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!

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.

  • T410 will not boot with new SSD

    I've cloned my HDD to a new SSD, but it will not boot.  It goes into a Lenovo Think Bios splash screen / Black screen loop.  I booted off a repair disk and performed a repair, but it is still doing the bios loop thing.  This has happened with both an OCZ and a Kingston SSD.  Any ideas? Thanks...
    Solved!
    Go to Solution.

    I'm going to venture a guess that the drive was not cloned properly.
    The "new" drive must be in the machine's HDD bay, and the "old" one in the USB enclosure.
    I always use Clonezilla for the rare occasions that I actually clone something, but Acronis should do just fine as well.
    Good luck.
    Cheers,
    George
    In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
    Collecting dust: T60
    Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
    Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
    Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

  • 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

  • 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 ...

  • 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 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.

  • Snow Leopard will not install if you do not have 1GB RAM or more

    I ran into one problem when I tried to install snow leopard, The problem was I throught my Macbook had 1 GB of RAM in it, then after I my first try on install then it mentioned I did not have 1 GB of RAM, so I checked it and I only have 512 MB, so that is low and I have a 1st Generation Macbook, So now I ordered a 2 GB of RAM for my MacBook I'm waiting for the memory to arrive so I can install it into my Macbook, then I will install snow leopard.
    Snow Leopard will not install if you do not have 1GB RAM or more, but if you have 1GB or more in your Macs then you will be fine

    The system requirements for the OS have been public knowledge on every major tech blog, apple fan blog, apple rumor site and Apple's site for at least 4+ months. So it's not like they just decided at the 11th hour that you needed 512MB of RAM. Not to mention, just about every piece of software I've ever purchased has the system requirements printed in a very tiny print in a very un-obvious place on the packaging. So that's nothing new... for Apple and the rest of the software manufacturing world.
    As the consumer, it's your responsibility to do the appropriate research (either online, over the phone or asking the sales rep) what requirements are necessary.

  • HT201364 Macmini2 running Snow Leopard will not upgrade to Mavericks

    Macmini2 running Snow Leopard will not upgrade to Mavericks.  Hardware is on the list but will not upgrade.

    If you have a MacMini 2 as indicated, that is a Late '07
    OVERVIEW
    Introduced     August 2007
    Discontinued     March 2009
    Model Identifier     Macmini2,1

  • Cloned HD running Snow Leopard won't boot in new MBP running Lion., cloned HD running Snow Leopard won't boot in new MBP running Lion.

    Hi, I've seen a lot of discussion on this topic but nothing specific to my situation.  I have two macs, a personal mac (macbook running Snow Leopard vers. 10.6) and a newer work macbook pro (late 2011 running Lion vers. 10.7.5).  I want to use some of the applications at work (that is on the Macbook Pro) that are on my home macbook with Snow Leopard.  I cloned the entire HD of my Macbook onto an external drive.  The clone seems to have worked as I can use it as a boot disk for the macbook (from which it was cloned).  However, if I try to boot the MacBook Pro running Lion, with this same clone on the external drive it won't work.  I get a bit of text in the background and an overlay in dark grey saying (in several languages) restart the Mac by holding down the start key etc.  I don't know if this has to do with the kernel panic problem or the Lion restore disk business.  I don't see the point in trying to do an internal partition of the MacBook Pro hard drive and then add the cloned Snow Leopard, if I can't get the thing to boot externally as it is. 
    Does anyone have any fixes for what really should be a simple proceedure but is not?

    Make sure the mac you are cloning from has the combo 10.6.8 update applied to it. The late 2011 models need at least 10.6.7 and better with 10.6.8. So if your older mac is running anything lower than 10.6.7 it will not boot on the 2011 model.

  • 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 load on MM 3,1

    Trying to get (X.6) Snow Leopard to load on my son's Mini 3,1
    but it keeps saying Snow leopard can not be installed.
    Trying to upgrade from 10.5.8
    Documentation says X.6 should load on any intel computer, and the mini is a core duo.
    Any suggestion are appreciated.
    AJ

    Thanks for responding Sven.
    Actually, it is from my other sons newer 2.4 ghz mac mini.
    You would think it would work being another mac mini.
    Looks like I might have to purchase the retail. Sheeezzz
    I miss the everything goes old days. : )
    Thanks for your help,
    AJ

  • 2005 mac mini on OSX leopard will not boot up from firewire disk

    I have an old mac mini that my son still uses and the super dirve does not work any more. But now the main hard disk needs to some attention from Disk Utility. So I need to boot up from the Leopard install DVD. But of course the DVD dirve does not work so how to do this? I have tried to create a bootable disk by restoring the install DVD to a partition on a firewire drive and this is seen as a bootable drive by my 2008 iMac, but not by the Mac Mini. So is it possible to boot up rom a irewire drive? USB doesn't work either

    Which Tiger Install DVD do you have...?
    1. I think that, that model originally came with 10.4.10 and so you will need either the original 10.4.10 install disc or a later retail (Leopard or Snow Leopard) upgrade DVD.
    2. In addition, a new (HDD, Hybrid Drive or SSD) must first be Partitioned GUID Partition Table and Formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before OS X can be installed.

Maybe you are looking for