Problem Installing Snow Leopard 10.6.3

Question

Hi I have a Macbook Pro 15" from about 2008-09. I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and have 2GB of RAM and meet all the requirements for Snow Leopard.
I recently purchased a retail version of Snow Leopard 10.6.3 from Apple and am having issues installing.
The process begins after choosing my HD as storage and start installation. The bar proceeds to about 10-15% of the way done then restarts to continue installation.
Upon restarting, installation continues and moves up about another 5%..then freezes...then takes me to a  screen asking me to restart, shut down or save error log.
If needed, I'll post the error log. I've verified and repaired HD and disk permissions. I've done a hardware check which came out fine. I've done the thing where you take out the power source, hold the power button for 5 seconds and start again.
Most of the above tips came from Apple Service. So far nothing has helped. Is there anyone out there who knows what's going on? I'd perfer not to do a clean install because I currently am not in possession of an external HD to store my current info. If this is necessary though, I'll see what I can do.
But other than that, does anyone know what's going on?

Answer 1

The installation likely has encountered a bad sector on the hard drive, your course of action is to backup your data off the  machine and then zero erase and install 10.6.3
1: If you can boot the machine into OS X 10.5 or anything, then drag and drop your personal folders of Music, Pictures etc., to a external hard drive you can pick up at any office or computer store.
Most commonly used backup methods
2: If you can't boot the machine, you going to need a external hard drive and the copy of the 10.5 disks that came with the machine (or upgrade disks) connect the external drive to the Mac and stick the 10.5 disk into the machine and reboot holding the c or option key down, boot from the disk. Your going to Disk Utility format the EXTERNAL DRIVE (GUID OS X extended) and install OS X on it, then when that's finished you reboot holding the option key down and boot from the external drive with 10.5 on it. This will allow you to access the internal drive and grab your files off.
Create a data recovery, undelete boot drive
3: To learn how to erase and install 10.6 (also works for 10.5) read this link.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Once the files are off the machine to the extenral drive (disconnect it so you don't make a mistake and erase/reformat it), you can c or option key boot off the 10.6 disk and use the erase and install OS X proceedure on the internal drive.
4: Once your internal drive is up on 10.6, make sure you SoftwareUpdate fully to 10.6.8 (I recommend you stay on 10.6.8 on older Mac's and not go to 10.7 or 10.8)