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Mac OS X Install CD won't boot

A

Apoph

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2011
10
1
Hi there. I have a problem i thought maybe you could solve.
I have iMac 27" and i need to make a fresh install of Mac OS X 10.6 (i have a retail version). The problem is when i try to boot from install DVD the screen just hangs up showing apple logo (and no progress indicator). HDD is empty at the time. I tried formatting it to ntfs, fat and even leave disk space unpartitioned. Result is always the same.
Resetting PRAM or trying to boot from USB copy of installation also doesn't help.
Some say it's a problem with volume bootability ("bless" modes). Maybe anyone knows how i can fix this problem?
 
What Mac OS X version did the iMac come with and what version of Mac OS X is on the DVD?
Maybe the DVD is an earlier version of Mac OS X than the Mac came with, thus it can't be installed.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
What Mac OS X version did the iMac come with and what version of Mac OS X is on the DVD?
Maybe the DVD is an earlier version of Mac OS X than the Mac came with, thus it can't be installed.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately i don't know what Mac OS X version this iMac came with, but i have 10.6 on dvd. Isn't it the newest version ?
 
Apoph said:
Unfortunately i don't know what Mac OS X version this iMac came with, but i have 10.6 on dvd. Isn't it the newest version ?
Click to expand...

If it is 10.6, then it is not the version that came with your iMac, as the first 27" iMac (10/2009) came with its own build of 10.6.1, which is newer than 10.6.
Or do you have a DVD with 10.6.3 on it?
And don't you have the grey Restore DVDs anymore?
 
Last edited:
I believe the iMac requires 10.6.4, but 10.6.3 might do the trick. 10.6 will not work. As was mentioned the Restore DVDs that came with the iMac will work. 10.6.0 does not have the necessary drivers for your iMac this is because 10.6 was released before any 27" iMac.
 
You have two potential issues.
First if you're booting up on gray disks, you have to be sure they for the same machine. That is apple "keys" the install disks by machine type, so a MBP install disk won't work for an iMac.

The second issue, is that if the OSX install disk is of lower version then what the Mac requires.

That is if the iMac came with 10.6.4 and you try to boot up 10.6.0, it won't work.

Your easiest solution is to call apple for a set of replacement disks
 
Thanks for the advice guys.
Appearently, i was trying to boot from DVD containing 10.6 version. It came with other iMac (21.5). As it worked fine on a "smaller one", i thought it must work on 27 too. Well i was wrong. I'll try to use 10.6.3.
 
10.6.3 worked just fine, thanks a lot !
 
Last edited:
One last question: do i need to install applications after installing OS X 10.6.3? I mean do i need additional drivers for my Mac or did they come with installing OS ?
 
Apoph said:
One last question: do i need to install applications after installing OS X 10.6.3? I mean do i need additional drivers for my Mac or did they come with installing OS ?
Click to expand...

No need to install additional applications or drivers, as they have already been installed. Just make sure to run Software Update to get to 10.6.7.
 
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