Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mini Tiger Install Disc Won't Boot

2

294307

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 19, 2009
567
315
I've tried holding c down and clicking the Install Mac OS X icon inside the mounted CD and it just stays with the spinning icon on the Apple flash screen and I end up having to force shut down. It boots into OS X fine. The discs in question are the original gray discs that come with the Mac Mini but I have had my memory upgraded from 512MB to 2GB a few days ago. Could this be the problem? I've tried resetting the PRAM too. My Mac Mini is a 2006 Intel Core Solo model.

Any help appreciated,
Thanks.

Edit: Found out it was partition related that's causing the disc not to boot past the Apple splash screen. I accidentally deleted the hidden OEM partition when messing with partitions (and this is what makes the grey discs ability to boot into the installer). I went to an Apple authorised service provider near my area and they tested a retail copy of the Mac Box Set of Snow Leopard and it booted into it fine - purchased Snow Leopard Mac Box Set yesterday, installed perfectly :). If you have Tiger or don't have leopard currently installed, you need to purchase the Mac Box Set of Snow Leopard at approximately £129/$169.
 
Yes it mounts fine and I can even click the install icon inside the mounted CD which then asks me to restart my computer, and I presume that makes the CD the Startup Drive or whatever. Either way same problem occurs.
 
i know when i upgraded to leopard on my parents imac it would start to install then fail, First i thought it was the disk but i had the family pack and was able to install it on every one of my macs. I took it to apple and they said the HDD was fried even though it started and worked fine....
 
I can't even get to the installation process, it doesn't even load. Just stays on the Apple splash screen.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Try doing a PRAM/SMC reset and see what happens. There could be a firmware password on your Mac that you don't know about.
Click to expand...

Already tried a PRAM/SMC reset without luck. I actually tried booting a different (Linux Mint) CD and it booted into it fine and I've installed it, thinking that it installing over OS X will make the CD work when I try the installation CD...no luck but interestingly when the CD is in, and I restart the computer the Apple logo, instead of the question mark comes up on the Apple splash screen but same problem occurs; stays on splash screen.
 
bbnck said:
No, only Apple keyboard & mouse and obviously a PC keyboard at times to press the c key to boot into CD.
Click to expand...

Don't know if I'm reading this wrong - but you use another keyboard to hold down c to boot to CD instead of the Apple keyboard? Is the Apple keyboard also plugged in? Why not just use the Apple keyboard?:confused:

Also how long have you let the disk spin before ejecting it?
Another silly question I'm sure, but you're using Disk 1 not 2 to for the OS install correct?
 
The apple keyboard doesn't work till about hallf a minute after the computer starts...its common across the aluminum keyboard so I use a PC keyboard to boot to CD when needed. And yes disc 1. I'm not sure what's causing it to not load but all that happens is the Apple logo / splash screen comes up after the chime, and just the loading icon underneath that constantly spins ... I've left it upwarda of 10 mins and nothing new.

Last time I reinstalled using Tiger install disc was about 2 months back when I was using Linux at the time on my Mac Mini. At that point I had 512MB memory and I've had my memory upgrade by an apple authorised service provider a few days ago (to 2GB).
 
bbnck said:
The apple keyboard doesn't work till about hallf a minute after the computer starts
Click to expand...

Huh, first I've heard of that. I've never had a problem with the aluminum keyboard and my imac...

Well, I'd try booting off disk 2, holding down d and running a hardware test just to make sure your superdrive is ok. I don't see how the RAM would be the problem if its booting just fine into OSX.

Also, if you have another mac and firewire, you can try booting the mini in target mode and installing the OS that way.
 
bbnck said:
I've tried holding c down and clicking the Install Mac OS X icon inside the mounted CD and it just stays with the spinning icon on the Apple flash screen and I end up having to force shut down. It boots into OS X fine. The discs in question are the original gray discs that come with the Mac Mini but I have had my memory upgraded from 512MB to 2GB a few days ago. Could this be the problem? I've tried resetting the PRAM too. My Mac Mini is a 2006 Intel Core Solo model.

Any help appreciated,
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Have you tried a hardware test? Insert the 1st MAC OS X Tiger DVD into the drive, attach only a mouse and PC keyboard and hold down the D key when booting. Then do the long extended test to see if there is an error. Have you cleaned the DVD? It is possible that a finger print of spec of dust could be interfering with the laser on the drive.
 
Already done both short and extended hardware test, "no troubles found"
 
bbnck said:
Already done both short and extended hardware test, "no troubles found"
Click to expand...

It sounds like your DVD is borked. Someone mentioned that you could get replacement DVD's from Apple if out of warranty for $35. I would give them a call. As long as other CD/DVD's will boot properly most likely it is the DVD that has gone bad.
 
Before I reinstalled the Mac with Ubuntu Linux and had this problem with the CD when I booted back into Mac OS X I could see the contents of CD1 so I don't think the CD is broken. I'm not sure though. I don't think the drive is faulty cause I can boot into other CDs fine.
 
killerrobot said:
Huh, first I've heard of that. I've never had a problem with the aluminum keyboard and my imac...
Click to expand...

I was about ready to resort to beating my Mac Mini to death until I discovered the issue with Apple keyboards.

I was trying to get my Mid 2006 Mac Mini (Macmini1,1) to boot from a Snow Leopard install disk so I could re-partition my system disk and perform a clean install.

Try as I might, I could not get the blasted thing to boot from the DVD drive. None of the keyboard boot options seemed to work. It was only after reading another forum that I discovered that the Apple Aluminium Keyboard doesn't work with all macs at boot time.

So I swapped the Apple keyboard with an old IBM keyboard and I was able to boot my Mac Mini from the DVD at the first attempt.

I don't know if this issue is specific to Mac Minis in general or just specific models, but I'm rather disappointed that I can't use an Apple keyboard to select boot options for an Apple PC.
 
Do you have an external hard drive? You can restore your install disc to a new partition on your external hard drive and boot from the hard drive as if it were a CD.
 
I am having the same issue and wanted to see if the OP has figured out the problem. When I load the CD, it mounts without any issues and the Install process initiates the restart process. However, upon restart, the Mac Mini won't boot from the CD and I just get a constant reboot process.

Any ideas?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back