cubytus

Q: MacBook Pro 8,1 beeps 3 times on boot from FireWire drive: why?

Hi, all,

 

 

about the brand spanking new 13" I bought, I immediately wanted to boot the FireWire drive so I could install Snow Leopard. Install disk image was copied to a dedicated partition on the FW drive to speed up install process.

 

 

Holding the [alt] key during startup leads to 3 beeps that are indefinitely repeated. I also tried to select the relevant partition in the Control Panel Startup Disk. Same result

 

 

Why doesn't it want to start from this image? How can I solve this issue?

Mac OS X (10.6.8), MacBook Pro 8,1

Posted on Feb 18, 2012 5:22 PM

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Q: MacBook Pro 8,1 beeps 3 times on boot from FireWire drive: why?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Feb 18, 2012 6:09 PM in response to cubytus
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Feb 18, 2012 6:09 PM in response to cubytus

    If your Mac shipped with Lion, you can't install an older version of the Mac OS.

  • by will from winston-salem,

    will from winston-salem will from winston-salem Feb 18, 2012 6:11 PM in response to cubytus
    Level 2 (170 points)
    Feb 18, 2012 6:11 PM in response to cubytus

    Linc is right.  You can't install 10.6 over 10.7 but i do believe you can run it in parallels if it's vital.

  • by fane_j,

    fane_j fane_j Feb 19, 2012 8:07 AM in response to cubytus
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Feb 19, 2012 8:07 AM in response to cubytus

    cubytus wrote:

     

    about the brand spanking new 13" I bought

    Well, the problem is, which MBP have you got, Early 2011 or Late 2011. Both have model identifier 8,1

     

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4132>

     

    but the former comes with SL, the latter with Lion.

    Holding the [alt] key during startup leads to 3 beeps that are indefinitely repeated.

    As a rule, it's not possible (or some hacking is required) to boot a Mac from a version of the OS prior to the one with which it was shipped. So, if it's a Late 2011, you shouldn't be able to boot it from a SL, and that might be the explanation.

     

    If it's an Early 2011, it should be able to boot from SL; the question then becomes, does it boot normally from the internal disk or DVD?

     

    If no, then very likely there's a problem with the RAM.

     

    If yes, then what you describe is a bit unusual, because three beeps at startup indicate a RAM issue. See

     

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2341>

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547>

     

    Consequently, I would suspect an issue with the FireWire drive -- or with the MBP's FireWire controller (maybe linked to DMA?).

     

    And, btw, there's no "[alt] key" on the Mac. It's the Option key, labelled either as such, or with the traditional Mac symbol ⌥. (It's also labelled Alt for convenience when using non-Mac apps in emulation or VMs.)

  • by cubytus,

    cubytus cubytus Feb 19, 2012 12:54 PM in response to fane_j
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 19, 2012 12:54 PM in response to fane_j

    In fact, it is a late 2011, not an early 2011 "New Old Stock", so you're correct it shipped with Lion. But, aside from its weird ergonomics (Dynamically-attributed spaces and different gestures from the previous OS X versions), what turned me off was the official complete impossibility to get a physical copy of Lion at a reasonable price, when it is installed. I also wanted the mounted drives to appear at the top left corner in Finder windows, as they did in pre-Lion OS X, instead of the bottom left. I wanted to put back the Firefox profiles in their place... Turns out the Library folder isn't visible in Lion.

     

    Simply put, anything I wanted to do to start on the good foot wasn't possible on Lion.

     

    I went to the Genius Bar, and indeed their own external rescue drive also made the Mac beep. I told them about the Snow Leopard tethered downgrade. They were aware of the method, but there was no Snow Leopard Mac remaining in-store. And with the install DVD causing kernel panics, there was no way to at least try a dual-boot installation (Snow Leopard for mission-critical apps, Lion for playing around with).

     

    To another Apple-approved place I went. The young tech here was willing to perform the downgrade (since it would have cost me $75/hr), and had both Snow Leopard and Lion machines. But I argued that I wouldn't be willing to pay twice since I intend to switch to SSD in a short while. He then tested when booted from a clone, and Snow Leo half-installed on the internal drive (needs one reboot during installation), but it ended up in kernel panic. Same went when he tried the physical Snow Leopard disk after formatting the internal drive, hypothesizing something detected on it may prevent Snow Leopard installer to boot. It immediately went into a kernel panic.

     

    Both techs were actually surprised that this signal came out, instead of a message stating (official) incompatibility, as well as kernel panics.

     

    My hypothesis is there's something in the Snow Leopard installer that accesses the hardware at a lower level during installation, but not during normal execution or Target Mode, hence causing kernel panics in the former.

     

    What else can be tried, or what else didn't go through my mind?

  • by cubytus,

    cubytus cubytus Feb 19, 2012 3:09 PM in response to cubytus
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 19, 2012 3:09 PM in response to cubytus

    Actually, since I don't know how you put that Mac symbol, I find it easier to call the key the same as it's labelled regardless of keyboard used. Just out of convenience when typing pure text, where this symbol may not be available.

  • by fane_j,

    fane_j fane_j Feb 19, 2012 3:31 PM in response to cubytus
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Feb 19, 2012 3:31 PM in response to cubytus

    cubytus wrote:

     

    I find it easier to call the key the same as it's labelled

    <http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/15837.jpg>

     

    Isn't the key on your keyboard labelled "option" (with "alt" in smaller type, just like "enter" on the "return" key?).

     

    See also

     

    Switch 101: On Windows, I used to...

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2514>

     

    In Windows, I used to…On a Mac, I can…
    Use these keys as shortcuts:Use these keys as alternatives:
    Alt key⌥ Option key
  • by cubytus,

    cubytus cubytus Feb 20, 2012 1:11 PM in response to fane_j
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 20, 2012 1:11 PM in response to fane_j

    I have this one. "option" key doesn't ring any bell for me, so I call it what I can read. I didn't knew it was for Windows applications, since this "alt" existed even when G3 and Mac OS 9 ruled.

     

    "Enter" nor "return" exist on my keyboard, they are symbols-labelled keys.

     

    I still call the "cmd" key "Apple" key from time to time.

     

    <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EsY2Rw9XM0Y/SlaQU5fZOKI/AAAAAAAAARI/T-g9evd2fQI/s400/I MG_7290.jpg>

     

     

    Back to the topic please!

     

    What exact version of Snow Leopard shipped on this MacBook Pro (8,1) at the beginning of 2011? What was the last version of Snow Leopard released on retail DVD?

     

    My hypothesis here is that the Snow Leopard DVD I bought was 10.6.3, and that this version doesn't support i7 CPUs as they were not available yet in Macs. I know 10.6.7 and 10.6.8 appeared in the first half of 2011, but I don't know when i7 first appeared.

     

    If no 10.6.7+ retail version existed, that would explain why the tethered downgrade method must be used in order for the downgrade to be successful.

  • by fane_j,Helpful

    fane_j fane_j Feb 21, 2012 5:37 AM in response to cubytus
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Feb 21, 2012 5:37 AM in response to cubytus
  • by eww,

    eww eww Feb 21, 2012 6:20 AM in response to cubytus
    Level 9 (52,994 points)
    Feb 21, 2012 6:20 AM in response to cubytus

    If no 10.6.7+ retail version existed, that would explain why the tethered downgrade method must be used in order for the downgrade to be successful.

     

    That is the case. There is no retail Snow Leopard installer DVD for any version above 10.6.3. There must initially have been 10.6.0 discs, but all or nearly all the retail discs available now are 10.6.3.

     

    The MBP models introduced in Feb. 2011 were shipped with 10.6.6, and later in the production run with 10.6.7. A retail Snow Leopard installer can't be used on them. The MBPs introduced in April 2010, which were still on sale at the start of 2011 and for months thereafter as discontinued models, were always shipped with a model-specific build of 10.6.3.

  • by cubytus,

    cubytus cubytus Feb 21, 2012 4:33 PM in response to eww
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 21, 2012 4:33 PM in response to eww

    Seems like the well-known "tethered install" method worked. Who knew an old BlackBook could still be useful?

     

    Universal DVD images of 10.6.7+ must be available, at least to techs. How would they reinstall any 2011 Mac otherwise? It's not practical to keep as many install DVDs as there are computers. Or it is?

     

    This is still not good news as, if I go on and decide that speed is more important than capacity, I'll buy a 120GB SSD 'cause superior capacities are still way too expensive. I have yet to find a fast and reliable 240GB SSD for less than $300. Plus, for some unknown reason, the BlackBook had a very sluggish restart. It seems it is trying to reindex everything.