stop icon when trying to boot

[zoran]

Ive upgraded my late 2009 MacMini by replacing the old hdd with a blank SSD drive.
Ive connected via USB2 an ext bootable hdd with two bootable partitions (one for ElCapitan and one for HSierra).
I press the option key at boot and although i see the two bootable drives when i select the HSierra bootable, there is a stop icon not allowing me to go further.
If i do the same thing on a diff computer, the bootable launches without issue... any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[MacCheetah3]

El Capitan is the last (officially) supported Mac OS for the 2009 Mac mini.

 

[zoran]

Something else must be wrong cause SnowLeopard can be installed.
When trying to install Snow from the original bootable dvd, i get the following msg

 

[Amethyst1]

When trying to install Snow from the original bootable dvd, i get the following msg

Bring up the installer's log (from the menu); post what it says.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Is the disc you’re using the original for that specific Mac? I ask because if that machine shipped with, for example, Mac OS X 10.6.2 and the install DVD you’re using is 10.6, even if it’s for a 2009 mini, it won’t work.

 

[Amethyst1]

I ask because if that machine shipped with, for example, Mac OS X 10.6.2 and the install DVD you’re using is 10.6, even if it’s for a 2009 mini, it won’t work.

In the case of trying an older version, the behaviour would be different. And since the late 2009 mini is almost the same machine (apart from a slightly faster processor) as the early 2009 which shipped with 10.5.6, 10.6 (that is, 10.6.0) does work on it.

 

[zoran]

Is the disc you’re using the original for that specific Mac? I ask because if that machine shipped with, for example, Mac OS X 10.6.2 and the install DVD you’re using is 10.6, even if it’s for a 2009 mini, it won’t work.

Yes it came along with the mini

 

[zoran]

Bring up the installer's log (from the menu); post what it says.

The installers log? Whats that? Where can i find it?

 

[eyoungren]

Ive upgraded my late 2009 MacMini by replacing the old hdd with a blank SSD drive.
Ive connected via USB2 an ext bootable hdd with two bootable partitions (one for ElCapitan and one for HSierra).
I press the option key at boot and although i see the two bootable drives when i select the HSierra bootable, there is a stop icon not allowing me to go further.
If i do the same thing on a diff computer, the bootable launches without issue... any ideas what could be wrong?

I had a similar thing happen to me. My Mac Pro was on High Sierra and I bought new graphic cards so that I could upgrade to Mojave. Everything was just fine. Later on I bought an SSD for it, and things were still fine…for a little while.

At some point I rebooted and got the stop symbol. But when I used the old HDD it booted fine. After a series of swaps and futzing around with a bunch of different things I discovered that after reinstalling Mojave from dosdude's Mojave patcher everything remained fine.

I still have no idea what happened, but I suspect that my flashed cards are probably the problem. At various points the system told me I did not have Metal compatible cards.

Coincidently this entire problem for me started when I connected the first 30" Cinema Display I bought. Everything was fine up to that point.

 

[Amethyst1]

The installers log? Whats that? Where can i find it?

When that error message pops up, there should be a Window menu in the menu bar, with one of its options being "Installer Log" or something like that.

 

[Amethyst1]

At some point I rebooted and got the stop symbol

In @zoran's case, the stop symbol appeared because High Sierra does not support the 2009 mini. Easily solvable using @dosdude1's patcher.

 

[zoran]

This is what i get when trying to boot with ElCap. The installation bar does begin, i get this msg/error and a reboot that loops.

 

[zoran]

What is troubling me is the fact that i cannot install SnowLeopard on my Mini so after that i will be able to do the HSierra + patcher installation. Right now im with a macMini and a blank SSD installed doing nothing

 

[Amethyst1]

What is troubling me is the fact that i cannot install SnowLeopard on my Mini

Post the installer log so we can see what's wrong.

 

[theMarble]

As others have said, post the Snow Leopard installer's log file here. It will say what went wrong with the install. Maybe your DVD (or DVD drive) is broken.

 

[zoran]

Guys... this is crazy... heres what happened. I created a new bootable installer for ElCap on a usb flash drive this time and it all went fine. Cap is installed so now all i have to do to install HSierra is to apply the patcher etc.