Please help - missing startup disk after attempted Leopard Install!

I tried to install Leopard last night on my 20" iMac 2.4 ghz Intel machine. I went through the initial installation screens, and when it came to the "Select a destination screen," nothing showed up for about 20 minutes, so eventually, I restarted the computer, thinking it had froze [I have since learned that the computer was actually verifying the disk during that time, but of course, there's no progress bar to let you know that].
Now, when I try to install Leopard, it says that I cannot install Leopard without a full erase and install. I suppose that would be fine - except I can't get to Tiger to back things up. My hard disk does not show up as an option in the "Startup Disk" utility, and sure enough, when I start up the computer, all I get is the flashing folder with the question mark. I've also tried running the Disk Utility to verify/repair my hard drive, but it continues to tell me the process failed, and I can't get beyond that point. Any thoughts for how to get back to Tiger, so I can get to my old files and backup! It seems ridiculous that basically putting the Leopard DVD into my hard drive would have made me unable to access my old files! Please help if you have any advice!

Hope you found a better solution to your problem. I had the EXACT same situation. I used Data Rescue II to recover my files. It is really important that you NOT download it. Go to the Apple Store or another reseller and buy the disk, because you will need the Emergency Bootable Disk. Put it in your drive and hold down the 'C' button. When it loads, you'll be able to recover your files. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT, THOUGH: You must have an external drive connected to your computer in order to copy the files from your hard drive. Good luck!!

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Please Help! Macbook won't boot up after attempted Leopard install (Wont bo

Ok so I'll go through EXACTLY what has happened to my laptop in the past day.. please note that the laptop was NEVER moved from the desk while this has all happened. Also a couple other things you should know.. I had Applecare, but 6 months ago when i sent it in to replace the harddrive -- they said they found some water damage, and it would cost $700 to replace... so i just put in the harddrive myself for $50, and it has worked fine since... So I'm pretty sure I can't turn to Applecare anymore...
Alright...
Yesterday
One of my memory sticks went bad on me... (i had 2- 1gig sticks.) I took the bad one out, and the computer seemed to run fine on the single stick of memory.
Last night
I started to install leopard as an update over 10.4, seemed to work fine, though it was slow -- and finally i got to the leopard installation complete thing (please reboot the computer)... so I did...
It starts loading up... shows the mac symbol with the loading circle thing... but wait, Oh ****, i was probally was supposed to take out the cd... So i turn off the macbook by holding down the power button... and I eject the cd, and then try to start it up...
Not loading... ****.
So after some mulling i decide, alright -- i'll reinstall again...
I boot to the cd drive, choose my options, start the install, and go to sleep..
This Morning
I wake up.. the install hasn't moved at all... It's still at the same place where i left it..
****... so again I manually shut it off, and try and restart to boot from the CD again..
NO GO....
If I hold down C to boot from DVD
The computer attempts to read the disk.. CD drive seems to power down.. then try again.. Then it ejects the cd, and goes to the Apple logo with the spinning circle, but never loads. I've tried it with My old 10.4 disk, and the new leopard disk. Same result on both. neither disk seems scratched either.
If I just boot up regular
It goes to the apple logo with spinning circle.
SOOOO...
I tried resetting the PMU, and PRAM
Is it likely that it is my superdrive gone bad, at a horrible time? If so I guess i'll just buy one on eBay and replace it myself. Is there any way to test it?
Could there by another problem wrong with it?
Please help me troubleshoot this! I'd be very appreciative -- I'm a poor college Computer science student that needs his computer to work for his classes.
Thanks All!
Message was edited by: chrysanthemum

Could there by another problem wrong with it?
Yes. You need the two RAM modules, or at the very least the remaining one RAM module must be for sure securely seated. If not securely seated with only one module, the result is as you've seen.
i was probally was supposed to take out the cd...
No, not necessary. After that, the very delayed loading was totally normal, sounds as if you were just impatient.
Message was edited by: myhighway
Oh, and check the AppleCare agreement, as to the best of my recollection, you can should be able to get a refund, pro-rated for time left.
Check how full your hard drive is now. I'm not clear if you've yet erased your HD or how many systems you've installed - if not erased perhaps it's full up.
A PRAM reset should allow you to boot from the install disc, access the Install Discs's System Profiler, and see what things look like. Also, you should be able to boot to the Apple Hardware Test - while you do need a working optical drive to do so, you don't need any hard drive at all, and it doesn't sound like either one has been lost.
Message was edited by: myhighway

Mac stuck at startup screen after snow leopard install went bad

I have an iMac running on 10.4. I have all the requirements to install 10.6.
i bought the $30 cd to install it, put in the cd and chose install. It went to screen with the black/purple space background and a window that had me choose where to install it to. I think I booted from the install CD.
Chose english, it prepared installation, clicked continue on the install mac os x window. Then i had to choose where to install it. There was only one option (the hard disk) but when i clicked on it, it said i couldn't install it. So I clicked back but I couldn't quit the installation.
When I restarted the computer, it just kept going to the installation and I kept ending up in a dead end. So, I browsed for my available options to restart my computer running on my old OS. I clicked utilities > startup disk > then clicked the hard disk. I thought this would just restart the iMac normally.
The computer restarted, but now its stuck on the start up screen. I turn it on, stays on the apple logo, then it shuts itself off within 2-5 minutes.
Am I screwed? Did I lose all my files that were on the computer? I know I'm an idiot for not backing up all my files on an external hard drive.
How do I get out of this and just use my computer?

Which specific model of iMac do you have? If the installer refused to install, then there must be a reason, such as lack of hard disk space, RAM, etc.
Did you eject the DVD, or is it still in the optical drive? If it's still in the drive, you should try booting from it by turning on the iMac and holding down the 'C' key until you see the spinning radian and see if it will boot from the DVD.
Post back with more info and results.

Help with Ejecting disk after bad update

My MBP froze during an update and it won't start up.
All I have is a friends install disk with me and that will get me to Terminal.
I can't get the disk to eject since it is the startup disk.
PLease help!!

Do an Archive and Install on your internal hard drive so that you can boot to your internal drive (what is the purpose of getting the disk out if you can't boot!). After you install Leopard (remember to check preserve user settings!), you can eject the startup disk. Archive and Install only changes the system folder, so your applications, documents, music, movies, settings, desktop background, etc. will not change. Remember to run Software Update and install all of the updates. My advice is to not have any other applications open. Hopefully, everything installs correctly and your problem is gone.

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A google search of the problem suggested it may be an error related to the number of times I can reinstall this product due to licensing issues.
Absolutely not. You are misinterpreting things. The activation check never happens when just running the installer, only much later. It means what it says - there is another "install" pending/ active on your system, meaning somewhere there is an (invisible) process still blocking things. Either way, since you haven't provided any real technical info, we can't advise specifically. if you are on Windows, you may want to check your task manager and terminate any setup.exe and msiexec.exe processes plus potentially may need to manually fix/ delete some registry keys. For anything beyond that you will have to be much more specific.
Mylenium

TS3243 My Desktop Mac won't startup, it turns on to the grey screen flashing question file. I have been able to startup from the snow leopard install cd but once I try to repair within DU the disk never appears in the side panel. The only thing there is "

My Desktop Mac won't startup, it turns on to the grey screen flashing question file. I have been able to startup from the snow leopard install cd but once I try to repair within DU the disk never appears in the side panel. The only thing there is "Media"... What can I do? Help!

If Disk Utility cannot see your drive it doesn't look good.
You could try DiskWarrior. It is expensive but can often fix directory structures where DU cannot.
Replacing the drive is also a strong likelihood. If you don't have a fairly recent backup, then it might be worth buying DiskWarrior
additonal notes;
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Please Help , I Need semicolon ; after TABLESPACE "MFEED_DATA"

Hi All,
please Help , I Need semicolon ; after TABLESPACE "MFEED_DATA"
as I am getting ; like below example
select dbms_metadata.get_ddl('TABLE', 'A') || ';' As Result
from dual;
CREATE TABLE "MFEED"."A"
( "A" NUMBER
) PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 NOCOMPRESS LOGGING
STORAGE(INITIAL 65536 NEXT 1048576 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 2147483645
PCTINCREASE 0 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT)
TABLESPACE "MFEED_DATA"
regards,

Hi,
well, I don´t know if this works for any table, but I tried two of mine and it was ok:
select substr(dbms_metadata.get_ddl('TABLE', '<table_name>'), 1,
length(dbms_metadata.get_ddl('TABLE', '<table_name>') || ';')-4)|| ';' As Result
from dual;
If the string gets too long, you must use dbms_lob - functions for string manipulation, but for "normally sized" tables, it should work.
Regards,
Gerd
Message was edited by: Gerd
OK, Jens has the perfect solution - forget mine!
gerd_99

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I have already had to pay to have 24" iMac fixed after failed Leopard install, 2-3 hours trying to get through to Apple, and prior to posted comments on installation problems on the web site.
So far lousy product and very lousy service/support.

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Keith,
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Please Help: iMac black screens after startup logo + spinning wheel no cursor).

Hi, guys.
I'm in a fair bit of a desperate situation; my iMac's screen seems to shut down every time after the white startup screen. The Apple logo appears, & the progress wheel begins spinning, then after a while - when it would usually then go to the gray login screen - it would, instead, go black. I can tell that the machine is still on (I can still hear it clicking as it does during processing) but I'm unable to determine anything else. Nothing is visible on the screen - not even the cursor - it's as if the display had turned off completely. I'm not sure if the login screen sits beneath that black screen (I have tried to log on by typing my login details in blindly, but even if it does log in, it's hard to determine what state the computer is in without seeing the screen.
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Could anybody please help me? I'm quite desperate; I was in the middle of some urgent work that I need to get back to as soon as possible.
Thank you I'm advance to anyone with advice on how I can go about fixing this.
,c.

Gray screen appears during startup

Please help - missing startup disk after attempted Leopard Install!

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