 10.4, which is being used right now on the same Airport network. But, every time I shut down the Mac Pro or put it to sleep, it drops the connection. Here is a very weird thing: If I use network diagnostics, I can get back online right away after I put in my password (which is never saved). If I go through system preferences, it does not recognize my password at all (which is saved). I get this message: incompatible security. What does that mean?? There is something screwy in the Leopard software regarding security and passwords. Does anyone out there have a clue what is going on? I am not a computer expert and have no idea how to change security settings. I'm not even sure what they are. I do not want to do anything that will screw up the connectivity with the Macbooks running 10.4.11.

    I had the same problem on my MacBook Pro for the last month or so after "updating" to 10.4.10. Yesterday I tried Loki's fix but couldn't connect at all after that. So I did an archive/install of 10.4.9 and it works better than ever before. I get full signal and it is a lot snappier and faster. The problem is likely in the 10.4.10 update, hopefully Apple will get that fixed in 10.4.11

  • Macbook pro (snow leopard) will not boot after software update

    I helped my mom buy a Macbook Pro for herself for Christmas. Today, I connected it to her old eMac and used the migration assistant to transfer files over. It was unable to estimate migration time on the only user (after 45 minutes) so I didn't migrate the user. Then I tried to pair her macbook to her new bluetooth keyboard, but no magic happened, so I tried to use the bluetooth setup assistant, which crashed. So I ran a software update, hoping that this would fix whatever the bluetooth problem is. Despite having updated on the 23rd, there were 4 updates. None seemed applicable but I installed them anyway. Now the computer won't boot at all.
    Software update said that I had to restart for the updates to take effect, so I restarted. The harddrive went whirrrrrr and the grey screen with the apple logo and the spinning circle displayed. Then the harddrive stopped going whirrrr and 10 minutes later, I started looking on the support site for what to do. I found this:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10564149&#10564149
    Per the instructions in the last post, I fscked the drive (although -f, in accordance with the fsck help). This found no problems. The next suggestion was to boot from the OSX install disk. Only one problem-- there was a disk in the disk drive when the problem occurred and the disk eject button apparently only works while in the gui. I can't install from disk if I can't get the existing disk out of the drive.
    So, any other ideas on what I can do to get this machine to boot?
    Message was edited by: jenlarkin

    Hi Jen:
    Since it's new, you're entitled to 90 days of phone support (3 years if you buy AppleCare). It sounds to me like you may have some hardware issue(s) going on - you should not have the sorts of issues you're having with a new Mac. Apple will probably be much better and faster about getting you fixed than this board may be able to if that is the case.

  • Macbook Pro unibody freezing up on startup after light water spill!!

    Hello Everyone,
    I have a macbook pro that i bought last summer and after almost a month of using it i had a light water spill and now the computer turns on and before the login screen is supposed to come up the computer freezes, tried booting with safe mode i can see the mouse pointer briefly and then it goes right to sleep and wont wake back up, is it an obvious logic board problem?or could it be maybe something else?
    Thanks in advance!!

    Some liquid has just spilled into your Mac. What should you do?
    Do
    Immediately shut down the computer and unplug the power cord.
    Remove the computer's battery if it's a portable Mac.
    Disconnect any peripherals (printers, iPods, scanners, cameras, etc.)
    Lay the computer upside down on paper towels to get as much liquid as possible to drip out.
    Note what was spilled on your Mac.
    Bring the computer into an Apple store or AASP as soon as possible.
    Don't
    Don't try to turn it back on. Liquids can help electrical current move about the components of your Mac in destructive ways.
    Don't shake the computer (this will only spread the liquid around).
    Don't use a hair dryer on it (even at a low setting a hair dryer will damage sensitive components).

  • Snow Leopard failed to install after upgrade to Crucial 128GB SSD

    Hi I just installed a new Crucial 128GB SSD to my MacBook 2010. Did the necessary to formt the hard disk Mac OS journal. However i am unable to install Snow Leopard from the installation disc.The message says "Install Failed, Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer. The installer could not copy the necessary support files". I have tried restarting and reinstalling but it always stop during installation at about "33 mins" left. Anybody can help?
    Thanks.

    Hey, i had the same problem and i tried allmost everything: but the problem was not  the ssd, not  the ram, not on changing the date, not on installing only part of the programs (X11, or the Fonts, etc.), to install first 10.5 and then 10.6...
    in my case the problem was the driver. I just buy a new samsung external driver and I install with no problems the complete snow leopard.
    After allmost 3 weeks with the problem I can say that I'm very happy.
    Hope it helps,

  • Reinstal Mac OS X, iWork09, iLife09 on Late 2008 Macbook Pro unibody ques?!

    Alright so I've got a quick question for you knowledgeable people, I've got a late 2008 macbook pro unibody and has unfortunately installed some crap on my hard drive since i got it, and i want to be just like i got it out of the box. I want to delete everything off my hard drive, like completely erase, do I do that using the disk utility application or could i erase it completely with the mac OS X install disk that came with my mac? That's the specs of my harddrive(Hitachi Media Total Capacity : 232.9 GB (250,059,350,016 Bytes). When I reinstall my mac OS X, I will be waiting for Snow leopard (because its only $30 bucks if an upgrade), since they say the footprint of that O.S. will be considerably smaller that os x. but before i install snow leopard i want to reinstall my iwork and iLife programs, which are both 09. This leads to the next question that i have, my mac shipped with iLife and iWork 08 and I bought versions 09 after. They are single licenses and I want to know if I will be able to reinstall iWork09 and iLife09 after my reinstall of OS X without buying them again.
    Thanks for any help in advance.;)

    Welcome to Apple Discussions!
    Here's an article on Installation options:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1545?viewlocale=en_US
    It should give you clear instructions on how to proceed. You will boot from your install disc to do the Erase and Install. To erase the boot drive, you will use the Disk Utility that is on your install disc.
    You have the iLife 09 and the iWork 09 discs? Then you should be able to reinstall them from the discs after installing the OS. The single license means that you are licensed to use them on only one computer at a time.
    Be sure to make a good backup of anything you want to keep before erasing your drive and reinstalling the OS.
    Incidentally, you can save a few GB's of space if you do a custom installation and eliminate any languages and printer drivers you won't ever use.
    Good luck!

  • Hi, I have macbook Pro, running Leopard OS X. I partitioned my hard drive a while ago to install windows and only allowed myself 10 Gig of data. Anyway, i deleted windows and want another OSX on there instead. How do i make this partition bigger please??

    Hi, I have macbook Pro, running Leopard OS X. I partitioned my hard drive a while ago to install windows and only allowed myself 10 Gig of data. I deleted windows after i realised i wasnt enjoying using it at all and wasted my hard drive. I now decided that i want another OSX on there instead yet i have only allowed myself 10 gb on the partition. I have ben thru some programms but am struggling on making this partition bigger.
    I only want it at 20gb but cant seem to make the partition bigger, only smaller or split it into further partition.
    Is there a way to do this, i have all installation discs from original OSX so think this could help.
    Any help please would be fantastic.
    Thanks Chris

    Hi, dragging the partition will only make smaller, not larger. In disk utility you can only split or make smaller the partitions. Yes i booted from installation disks also but still no help.
    And Brody, I am willing to erase the disc completely, infact jus started doing a backup in order to do so but that failed also. And the information you gave on partition a hard drive, Although very simple and i already know how to do this, but it wont let me make the partition bigger, and i dont want to make a new partition, just enlarge the one i already have, which i dont see possible from disk utility.
    Getting really frustrated now, even backing up is saying no to me. **** external being a douche.
    I dont mind erasing the hard drive but surely this must be doable without deleting the secondary partition back t a single volume, and re partitioning into 2 volumes again.
    Thanks again

  • After I installed Lion, my MacBook Pro can no longer detect my external hard drives or my USB flash drives. What should I do?

    After I installed Lion, my MacBook Pro can no longer detect my external hard drives or my USB flash drives. What should I do?

    And me -- My Mac at work running Snow Leopard reads the drive normally. My home Mac (on Lion) can't even find it....
    Yet another Leo let-down.....

  • Is there a cd drive that can be externally connected with my macbook pro unibody version approx. 2007? My cd drive is broke and want to upgrade to lion but need to update to snow leopard first.

    Is there an external cd drive that can be connected to my macbook pro, unibody, approx 2007. My cd drive is broken and I want to install snow leopard which only comes on a cd.

    Yes Any exrernal DVD drive that connecs by USP port will work. It does not have to be sold by or have the Apple name on it to work. I use an Asus, got it from newegg.com. $30US.

  • Macbook pro freezes for no reason even after installing 10.8 on a brand new hard drive

    Macbook pro freezes for no reason even after installing 10.8 on a brand new hard drive.
    Tried to reset pram, smc, nvram.
    Tried installing new RAM.
    Tried installing new hard drive.
    You should know that my internal drive is installed in a cheap external case and plugged in a USB 2.0 port because i am waiting for a new hard drive cable.all
    Yep all good things happened to me...i don't know if all these problems are linked, ahh and also my trackpad is behaving very erraticaly sometimes, it's like it is possessed by a ghost. My computer is not under warranty anymore so i'd like to avoid a trip to the Apple store but i'm close to doing just that.
    Any help appreciated...

    It's diagnostic software. It's supposed to help you find problems. I don't think anyone is making any software yet that fixes hardware problems.
    That said, the two comments:
    Le husky wrote:
    Macbook pro freezes for no reason even after installing 10.8 on a brand new hard drive....
    .....also my trackpad is behaving very erraticaly sometimes, it's like it is possessed by a ghost....
    would lead me to think it's the logic board. On older MacBook Pro's both the USB I/O ports and the keyboard/trackpad are fed out of an integrated USB controller integrated into the South Bridge I/O controller. On newer models, the USB ports come out of an integrated North/South bridge controller and the keyboard/trackpad are handled by an SMC controller, which itself interfaces with the I/O controller. All of these items are on the logic board, and they're all unrepairable.
    ...unless of course the "internal drive [that] is installed in a cheap external case" is itself causing the problems. Another thing to try might be a different USB port, if you haven't done so already.
    I didn't know the price for Scannerz went up. I could have sworn I only paid 30-some bucks for it. Maybe it was on sale at the time. I don't remember.
    In any case, good luck.

  • My macbook pro early 2012 won't install release version of yosemite after being in the beta test

    my macbook pro early 2012 won't install release version of yosemite after being in the beta test, anyone else having any issues with this?

    Received an email from apple saying thank you for being in the beta test and they tell you to download the release version from the mac app store and install it. Done this twice and it says installed successfully after rebooting twice and doing the usual install of a new OS. However when it boots up and opens your desktop it still has the Feedback assistant installed and continuity and all the new features do not work at all. Making me assume that the final release has not installed at all. Spoke to apple on the Phone and they Don't know how to solve it. Except for doing a fresh OS Install. Which i would rather not do, but might have too. currently backing up my Mac as we spec to do it

  • Im trying to install windows 7 in on my macbook pro, i thought it just install like intel based PC, so i use windows 7 DVD, i format the harddisk, and installation failed. When i reboot, OS X is missing, because i've format my harddisk. So what should ido

    Im trying to install windows 7 in on my macbook pro, i thought it just install like intel based PC, so i use windows 7 DVD, i format the harddisk, and installation failed. When i reboot, OS X is missing, because i've format my harddisk. So what should i do to make my MBP is with windows 7

    Thanks for all of your help!  Big time!
    Guys, I been in the business working on PC and MAC for years. So I am not green at this, I was looking for some kind of option to get past the boot loader..  Which is failing. 
    I know how to boot into these modes.. Done tons of research before posting and couldn't find anything.
    It will not go into  Internet Recovery, or any thing else.  I hear the sound .. then that is it.. I get nothing else..
    I have tried clearing the NVRAM which is Option + Command + P + R
    Still nothing..
    So I thought I would try here to see if maybe there was some trick out there someone might know of that would work.
    What else guys?  I am hitting th keys right..

  • Macbook Pro Unibody 2008 sleep issue

    I have a Macbook Pro Unibody 2008 and I have noticed an issue when closing the lid and putting the computer to sleep. Sometimes it will go to sleep successfully but some other times it won't. If it fails to go to sleep the fans kick in after a while and the computer becomes unresponsive, it won't wake up again and I have to turn it off by pressing the power button for a few seconds. When I turn it on again it shows the white screen without the apple for a while, then restarts by itself once more and then shows the apple and boots normally. Upgrading to Lion from Snow Leopard did not make any difference.
    The worst part about this issue is that sometimes I won't notice the computer hasn't gone to sleep and I will put it in my carrying bag to go somewhere and when I open the bag again I find that the fans are working at full speed and the computer has reached ridiculous temperatures. One time it got so hot I could barely touch it with my hands! I am quite surprised it was not damaged by the excessive heat...
    Does anyone else have this issue? Are there any solutions?

    Try resetting your computer's SMC:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    If that doesn't resolve the issue, you may want to download and install AppleJack, a free, open-source utility that runs in Single User Mode and that has sorted out occasional problems with sleep, failure to shut down, etc. on my machines.
    http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

  • Detecting airport card in MacBook Pro unibody Mid 2009

    I own Mid 2009 Macbook Pro Unibody. Airport was working fine, but now says No Airport card installed. Curious how I can check harware is present(no loose card). I saw other software related suggestions but did not resolve.
    Shouldnt the airport card be listed under System Profiler --> Hardware ?
    I see Airport under System Profiler --> Network, but only  Software version details are present.
    Many Thanks!

    I have a 15.4" 2.66GHz Mid 2009 MBP on 10.6.1 and I am having a similar problem. I honestly do not recall having the issue before installing Snow Leopard. The problem I have is it seems whenever it first wakes from sleep I can instantly use the keyboard and enter my password to unlock it but the touchpad is almost completely unresponsive for the first 5 - 10 seconds then it starts responding some, but like was mentioned if I swipe with 2 fingers it seems to respond as it should with just 1 finger. After approx 1 minute or so it seems to fully wake up and then my touchpad works normally from then on. So it seems to only happen when first waking from sleep.

  • Macbook Pro Unibody 2008 freezes when switching video cards

    I hava a Macbook Pro unibody late 2008 running Snow Leopard and I have noticed that whenever I switch from one video card to another the system completely freezes after a while. It does not happen while doing something specific or intensive. It seems to be completely random. I have searched in forums and found out that other users are experiencing the same issue but I have found no solution yet. Does anyone know of some way to fix this?

    Try resetting your computer's SMC:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    If that doesn't resolve the issue, you may want to download and install AppleJack, a free, open-source utility that runs in Single User Mode and that has sorted out occasional problems with sleep, failure to shut down, etc. on my machines.
    http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

Maybe you are looking for