Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail does not install on Macbook

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Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail does not install on Macbook

I bought a version of Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail from a store to install on my Macbook (2Ghz Intel) running Tiger 10.4. I also bought a new larger harddisk and as I needed to install fresh anyway I just put in the new disk and tried to install Mac OS X from the Leopard disk I got.

Turns out the installer starts up, I can see the disk it's all fine. I even can partition the disk and format it but the installer refuses to install on the system with an error message that Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer!!!

I played with all options to no conclusion and went back to my original Tiger install disk. It booted up and started to install no questions asked. I went through the whole install of Tiger and then put the Leopard disk in the drive and sure enough it started to install.

So here is my conclusion: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail cannot be used as a fresh install disk if there is no previous Mac operating system on the computer.

Is that right? Anybody had similar problems?

iMac (Intel) 20-inch, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jul 23, 2008 5:57 AM in response to aschmid

aschmid wrote:
So here is my conclusion: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail cannot be used as a fresh install disk if there is no previous Mac operating system on the computer.
Is that right?

(EDITED because I did not read carefully.)
No, unless you purchased an upgrade disk.

-mj

Message was edited by: macjack

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Answer 2

aschmid Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 23, 2008 6:00 AM in response to macjack

Yes I did partition GUID for Intel Mac and followed all the steps required to prepare a new hard disk including writing Zero over the whole disk - spent hours.

I did not change anything in the disk setup, just insert the Tiger install disk and it installed straight away. This is telling me there is nothing wrong with how the disk was partitioned and formated!

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 8

46,312 points

Jul 23, 2008 6:11 AM in response to aschmid

aschmid wrote:
So here is my conclusion: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail cannot be used as a fresh install disk if there is no previous Mac operating system on the computer.

Is that right?

No, it isn't. Maybe you just have a bad install disk. It is just a piece of shiny plastic. Take your Macbook and disk into the Apple Store and show them. If the install disk is bad they should give you a new one.

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Answer 4

aschmid Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 25, 2008 3:32 PM in response to etresoft

The disk seems alright as it booted up into OS X Installer and that's where I got the message that OS X cannot be installed on this computer. So it would not boot into the installer if the disk is damaged.

Has anybody out there actually done this: Put a new blank harddisk into a Mac and then try to install with the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Retail disk?

Also as far as I know there is no "upgrade" or "full" version of Mac OS X Leopard. There is only the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail DVD. That's it, one version.

Message was edited by: aschmid

Message was edited by: aschmid

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Answer 5

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jul 25, 2008 4:46 PM in response to aschmid

Yes, there are upgrade disks and disks that shipped with another model mac. Ones that shipped with another model will not install on different hardware. They will give you that error message.

If you purchased the boxed retail install version there is no reason it shouldn't install on a new blank hard disk. If you erased partitioned and created GUID partition scheme. Yes, I just did a fresh install from my 10.5 install disk to a new external on Wednesday to do some troubleshooting.

The only other explanation would be a defective disk as etresoft suggests. Call Apple to replace it.

-mj

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Answer 6

aschmid Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 25, 2008 5:09 PM in response to macjack

macjack wrote:
Yes, I just did a fresh install from my 10.5 install disk to a new external on Wednesday to do some troubleshooting.

So when you did this was your Mac OS X up and running via your internal disk or did you actually BOOT from the Mac OS X Leopard install disk and then try to install to the external HD?

Just curious to track this done as when I insert my Mac OS X Leopard install disk into a running Mac OS X computer it gives me the option to install, but when I BOOT from it there it says can't install on this computer!

Thanks!

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Answer 7

etresoft

Level 8

46,312 points

Jul 25, 2008 6:13 PM in response to aschmid

aschmid wrote:
The disk seems alright as it booted up into OS X Installer and that's where I got the message that OS X cannot be installed on this computer. So it would not boot into the installer if the disk is damaged.

Not true. It could boot up, run, install everything, and then either fail at the end or brick your Mac if the install disk is bad. There is no way to tell. If you did get a new install disk and it worked, then you would have proven the install disk was bad. If you get a new install disk and it fails again, then your Mac is broken.

Has anybody out there actually done this: Put a new blank harddisk into a Mac and then try to install with the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Retail disk?

That is the only way I've ever installed Leopard.

Also as far as I know there is no "upgrade" or "full" version of Mac OS X Leopard. There is only the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Retail DVD. That's it, one version.

There is a third version - one that ships with a Mac. A version like that would only install on the Mac it was shipped with. This could be the case if you bought your "retail" Leopard installer disk through some grey-market channel like eBay or Craigslist. In that case, Caveat emptor.

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