Lion Install Nightmare

[krravi]

I download lion via the app store to install on my Mac Mini(2010).

I read instructions on how to burn it into a DVD. I burnt the DVD.

I backed up by existing OS using Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner(just in case).

Then proceeded with installing Lion. Where i wiped my hard disk clean by partitioning it again with Mac OS Journaled file system.

After a long time it threw an error and said i have to restart. Tried many times and same thing. So i thought i have a corrupt DVD and hence i thought i will install the Snow Leopard DVD and atleast restore it from backup, yes i wont have Lion but will have a working Mac right?

Now all i got was gray screen. Nothing happened. Tried every trick like resetting NVRAM etc....

Then hooked up a Mac Keyboard and tried again and this time i get a dark gray screen which is multilingual and says i have to reboot again.

Tried many times same thing.

As a last resort, removed the 8 GIG mushkin RAM and installed the default 2 GIG RAM that came with the mac and tried again.

Same thing....

Have an appointment with the geniuses at the local mac store.

I hear its a hardware failure from what i have read so far...

All that because i tried to install Lion? Of course the Mac was on all night as it was doing the back up....

Any ideas ?

 

[Adamantoise]

Very strange, just take it to the Apple Store, I'm sure they'll straighten it out.

 

[blevins321]

Then hooked up a Mac Keyboard and tried again and this time i get a dark gray screen which is multilingual and says i have to reboot again.

Any ideas ?

That multilingual screen is called a kernel panic notification. And it's usually indicative of a hardware issue. Might be that the stress of installing Lion finally pushed a component over the edge to failure. Hard drive, optical drive, logic board? Hard to tell. Is your computer still under warranty/applecare? If so, they'll fix it no problem. You can get the serial number off the bottom on the unit. Enter it HERE to see your warranty status.

 

[monokitty]

Sounds like a defective hard drive -- and no, it has nothing to do with Lion. Damaged drives will often not show symptoms until you attempt a major software install like an OS -- that's enough to bring a damaged drive not yet showing symptoms to its knees. If this is the scenario in your case, the drive in your Mac mini had been already failing for some time.

 

[philipma1957]

did you keep your finger on the c key + option key and boot when you tried to put the snow dvd back on the machine? sounds like you have a partial 10.7 on the machine that means an older dvd won't load your 10.6 if you just drop the dvd in. put the snow dvd in and hold opt key and c key then boot.

 

[krravi]

did you keep your finger on the c key + option key and boot when you tried to put the snow dvd back on the machine? sounds like you have a partial 10.7 on the machine that means an older dvd won't load your 10.6 if you just drop the dvd in. put the snow dvd in and hold opt key and c key then boot.

Actually i installed Lion and it aborted with an error. Dont remember the error exactly. So while i was in the Lion(partial) i opened disk utility and wiped the hard disk clean.

Then i installed Snow Leopard and yes i did the option + c key to ask it to read the SL DVD. It reads the disk at full speed and then after a while i get the "restart your computer" screen.

Somewhere along the lines i tried Lion again and then got sick and tired of it and i ejected the DVD and i saw a flashing folder icon with a question mark, but i guess that means it doesnt have an OS to load as i have wiped the HD clean.

I am actually a little dissapointed as i thought macs have a high quality component and construction. But hard disks are hard disks right?

I think you guys are right. It could be the hard disk because the prev night i was constantly making backups to many external disks (i have one connected to my airport extreme) and then the whole night let it do a time machine backup to my USB drive....

When i got up that morning i was thinking to myself, omg this thing has been running constantly.... but being a mac i thought of temp sensors and other things that should keep the trouble at bay.... but guess not.

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That multilingual screen is called a kernel panic notification. And it's usually indicative of a hardware issue. Might be that the stress of installing Lion finally pushed a component over the edge to failure. Hard drive, optical drive, logic board? Hard to tell. Is your computer still under warranty/applecare? If so, they'll fix it no problem. You can get the serial number off the bottom on the unit. Enter it HERE to see your warranty status.

I made an appointment online by entering the serial number and then apple scheduled an appointment with my local store... And it still has two months warranty left(the one year one) and no i dont have apple care.... I am hoping that means its still under warranty?

But the local apple store guys are notorious for turning away people who didnt buy the goods at their store. Their response is "If you had bought it here we can help, but since you got it online from some other store you have to send it back to them". My response to them was "So you have a store advertising your product and how you have geniuses to support them but now you are asking me to send it back to where i got it from? ". I went through this with my 21 inch mac which had yellow screen.

 

[blevins321]

I made an appointment online by entering the serial number and then apple scheduled an appointment with my local store... And it still has two months warranty left(the one year one) and no i dont have apple care.... I am hoping that means its still under warranty?

But the local apple store guys are notorious for turning away people who didnt buy the goods at their store. Their response is "If you had bought it here we can help, but since you got it online from some other store you have to send it back to them". My response to them was "So you have a store advertising your product and how you have geniuses to support them but now you are asking me to send it back to where i got it from? ". I went through this with my 21 inch mac which had yellow screen.

Yeah, that means that you're still under the year warranty . Don't worry about them turning you away - you're going in for warranty service, not return policy issues.

 

[krravi]

Yeah, that means that you're still under the year warranty . Don't worry about them turning you away - you're going in for warranty service, not return policy issues.

I went to the Mac store today. The guy told me that the mistake i did was that i tried to install a Retail version of Snow leopard which wont work with mid 2010 Mac mini due to some build number incompatibilities.

So i should try to install with the DVD that came with the Mac mini. Ouch !!!

So i am home right now and know what? It works. I am installing the OS again using the install DVD's that came with the mac....and it seems to be restoring from my backup.

Once its done i will give the Lion a go again and see what happens.......

Got it working finally. This time i tried installing from a thumb drive.

But thanks for all the suggestions.