Snow Leopard will not boot from CD...

I need to repair my hard drive with disk utility. I am unable to boot from my install disk. Only apple logo appears and nothing loads... thanks for your help...

Always good to have a bootable 2nd hard drive to run repairs. And, to have 3rd party tools available, which can't use on DVD. Also, using the original DVD is less than optimal for repairing a drive or permissions (Disk Utility routines do change and get updated).
A corrupt directory on any of your hard drives can prevent booting; some people found that after installing SL they had trouble with their superdrive, too.
If you can boot into single user mode, try that and try using fsck from there.

Similar Messages

Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on an iMac 27in

My Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on my iMac 27in. The Apple Logo is the only thing the user will see. The current OS on the system is 10.6.6. Upon placing the Snow Leopard DVD in the system, the DVD players spins for a few seconds and displays the Apple Logo. Nothing happens after 20 minutes.

Yes, it is ridiculous how it is impossible to install Snow Leopard. I have two Snow Leopard DVDs: one that I purchased for a Macbook soon after it's release (10.6.0), and one that came with my iMac (10.6.4). Both of these boot up my Macbook (running 10.6.7) just fine. My SL 10.6.0 DVD mounts onto my iMac (Lion 10.7.0), but you cannot run the install. I attempted to boot from this DVD and got the infinite white screen and Apple logo, as some have reported above. The other SL 10.6.4 DVD will not even mount in Lion, and will not even show up as a bootable drive when I attempt to select it after holding alt/option on reboot.
I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.0, attempted boot, same infinite white screen/apple logo.
I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.4 on my macbook. I attempted to boot from this drive, and got the white screen of death, except that this time I actually got the loading symbol underneath the Apple logo. After about a minute of attempting to boot, the Apple logo changed to a circle with a diagonal line through it (the "NO!" sign).
I took my iMac to the genius bar. They inserted SL 10.6.0, which would not boot. Then they determined that my computer had to run 10.6.4 and later. So, they restored an image of SL 10.6.4 onto my partition (not an install from an image, but an image of SL already installed). Hurray! Snow Leopard was successfully shoved onto my iMac!
I then deleted a third partition on my hard drive I did not need anymore, which somehow screwed up my SL partition (even though it said "Will not erase partition SL or Macintosh HD). Now I am back at square one, and I guess I need to take my flippin iMac back to Apple for them to do what I should be able to do.
I like Apple, but sheesh do I hate Lion right now.

My early Intel iMac running Snow Leopard will not boot past the apple logo. I have tried holding the c key and inserting the install disk, but nothing. What do I try next?

My early Intel iMac running Snow Leopard will not boot past the apple logo. I have tried holding the c key and inserting the install disk, but nothing. What do I try next?

I have tried resetting PRAM and all other items listed in the Apple support site. This happened after an update to iTunes was added. Also this is happening to other people. Please help.

Leopard will not boot from Firewire HD

Hello,
The issue is this,
I have a Mac Mini G4 (M9687LL/A) and I am "trying" to install 10.5 on to a external firewire drive. The Drive is Acomdata 160GB Firewire dirve with a Partition Type of Apple Partition Map and is formated in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) So I boot off the Leopard install DVD and I install it to the firewire drive and all goes well. Then when I try to boot from this drive it will not boot off the FWHD. When I restart the mac and hold the option key to get the boot menu, I do not see the Firewire drive only the internal drive? So if someone can help me on this or is having the same issue let me know. Thanks

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Unfortunately, Acomdata's record on the matter isn't quite clean*:
http://www.macmaps.com/firewirebug2.html
My recommendation, swap out the hard drive case and put another one in its place around the hard drive that is known to be compatible. The only two companies I know of are http://www.macsales.com/ and http://www.cooldrives.com/
There may be others you can write to on the above FAQ*. The problem is not all Firewire nor USB drives are bootable.
Another thing you may be running into is that if you want to use the keyboard to startup from an external drive, you may need an Apple keyboard to be certain the C or Option keys work. Option key should work if you have the right keyboard:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178
Finally, Time Machine is not a bootable backup, but does backup everything. Currently only Carbon Copy Cloner, and Apple's Disk Utility offer bootable backups of Leopard.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Snow Leopard will not boot after TM Restore

I had an email issue (lost 5 accounts) that has turned into a nightmare. Apple Support told me to restore my entire hard drive from my Time Machine. I booted to the DVD and selected a restore point and 12 hours later I get the Apple with the spinning wheel. I have tried two restore points - same result. It will not boot in safe mode either. I ran the Verify Drive utility and the drive checks out.
The drive is about 75% full after this TM restore operation so it appears it is pulling all of my data into the machine.
I have a number of backups of my system including a full one on ARQ plus all the TM backups. I am just not versed in the Apple OS enough to know how to recover from this point.
Q's:
1. Is it possible that the data and the Apps have been restored but the OS is simply corrupt on the TM?
2. Is there a Repair feature on the SnoL DVD or am I faced with a fresh install?
3. If I do a fresh install, can I simply copy the Apps folder back in the machine and my apps work correctly? (I realize a few may not that have to have components in browsers or whatever).
Suggestions on recovery approach...
Thanks, Uursa

uursamajor1 wrote:
1. Is it possible that the data and the Apps have been restored but the OS is simply corrupt on the TM?
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
That's possible. Once you can get it to boot you can explore that.
2. Is there a Repair feature on the SnoL DVD or am I faced with a fresh install?
Soon after booting from that DVD you should see a Utilities menu with Disk Utility under it. With Disk Utility you can perform a "Repair Disk" operation.
3. If I do a fresh install, can I simply copy the Apps folder back in the machine and my apps work correctly?
You could first try installing OS X 10.6 over what's already there. You might also learn more about what's wrong by doing a "verbose boot':
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

MacPro with Snow Leopard will not boot

This morning, something odd is happening. Last night, when I sent to bed, my computer was fine, but this morning, when I tried to power it on, it tried to power up and then shut off. Does it every time. When booting from the normal start up disk, the startup chime is heard, then the apple logo appears for a few seconds, the machine clicks a few times and then shuts off.
When I hold down the option key on startup, I can see the boot drive options. So, I tried booting for a CD/DVD, but when I do, it just hangs and never boots. Disc drive spins for a second like it's trying to, but then winds down and hangs on the gray screen. However, I can boot from my Bootcamp drive (not a partition, but an actual, physical drive), and run Windows fine. Even when I try booting with Extensions off (holding Shift on boot up), it still hangs.
I've tried clearing PRAM, unplugging all USB accessories and even removing all non-essential PCI cards, and still nothing.
This is very bizarre. What would keep the Mac OS booting, but not the bootcamp stuff?
Any thoughts?
Russ

I have my system drive backed up. I tried pulling the system drive, inserting a new blank drive and booting from the Snow Leopard install disk to install the OS from scratch. It still won't boot from the DVD OSX install disk, even with the other system disk removed.
The problem seems to be that when booting from anything OSX, the system won't boot, but when booting from Bootcamp, it'll boot fine.
From the Windows side, I can see the Mac startup drive and all the files, so that disk is readable, at least. Just not bootable.
I talked to Apple tech support as well. They can't figure out either. Headed to the Genius bar this afternoon. Maybe they can figure out.
Russ

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.

Snow Leopard will not boot on new SSD

I purchased a 120 GB SSD for my 2007 MBP (A1226) and installed it. The old drive crashed and I am looking for a clean install - not time machine. I have tried to boot from the OSX 10.6 Install Disk but it keeps getting stuck!
1. I power on the MBP
2. When the chime sounds, I hold down the option button
3. The screen gives me the option to select the disk
4. The apple logo is displayed and the little spinning wheel thing goes on for a while
5. It goes to a light blue/gray screen and then doesn't do anything.
I'd really appreciate some guidance. I am not proficient at computer repairs. I'm just trying to get this machine spun up for my wife and kids to use for email/internet.
Thanks!
Finch

Hello,
First, you have to erase (format) the new SSD drive before installation.
I first watched this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfiGF_pjqvM
Here it is also step by step:
Upgrading Your MacBook Pro with a Solid State Drive
Good luck!

After upgrade to mountain lion a hd with snow leopard will not boot and run the MBP

Upgraded MacBook Pro to 10.8.2. Works fine. Swapped out the internal hard drive with 10.8.2 on it, put in the old hard drive with 10.6.8 and booted up as per usual. Mac fires up but dos not finish the boot process and it leaves me with an on and off pulsating gray folder that has a question mark on it. I have tried a brand new drive with a new 10.6.8 installed and it misbehaves the same way.
Does the Apple store upgrade process alter the internal MacBook Pro or its software in any way? I was not, am not aware of such software. I want to be able to carry along two hard drives, swappable, with different OSX and applications when I go out to help people out of their problems. Something I have done successfully for the past 15 years - free of charge, I might add.
This is the first time that I am stumped. I am not a programmer btw.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile I shall keep on muckng about.

Your problem is that your old HD is no longer blessed. if you can, connect both drives at the smae time, then
First, open the “Startup Disk” preference pane and select “Mac OS X” as the operating system to boot. This will re-bless your Mac OS X volume on the older install.
No need to delete or zero the drive at all.
What makes a volume bootable? / Frequently Asked Questions and ...

I have a new macbook pro 2,6 Ghz i7, 8GB 1600Mhz internal ram. He will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard

I have a new macbook pro 2,6Ghz i7, 8GB 1600 Mhz internal ram, but he will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard.

These Macs shipped with 10.7, and will run nothing older than that:
MacBook Pro
Date introduced
Original Mac OS X included
(see Tips 1 and 3)
Later Mac OS X included
(see Tip 1)
Mac OS X Build(s)
(see Tip 2)
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2068
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001

Optical drive trashed and MB Pro will not boot from USB image

Hello,
New here but I have searched and tried all I know to get this MBP working right again. My disk drive is trashed and has been for some time now, this is why I have a bootable version of Snow Leopard on an 8G flash drive. When my MBP began acting funny recently and I went to disk utility to verify permissions and the disk. Both failed = must boot from disk to repair, thus my issue. For some reason by MBP will not boot from the usb image I have used previously??? Pressing C or Option during startup does not work. If I press Option, I only get the harddrive option, C yields nothing and the computer boots normally.
Please!! let me know how / what you would do to resolve this. I don't understand why I have previously been able to boot from this same file on the same drive previously to repair my disk / permissions but cannot do so now. FWIW, I tried placing the file (OSX) on my external HDD to boot from, this did not work either (USB HDD).
Thank you in advance for your input!!

It isn't clear what you mean about your HD being trashed or which disk (HD or USB drive) you are trying to repair, but either way you need to start up from your Snow Leopard installer DVD & instead of installing anything go to the Utilities menu & run Disk Utility from there to repair either or both of the disks.

Macbook pro 17 inch early 2008 will not boot from disk

My macbook pro will not boot from from disk. I am running 10.6.8. Tried loading the disk that came with system holding down the C and you can here the drive working. It came back and said to restart computer by holding down the power button and poering it back up. Tried that and nothing. The software I tried to load is 10.5.4 Also tried loading os x snow leopard 10.6. Same thing happens.

Have you reset the SMC? If not, try that.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
If you've done that, and it didn't help, then launch the Terminal application by entering the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Copy or drag -- do not type -- the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:
pmset -g
Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered -- the text, please, not a screenshot. Then repeat with the following line:
pmset -g assertion

After 10.5 upgrade Mac will not boot from hard drive

I just upgraded to 10.5 Leopard but my mac will not boot from the hard drive even after selecting my hard drive as the startup disk. The mac will start to boot but will cut itself off before the boot is complete. I have to leave the Leopard disk in the mac and hold down C to get the mac to turn on but it only allows me to install the software again.

instead of archive and install you might first want to try restoring your system using TM to some time point before your failed 10.5.1 upgrade. Then try upgrading to 10.5.1 again. I would suggest downloading the full 110 MB upgrade and installing it manually rather than doing it through the software upgrade menu.
You can download the upgrade here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx1051update.html

IBook will not boot from CD

Disk utility has found problems. Specifically it returned this info:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I have tried to restart the iBook using the original restore CD, the original install CD, the Leopard CD, the Tiger CD and Norton Utilities CD. The computer will read the discs but will not boot from them so I can't find a way to repair the effected volume.
Tried Parameter Ram but feel there are deeper problems; just don't know how to get to them.

knateb, Welcome to the discussion area!
Just for the record, your iBook shipped with a version of OS X somewhere between OS 10.4.2 and OS 10.4.4. Therefore it will never boot from a retail Tiger (10.4) disc.
Have you tried resetting the PRAM?
Have you tried resetting the open firmware? The procedure is
Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
Press Return.
At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
Press Return.

Mid-2009 MacBook Pro sees internal SATA hard drive, but will not boot from or format

I inherited a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz model) with a very strange issue.
It first presented itself as not being able to boot from the internal SATA hard drive that came with the computer. Nothing I tried could get it to boot, so I assumed the file system was corrupted beyond repair and booted from a CD to try to format the drive. Disk Utility on the CD would not format the drive, giving me strange error messages like "Unable to write to the last block of the device".
At this point I figured the drive itself must be toast, so I pulled it out and put another known-good SATA hard drive in, booted from CD, and attempted to format. Again, same error messages and an unsuccesful format.
So I had the bright idea of formatting one of the drives in an external enclosure and then putting it in the MBP to see if OS X would even install. No dice. Get a cryptic error message before installation even begins.
So I installed OS X on the drive in the external enclosure and put it in the MBP, and it attempts to boot, but never goes anywhere.
So to sum up, the symptoms I'm seeing:
MacBook Pro CAN see internal SATA hard drives.
MacBook Pro WILL NOT boot from any internal SATA hard drive and cannot format or install OS X to any internal SATA hard drive.
MacBook Pro WILL boot from any CD or external device and seems to work properly otherwise.
At this point I'm thinking it's one of two things: the hard drive ribbon cable or the SATA controller on the logic board.
Since the MacBook Pro seems to work completely fine other than this one issue, and will boot properly from both external devices and the CD (also a SATA device), I'm thinking and hoping that it's just the hard drive ribbon cable. From my searches online, I've heard that this batch of MacBook Pros is known to have issues with the hard drive ribbon cable, but it seems in most cases this manifests itself by the Mac not being able to see a drive at all.
I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting to get to this point, but right now I'm just looking for any feedback at all. Specifically I'd love to know a way I can easily test to see whether it's the logic board or the cable.

UPDATE: An interesting development!
I just tried a third known-good SATA hard drive, one which I believe supports SATA I only (but I'm not sure), and unlike the other drives that the Mac sees but cannot properly interact with, the Mac can't even see this one when I put it inside.
Frustrating as this may be, I believe I'm actually getting closer to a solution since my symptoms now appear to be closely aligned with people having SATA ribbon cable issues.
Onward!

Snow Leopard will not boot from CD...

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