Stuck in Leopard install

So I seem to be permanently stuck in the very first two steps when installing leopard. I get a little message saying that mac os 10 (something)can not be found on your computer and so I can eject the instal cd and I cant do anything to get around it. Any ideas?

Someone please help me!

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Help! Macbook stuck in Leopard install!

Ok i accidently put the leopard CD in for the MAC OS X install. But i already have the operating system, now i realized that i want to cancel the install, but it won't let me. I dont want it to dual boot my operating system! help!
You get two CDs in the macbook box, but i accidently put the first one in and clicked install packages, now its stuck in that installer!
Message was edited by: Newgen_hasissues
Message was edited by: Newgen_hasissues

Someone please help me!

I used utilities to source my 10.6 snow leopard install disc to my main hardrive, and now when I turn on my computer the apple with the spinning wheel stays on the screen and stuck like that. How do I fix it Help please. I already tried all the commands

I used utilities to source my 10.6 snow leopard install disc to my main hardrive, and now when I turn on my computer the apple with the spinning wheel stays on the screen and stuck like that. How do I fix it Help please. I already tried all the commands such as Command R, Holding down the Option key, C and holding down shift at the start up but nothing happens.
initialy All I was trying to do was downgrade 10.7 to 10.6 .

You have to consider the possibility the hard drive may be dying. If your data isn't backed up, try one of the tools below:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1689
Once you are sure your data is backed up, we can examine other possibilities. In the meantime call AppleCare for your original installation DVDs. You may need them.

I have snow leopard installed as an OS. When trying to reboot a MacBook Pro I am getting stuck on grey screen with apple logo and rotating symbol. What can I do?

I have snow leopard installed as an OS. When trying to reboot a MacBook Pro I am getting stuck on grey screen with apple logo and rotating symbol. What can I do?

Maybe this might help.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Leopard install is stuck halfway through. How do I get out?

I have a Power Mac G4, currently running OSX 10.3.9. Today I bought the installer disc for Leopard, and began an install.
The install is stuck on the "Installing" screen (which comes after it checks your disc is OK). I have the dreaded spinning beachball of death, and the thin blue line in the progress bar is going nowhere. Under the progress bar it says "Time remaining: Calculating...
My G4 specs:
Power PC G4 (3.3)
OSX 10.3.9
Processor: 1.25GHz
Memory: 1.25GB DDR SDRAM
I set the disc going in the lower DVD chamber (not the DVD player that came with the Mac, but another one I had installed that also has a DVD burner). Is it possible that my Mac doesn't like me using this DVD drive?
Help! How do I stop it and try again? I don't want to just shut down my machine in case I kill in mid-install. Is there a way of force-quitting the install or something?

A halfway installed operating system is not totally lost necessarily. It could just be a bad directory, or insufficient space, or a corrupt file somewhere that has yielded an issue installing. Regardless, you can attempt to recover data to an empty Firewire external hard drive at least the same size as your internal drive using Prosoft Data Rescue, Subrosasoft Filesalvage, or Boomerang's Boomerang if you can't mount the hard drive via Target Disk Mode using another Mac or booting that external hard drive from a second partition. To mount it via Target Disk Mode do this set of instructions:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n58583
Your recovered files won't be bootable, and registration codes won't be saved, but at least your data has a good chance of being saved if you do one of the above.
If you decide to get a second Firewire hard drive, my recommendation is to get one at least 20 GB larger than your internal hard drive, partition it, and install Leopard, Superduper, and one or all of the data recovery programs (Data Rescue, Filesalvage, Boomerang) on the 20 GB partition, and leaving the empty partition to recover data to. If you can boot that external hard drive's partition and do that recovery in one way or another, then you can safely analyze why the internal hard drive failed installation.
To boot the external hard drive after installing the operating system on it, use the Startup Manager below:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n106178
If none of the three recovery utilities can see the internal hard drive, then a data recovery specialist such as http://www.drivesavers.com/ is necessary. They are expensive.
This is why you should always backup before installing new software, and after saving any important data. See my backup FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

HT4904 Help. I have an older 20 inch iMac and had Lion running on it but the internal hard drive died. I'm trying to install Lion on an external drive but it doesn't look like Lion Recovery is supported. I have Leopard installed but am stuck.

Hello,
My 20inch iMac's internal drive died and I'm trying to re-install Lion on an external drive. If I could get the Lion DMG file I think I'd be all set but am not sure how to do this. It doesn't look like the Lion Recovery feature is supported in my older iMac. And I have Leopard installed on the external drive but there's no AppStore to download the Lion DMG file.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Lee

Without a bootable backup/clone or a Time Machine backup of your previous Snow Leopard installation or a saved copy of Lion's install app, you'll have to upgrade your Leopard volume to Snow Leopard (10.6.6+) so you can waste another hour or more DLing the Lion thing again.

Installing Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard, Install failed and HD write-locked

I recently downloaded the mountain lion installer from the App Store and I ran the installer. Stupid person as I am, I did not have any backups for my file and I naively assumed that an apple OS installer would be without flaws. Boy, was I wrong. I need every bytes of my data (or close to every bytes) but the installer failed.
Mid installation, the installer stopped and said that the installation failed and that I need to repair my disk. So I restarted the computer and I ran disk utilities (my start up disk was the OS installer and the installer allows me to run several programs, including terminal, disk utilities, and by the way, when I held option while starting up to see which start up disks I have, I only had the OS installer as the start up disk. Also, the installer allows me to run a program called "Startup Disk" when I click on the apple logo on the top left corner, but it doesn't allow me to startup my computer using Macintosh HD) and noticed that when I highlighted Macintosh HD, my "Repair Disk" button was grayed out. So first things first, I ran the "Verify Disk" button but after a minute or so, Disk Utilities said that verification failed and that Macintosh HD needs to be repaired. But the "repair disk" button is grayed out! So I went to the Mountain Lion installer again and ran it. Of course, it failed again so I restarted the computer.
So I tried to first back up all files in Macintosh HD to an external hard drive using Disk Utilities, and I used features such as "New Image" and "Restore" but they both ended up in "Input/Output error". I tried many methods with Disk Utilities but they resulted in errors.
After some research, I noticed that some people's computers worked after they reset their PRAM. So that's what I did. I held command+option+P+R when computer started up and I reset the PRAM. When the start up disk (which is the OS installer, not the normal operating system) loaded, I was greeted with choose languages option and then I was back in the Mountain Lion installer state. I again ran the installer again, hoping something would be different, but then it was different. But not in a good way. When I was told to choose where I would like to install Mountain Lion, I noticed that Macintosh HD was grayed out. Last time, I was at least able to run the installer but this time, Macintosh HD was grayed out. The installer said that my Macintosh HD was locked. After some research, I learned that apparently, the Mountain Lion installer write-locks Macintosh HD mid installation.
So now I am stuck and I am thinking of two things (plus some questions)
1. I am wondering if there is a way to unlock Macintosh HD. But even if I can unlock Macintosh HD, there is no guarantee that the installer will successfully install Mountain Lion, am I right?
a. so how can I un-write-lock Macintosh HD?
2. More realistically, I am thinking of borrowing someone else's macintosh computer and use it as the backup center. I have a firewire cable and a terrabyte external hard drive. So what I'm thinking is that I'll hook my computer in target mode to my friend's computer and I will also plug in my external hard drive to my friend's computer and then I can download and run Carbon Copy Cloner from my friend's computer to copy all data from my Macintosh HD to my external hard drive. And then I will erase my Macintosh HD, freshly install Mountain Lion onto it and then copy all data back from my external hard drive. But I am not sure about few things.
a. it looks like my Macintosh HD is write-locked. Can I still use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy all data from Macintosh HD (in target mode) to my external hard drive?
b. will my computer allow me to erase (or format) Macintosh HD?
c. will my erased/formatted Macintosh HD able to install + be installed Mountain Lion OS?
If you are here, then you have read my long long problem. Thank you very much and I would really really really appreciate your answers and opinions. Thanks

I'm not sure where you read that about the disk being "write-locked." That doesn't make much sense, given that the major task an installer like this must achieve is writing a whole bunch of files to the hard drive. I think your source was mistaken.
As to what happened, it sounds like your hard drive was badly corrupt to start with, or possibly was on the edge of failing and is now in the process of dying entirely. If you don't have backups of your data, that does not bode well for you, unfortunately. If you can manage to use target mode to copy your data, do that.
Once you're sure you've got all your data, you need to start up from your Snow Leopard install disk and repair the hard drive. (Since it sounds like the Mountain Lion installer didn't work, I wouldn't trust the recovery partition that Mountain Lion installs.) Or, even better, just erase the hard drive entirely and reinstall Snow Leopard. Then, once you're back up and running, with all your data back on the system and with Snow Leopard updated to the most recent version, try installing Mountain Lion again. If any of that fails again, the problem is likely to be a dying hard drive, and you'll need to replace it.

Failed Leopard Install - Not Booting

I apologize in advance for the redundancy of my problem. But I've read all other post surrounding my problem but nothing has seemed to work.
After failing a Leopard Install, I tried to restore my HD using the boot disc. But it gets stuck on the grey apple screen. Then it asks for a restart manually. I believe it is related to a kernel panic, but I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with what that exactly is. Am I going to have to get more RAM or even take it in for service?
P.S.
I've tried reseting PRAM.
Holding (option) key during restart.
Pulling power cord, then reinserting and rebooting
rebooting with boot disc.
holding (C) key during restart.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
How old is the G5?
When you are getting a restart screen is it the one described on my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Leopard install disc ejects automatically after a minute or so

Whenever i put in my leopard install disk, it simply makes some noises then ejects itself automatically after a minute or so.
I have an iMac which is about 2 years old and am currently running tiger 10.4.11
Really stuck on ideas on what to do
Even tried the whole turn it on its side trick which didnt work
Any help would be great, Cheers

thebruca wrote:
I also checked if i had a dual layer dvd drive, which i do so really dont see why it wont work
The suggestion to copy the disk requires a drive that can write (burn) dual layer DVD's. Essentially all DVD drives (including all used by Apple) can read dual layer DVD's.
I got it off the internet so im not to sure if i can get a refund
What do you mean by "off the internet"? Is this a retail, Apple-branded Leopard DVD or something else? All the retail disks are black, with a large "X" that almost goes from edge to edge of the disk. Other Apple-branded Leopard disks are gray & only work with certain Macs. They are bundled with the Mac they are meant for & their labeling indicates they are not to be sold separately.
If you have been sold a gray disk, this is almost certainly your problem.

After Leopard install Mac OSX Setup Assistant is in a constant loop

I have a friend who I persuaded to switch to mac a few years ago and he recently installed Leopard without much success on his second mac (it was fine on his macbook pro 2.13ghz), a Power PC G5 1.8ghz - 1.25 gb ram. When I had a look at it it appears to be stuck in Mac OSX Setup Assistant mode - i.e. when you put the info in and the Screen says "enjoy your computer" or whatever it just comes back to the same Setup page. (What's weird is can't get to the end unless it has an internet signal - wireless at his place and ethernet at mine)
I'm guessing something went wrong during installation as when I restart with the Leopard disc in and hold "c" Leopard install launches but only shows drivers and some languages need to be installed. I copied all important files via target mode and it shows that the Computer is "10.5". I'm guessing the full installation was interrupted. There doesn't appear to be a way to do a complete re-install. I ran Tech-Tool and Disk Warrior to rebuild and verify permissions etc. No joy!
I'd like to do a full re-install of Leopard but I can't. As I have all important info backed up I guess I might have to completely wipe the disc and install Leopard on the blank disc - should this be okay as I've never done that before?
Any other suggestions appreciated.

If I press go back ...it just goes back to the Welcome screen.
I should mention that if I try and select anything that needs to be opened in a window from the Apple menu nothing opens up. For example if I choose System Preferences it will show System Preferences in the top menu but no window will open.

Cannot boot from Leopard Install DVD

Now that I know I have to archive and install (based on a previous post), I'm trying to boot off of my Leopard Install DVD. I put it in the drive when starting up, hold down "C", and nothing happens. I end up booting from the hard drive and getting stuck again. I reboot the computer, try again, and again, nothing. Finally, I pressed "option" on boot-up, got the boot menu, the DVD appeared after a moment, and I clicked on it. I could hear the drive spin-up, then nothing happened. It went to the hard drive again and got stuck in its reboot loop.
The drive should be fine, as I've been using it for normal purposes lately (including ripping music off of my CDs yesterday). Is there any other reason that an OS X Leopard Install DVD wouldn't boot properly? Is it the DVD itself? Or might there be another reason?
Thank you,
Joel

If the MacBook Pro was released on or after October 26, 2007, it can't use the 10.5.0 retail installer.
If the MacBook Pro was released on or after November 15, 2007, it can't use the 10.5.1 retail installer.
If the MacBook Pro was released on or after June 30, 2008, it can't use the 10.5.4 retail installer.
If the MacBook Pro was released on or after January 2009, it can't use the 10.5.6 retail installer.
If the MacBook Pro was released before October 26, 2007, it must use the retail 10.5 installers to install 10.5.
Otherwise it can only use the installer discs which shipped with it to install 10.5.
* is the retail installer disc label, which in fine print will say the update version of 10.5 included with that disc.
If you are missing the discs that came with the machine, and you bought the machine from an authorized service center contact AppleCare for replacement discs at a nominal fee.
Otherwise contact the seller, who should have given you the discs when he sold you the machine.
The discs include iLife, and a hardware test that you can't otherwise get with the retail installer discs for Leopard alone. A bundled iLife/Leopard 10.5.6 exists today called the Mac Box Set.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Downgrade using Snow Leopard install DVD does not work on iMac 27"

I have an iMac 27" (SMC version 1.54f36) that I wish to downgrade. I bought a 5-user Snow Leopard license. Now I'm trying to re-install from the DVD, but the computer won't boot on the DVD.
If I run the installer from the desktop, the installation starts, but when the computer reboots, it gets stuck. No alterations is done on the system disk, so I can hold down the Alt key and choose to boot from the system disk and I'm still on 10.6.5. For the moment I cannot find the discs supplied with the iMac, but surely the SL install DVD should work?? I've used it once before to do a clean SL install (I believe the iMac I have came with Leopard).
The version on the SL install DVD is 10.6 (2Z691-6558-A)
The reason for downgrading is that my Pro Apps (DVDSP and FCP) got a bit shaky when I updated to 10.6.5.

If you have a 27" iMac, it had to ship with Snow Leopard installed. See Mac OS X versions (builds) included with Intel-based Macs to confirm this, & Don't install a version of Mac OS X earlier than what came with your Mac for why you should not try to downgrade to an earlier version.
If the version on your SL install DVD is 10.6, then it is an early version & will not work with your iMac. The current retail product version installs 10.6.4 & should work if your iMac is the "Late 2009" model. It probably will not work if your iMac is the "Mid 2010" model.
You need your grey system discs. They should be kept accessible wherever you use your iMac. If you have lost them, contact Apple about getting a replacement set.

Macbook Pro Leopard Install Issues - Will not start

Ok, so I bought a used Macbook Pro about 9 months ago. As soon as Leopard came out, I upgraded. It ran flawlessly until about 2 months ago. I kept getting random freezes, "ATSServer" errors, and a bunch of other random problems. I decided a fresh install was definitely the way to go.
So I backed all my stuff up and erased the drive (no zero out). Naturally, I installed Leopard on a OS X Extended Journal format. When the installation was finished and the computer restarted, it sat at the boot screen (the grey Apple logo with the spinning thing underneath it). Instead of booting, it just restarted and did the same thing again. It continued to do this and was clearly not going to boot into Leopard.
I tried installing again under the same format (OS X Extended Journaled). It did the same thing.
So I tried to install Leopard on a OS X Extended Journaled Case-Sensitive partition. It installed, and what do you know? The computer booted up fine. I updated everything with System Update and everything worked flawlessly. But then I tried to install Adobe Creative Suite and realized that it (along with other programs I need for work) CANNOT be installed on a case-sensitive drive...
So I erased again and tried installing on a Journaled drive (non-case sensitive)... it did the same thing as before. Kept restarting at the boot screen and continued this in a never ended cycle.. would not boot.
So I tried a Mac OS X Extended partition (non-journal and non-case sensitive). Leopard installed and this time it got past the boot screen. Went to a blue screen... then got hung up on a blank grey screen!
So basically:
OS X Extended Journaled: Restarts continually and will not get past boot screen.
OS X Extended Journaled Case-Sensitive: Works perfectly! But cannot install my most necessary Applications on this format.
OS X Extended: Gets past boot screen but stuck at a grey screen right before OS X actually boots.
As I said, I haven't tried installing on a zeroed out drive yet (it is zeroing out the drive right now), but do you think this could even have anything to do with the problems I'm having?
It just doesn't make any sense to me... Why the **** would it work on case sensitive, but nothing else? Hard drive problem? I thought it was the logic board, but it ran absolutely PERFECTLY when on a case sensitive format.
It is out of warranty, and even if I did have AppleCare, I NEED this computer for work. I CANNOT afford to send this in anywhere to get repaired.. and I really cannot see it being a hardware issue because like I said, it works PERFECTLY on a case sensitive partition, but will not boot on a Journaled or plain Extended partition.
I'm crossing my fingers that zeroing it out will work, but ***?
Thanks.

Did you get the disks the machine shipped with? If not, call 800-MY-APPLE and order replacement disks. Should be available for a nominal S&H charge. If so, boot with the one containing the Apple Hardware Test suite and run the extended tests. If it passes, download Rember and run its tests. If the machine passes, then you've probably ruled out any hardware issues. After the disk is zeroed out, try installing, only selecting the Mac OS Extended format and ensure that you choose the GUID partition map scheme. Journaling can be turned on and off with Disk Utility, so you don't need it for preparing the HD. BTW, the Erase & Install will automatically erase the HD (just deletes the directory) and turn on journaling.

After Leopard install, my only login option is Other

When I installed Leopard, I first had the whole "Blue screen appears over extended period of time" thing. I fixed that, but now when I boot up the computer, it has the login page. The only option there is Other, and Other won't accept any of my old users. Does anyone know of a way either to get past the login screen or to make a new account?

To open this question again...
What happens when you DIDN'T erase all of your contents, instead you upgrade, and you got the "Other" as your only login, and your other passwords/usernames will not work.
I have tried using Disk Utility > Reset Password two times on the Leopard Install Disk.
I have to note though - my Leopard never fully installed. My computer is stuck in limbo... It never fully installed because there was some error and I had to restart the installation, and then it complained my disk was dirty.
What to do?

Leopard Install disc ejecting during installation

Had my HD go down.(I know, it's funny when it happens to somebody else.)
Replaced it with a new one and after some work, got it working with 10.4.11.
Go to load the Leopard install disc. (I purchased the retail version
and had Snow Cat running too.)
Restart begins to happen as I click the restart button to begin installation.
When Macbook comes back on, it spits out the disc and goes no further with the installation.
I've had some good technical help from people who know more than me.
Ruled out the dvd malfunction with the install of Tiger from the disc.
Ruled out the disc malfunction by trying it a Macbook Pro.
All the software updates are done as well as the update's updates.
I tried a firmware update, it came up 'you do not need this app."
I've tried holding 'c'. Something weird happened when I held 't' like
someone said to do. There's the option key hold down. The apple hold down.
Everything is spitting this thing out.
I'm stuck.
MJG

ended up replacing dvd drive with help from youtube. formatted. loaded leopard with no problem. thanks for viewing.

Stuck in Leopard install

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