Reinstalling Snow Leopard Failure

Despite the fact that it meant losing invaluable photos, I finally gave up my month-long effort to fix my Imac Desktop.
I've had all sorts of problems with my IMAC which is a mid-2011 model running Snow Leopard making it basically unusable, grey screen, script running errors, etc
Tried everything to get it going again without success.
So finally out of desperation and knowing I would loose invaluable photos and other files, I decided to just wipe it out and reinstall.
That process took at least 4 or 5 hours (how long is this supposed to take, I don't recall it being that lengthy and that is probably a conservative estimate.
Anyway finally it said it was successfully installed and needed to reboot so I said ok.
But when it did it was the same problem as before nothing but grey screen.
I am at a total loss as to why - if your hard drive is shot will it go ahead and install anyway?
I used disk repair and was successful before doing the install. I'm ready to throw this $1200 computer in the trash.

Grey screen at startup.

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I can't boot my MBP or reinstall snow leopard

I have an old 2005 MBP (non unibody) using snow leopard. I urgently need to get it running again since it stopped booting up last feb 2012 and I haven't used it since as I'm using a desktop now. When I turn it on I get no chime and the screen goes grey with an alternating apple logo, and a no entry sign, and occasionally a folder with a question mark on it. When I insert snow leopard and reboot it allows me to select language, and the home screen comes up with the option to reinstall the OS. I have also been to the utilities>disk utilities and tried verifying and then repairing the HD. When verifying it says my drive appears to be ok, and when repairing it appears to have not fixed anything. I've then quitter DU and gone back to try re-installing snow leopard and although the progress bar estimates 30mins or so it takes hours, then gets to about 3/4 done and comes up with a failure message saying..
Install Failed
Mac OSX could not be installed on your computer
The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail.
Contact the manufacturer for assistance
Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again
I did have the installer log window open whilst trying this and the last line before the install failure message contains loads of stuff which means nothin to me but contained within this text is this "an error occurred while extracting files from the package " lexmark_laserdrivers.pkg". Underlying error=(error domain=BOMcopierfatalerror code=28....(loads more text after this..)
Any help would be appreciated!!
Thanks

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

I have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8 and want to restore my i photos from time machine. can not find iphoto libary in time machine, can"t not find home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine

i have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8, and want to restore my i photos from time machine. Can not find i-photo libary in time machine, can't not find > home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine. Please help.

On my HD it does not say ,restore, in yourname -pict. Iphoto lib.,
On the time machine, it , yourname etc, oes not show up at all.
Only right side of TM, your name etc. does not show.

I am trying to reinstall Snow Leopard on my iMac (Spring '08)...

I am trying to reinstall Snow Leopard on my iMac (Spring '08) and part way through the install my screen shuts off and does nothing but my computer is still running. I've turned it off, unplugged it and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I turn it back up and hold down "c" to boot from disk and the install screen pops back up. I do a disk check and it passes so I try to install again, which it says it can restore the last install's process and then begins installing again. After about 10-15 minutes my screen shuts off and goes to sleep, my mouse and keyboard will not wake it up. All I have plugged in is the mighty mouse and keyboard. This is getting frustrating...

Reset the SMC
The computer sleeps or shuts down unexpectedly.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

I have installed mountain lion on my macbook pro ,but it made my mac very slow. Would someone please tell me how to uninstall this one and reinstall snow leopard?

Hello,
I have installed mountain lion on my macbook pro ,but it made my mac very slow. Would someone please tell me how to uninstall this one and reinstall snow leopard? I tried to do it by my original CDs but macbook pro didn't let me to do it.
Thanks

It would be easier to just fix whatever is making your machine slow.
I wrote a little diagnostic program to help show what might be causing these problems. Download EtreCheck from http://www.etresoft.com/download/EtreCheck.zip, run it, and paste the results here.
Disclaimer: Although EtreCheck is free, there are other links on my site that could give me some form of compensation, financial or otherwise.

Anyone else had trouble getting RID of Mt Lion? I was shocked to learn that I could NOT run some of my software on it and attempted (with online help) to reinstall SNow Leopard. My computer is now in the hospital! I should have been told beforehand.

I 'upgraded' to Mt Lion over the weekend. It seemed very slow, and sluggish. Within a day I realized also that my Reunion program would not work,
my Quicken would not work, and who knows what else. I kept getting alerts saying that I could not use any PC programs. So, I decided to go back to Snow Leopard - I spent two and a half hours on the phone with two very capable people, then was told that I'd have to take it to an Apple Store. I DO have
extended warranty but a lot of good THAT does! Besides, our nearest store is 160 miles away! So, I took it to our local authorized dealer. It is currently
being worked on, and the minimum will be $189! Fortunately, Time Machine was being backed up by my external hard drive. But, I just received a
call and they can't make my password work to get in! Somehow that has changed back to an old one I don't remember!
MY COMPLAINT: When speaking with a rep about the feasibility of downloading Mt Lion, not ONCE did anyone tell me that I 'might' have these
problems. I NEVER would have upgraded! Now I just want my computer restored to USABLE -

What an unfortunate story.   I hope you will quickly get things back to normal.
To be fair though, there has been quite a lot written about the effects of mountain Lion and the loss of Rosetta, as one example.   I am wondering just how much research you did before buying.
But on the brighter side, you can wipe Mountain Lion and reinstall Snow Leopard with not too much trouble.   It would have been much worse had you bought a new machine with M.L. pre-installed and then found your programs wouldn't work.
Message was edited by: seventy one

ESATA is no longer recognized after I reinstalled snow leopard

I have been using an Iogear 2-port adaptor card for an eSATA connection for Time Machine backups, have just reinstalled snow leopard because of the spinning beach ball (told to do it at the store). No other problems with the reinstall that I can tell yet, but now I can't make get it to recognize the eSATA connection. Have tried replugging and turning everything on and off. Any suggestions? Thanks-

Have you checked with vendor for your adapter card to see if they have an updated driver for Snow Leopard?
Allan

Reinstalling snow leopard after mountain lion

I am selling my older imac. I have wiped the drive and I want to reinstall Snow Leopard, the operating system it came with. The machine was once upgraded to Mountain Lion. I have the original Snow Leopard disc. I can't seem to reinstall Snow Leopard. Suggestons?

Boot from install DVD for Mac
Erase disk with Disk Utility
Reinstall from DVD
Allan

My mac pro crashed. Apple genius people said to reinstall snow leopard. I did and it failed to start after i installed. I started with the power button, tried to install upgrades, and now I get only a grey screen with spining wheel.

How can I restart a mac pro that shows only a grey screen with a spinning wheel. I reinstalled snow leopard (10.6.3) over 10.6.8 because apple genious people said I had problems with my library files after a time capsule crash. I reinstalled but when done I got only a blue screen. I restarted with the power button and tried to insall 10.6 combined upgrades. I got an error message that it could not install because of an error. When I powered down and tried to restart, I get only a grey screen. My optical drive does not open so I can't restart from another source.

Restart, holding down the mouse button. That should eject the disc. Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC. Then, pop in the install disc, restart with it in again, select your language, and, when the menu bar pops up, select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. select the boot volume and repair the disk.

Can I back up computer with time machine on lion then reinstall snow leopard and restore from backup safely

Can I back up computer with time machine on lion then reinstall snow leopard and restore from backup safely?

If your machine came with Snow Leopard or earlier and you have your install disks, yes, you can reinstall SL. However, you will need to erase the entire hard drive so you will lose all your files. Also note that there are some apps (such as Mail) which can't be downgraded "automatically" such as with a restore from Time Machine. Here is some info on TM:
http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard. Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Now have numerous problems. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard? Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

Once you get yourself back to Snow Leopard, if you still want to upgrade somewhat, I would suggest the following:
1. Get an external hard drive that you can use for experiments with new OS versions. You could partition it into 2 or 3 partitions. You could then clone your existing Snow Leopard system to one partition using Carbon Copy Cloner (well worth $40) or SuperDuper ($25).
2. Buy OS X Mountain Lion for $20, through the Apple online store (I don't think it's available through the App Store). Apple has decided to make it very difficult for anyone to get Mavericks unless they have already downloaded it.
You will receive two e-mails from Apple, one containing a PDF with a redemption code, and one with the password you will need to unlock the PDF. Using the code, you will download Mountain Lion from the App Store, where it will appear among your Purchased items.
After ML finishes downloading, its installer app will launch itself. When you see this launch screen, QUIT the install app immediately! Go to your applications folder, find the Install OS X Mountain Lion app, and copy it to a safe location outside of your Applications folder. Keeping one or more copies will allow you to reinstall without unnecessary aggravation if you later need or want to do that. At this point, you can re-launch the Installer in the Applications folder and let it run. You can install it on a clean partition on your external HD, or you can allow it to upgrade the Snow Leopard clone you created on your external drive, or you can do both. This should allow you to test how everything works for as long as you like.
3. If you left yourself a free partition on your test drive, try a clean install of Yosemite and set everything up from scratch (do not migrate anything). This will allow you to see whether your problems with it were related to something in your Snow Leopard system.

I have a iMac 6,1 that I want to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard version 10.6.3 . I don't know how to reformat

I have a iMac 6,1 that I need to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard version 10.6.3 . How do I reformat ?

Boot the ssystem from the OS DVD. Once it is booted run Disk Utiltiy. Select OS Extrended (Journled)
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3910?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

How do I uninstall mountain lion and reinstall snow leopard

If I had known that I would not be able to use my excel files I would not have purchased OSX Mountain Lion. Is there a way to uninstall mountain lion and reinstall snow leopard?
Thank you,

To get more to the point the answer is the only way to go back to SnowLeopard is if you have a complete backup of your system from before the upgrade.
If you do you would boot off your original SL DVD wipe the disk and install SL and then restore from your SL backups.
Short of that here is no way to go back. But as the others have offered there are other less drastic means to deal with the problem.
regards

How do I reinstall Snow Leopard Server on a Mac Mini Server 2010?

How do I reinstall Snow Leopard Server on a Mac Mini Server 2010? I have already attached a Mac Superdrive and tried to download, but the buttons at the bottom of the dialog screen are greyed out.

Not sure where you're getting tangled here or how much you know about OS X Server 10.6, so...
AFAIK, Snow Leopard Server wasm't available as a download, it was a separate DVD distribution.
Unlike more recent versions of OS X Server, the 10.6 server distributions were usually standalone DVD disks, as well.
(There is a slight wrinkle if your Mac needs a newer version of 10.6 than your server distribution; there was a different streaming upgrade process for that. IIRC, the appropriate OS X client version was installed first, then you booted that client version and loaded the DVD and installed OS X Server.)
But if you have a Snow Leopard Server distribution that supports your particular Mac Mini model, then boot the DVD, use Disk Utility from the Utilities menu in the bootable DVD environment, wipe the disk, and then install OS X Server.
You'll need a 10.6 license key, if you don't already have that.
FWIW, here are the available manuals.

Need to reinstall Snow Leopard?

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place, I am new to posting in the forum. I just got my iMac back a few days ago from Best Buy, it had the hard drive replaced (for the 2nd time in 7 months). What had happened this time was that it was constantly freezing and sometimes crashing. The Apple Support tech told me it was a Safari 5 problem and to reinstall Snow Leopard and then when I did the updates to NOT update to Safari 5. Well, the whole thing went down and I had to take it in to get the HD replaced. I installed SL myself, but I did not check off the box for Rosetta. Will that cause problems? Because I am having some problems with videos people have sent via email and some MySpace content. One time a message box flashed up that said something about a MIME plugin missing but I have not been able to duplicate that error message. When I go on the certain MySpace pages (band pages), especially one in particular, everything shows up except for a huge white box in the middle above the band's page. Also, my Realplayer (newest version, 12) will download videos but it will not play them in the Realplayer window. You can go to the folder where the video is and the thumbnail will play, but not in the window where it should. Any suggestions? I'm not a very technical person, though I can follow instructions that are straightforward. This really has me aggravated though. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
The first thing I'd recommend is NEVER take your machine to BBY for any repair, if you have an Apple Store in the area take it there. The advice your got about not installing Safari 5 is a good example, Safari 5 is fine and runs extremely well.
Roesetta is a tool that is only needed if you are running programs that were not designed for an Intel based iMac. Even if you don't have it currently loaded if you try to run one of those programs OS X is smart enough to ask you again if you want to download it. In short it's nothing to worry about.
Videos can be in a variety of different formats so to ensure your system runs all of them download and install VLC Media Player, it will allow you to run video from different codecs on your Mac.
If you are still having issues after doing that make an appointment at your local Apple Store and bring your machine in, an Apple Genius will be happy to help you out.
Regards,
Roger

Reinstalling Snow Leopard Failure

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