New Unibody MBP won't boot from DVD or external drive, just loops

Just to confirm, the Leopard disk you've been trying is the one that came with the new MBP, yes? And the clone was made from the MPB's original installation, not cloned from another Mac?

You need use the original install disc that came with the computer. Any other disc, including a retail version of Leopard, will not work.

If you are using the original disc, try cleaning the disc off with a soft cloth. If it still does not boot, call Apple and get replacement discs.

Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support' (designed exclusively for an iPhone/iPod touch)

Why don't regular Boot DVD's work on these new Unibody Macs anyway? I noticed that all my previously bootable DVDs and CDs won't work, only the new disc that came with my computer. Anyone know why?

cause this one has a new Nvidia chipset instead of Intel's, so it requires different drivers which u can't find on other Leo DVDs

I am also having this problem with my brand new MBP Unibody. I have a 10.5 Leopard DVD that I purchased from Apple earlier this year and my new computer can't boot from it!? This is totally unacceptable. It won't boot from my up to date Disk Warrior disk either.

The claim from Dusik:
"+cause this one has a new Nvidia chipset instead of Intel's, so it requires different drivers which u can't find on other Leo DVDs+"

...is completely untrue. Do you think Apple would put out an operating system this this year and then a computer later on the same year that can't boot from the DVD? They wouldn't be in business very long if they did. Check your facts before posting please.

I've spoken to Apple about this issue and they've claimed it is a hardware issue. Since your computer is new, you are probably entitled to a replacement - as they gave me. Your best course of action is to call them and explain the situation. They have my story on file and will see that yours matches.

Raj wrote:

The claim from Dusik:
"+cause this one has a new Nvidia chipset instead of Intel's, so it requires different drivers which u can't find on other Leo DVDs+"

...is completely untrue. Do you think Apple would put out an operating system this this year and then a computer later on the same year that can't boot from the DVD? They wouldn't be in business very long if they did. Check your facts before posting please.

It is very reasonable for older OS disks to have problems booting on new machines. It happens all the time - my Vista Retail disk doesn't recognize any of the disks on my Intel SATA controller and I have to use SP1 slip streamed to get it to install.

Think about it this way - when the old DVD was made Apple wasn't even knowing that Nvidia will come up with new Disk Controller/Chipset/Graphics which will be used in the new Apple products and there would ne no drivers for the same on that disk. The DVD when it loads, has to locate the disk controller to copy files from DVD to the disk - if it can't find it, it is not going to work.

Now there are two things here - if no CD/DVDs boot it may be likely a hardware issue. But if only the old OSX disk doesn't boot and new one that came with it does - it is quite expected. Apple even says in their documentation not to use disks older than the computer's manufacturing date.

With all due respect, first of all, we're not talking about Vista here. The lengthy issues about how Vista interacts with its host hardware have been documented. I'm addressing an issue about the new MBP Unibody computer.

Secondly, Apple has told me that a recently purchased Leopard DVD should certainly work with their new computers - laptops or otherwise.

As I said earlier, Apple did acknowledge that this specific issue is a hardware one and have told me I will be getting a replacement MBP Unibody for this faulty one - thankfully. I don't believe they would go to those lengths if they expected the retail OS X dvd to work in computer - otherwise they would have offered to ship me another copy of the retail OS X instead of replacing the computer.

What I will do for all concerned however, is to test out the new replacement when it arrives in a week. I'll see if the retail Leopard DVD works or not and post up the results on this page. Hopefully it'll help others experiencing the same issues.

Again - if the Leopard retail DVD you are going to test was made around or after when the new MBP came out - it will work. However if it was made before the release of the new nvidia MBP - it is likely that it will not work. That was my point. I also explained that if the DVD that came with the machine won't work then it is a hardware issue.

But the OP said -

I noticed that all my previously bootable DVDs and CDs won't work, only the new >disc that came with my computer

Which clearly means it is NOT a hardware issue, just that old DVDs are not supposed to boot on newer machines with totally different hardware.

Message was edited by: parry_pb

Raj wrote:
With all due respect, first of all, we're not talking about Vista here. The lengthy issues about how Vista interacts with its host hardware have been documented. I'm addressing an issue about the new MBP Unibody computer.

It doesn't matter - OSes require drivers be it Vista/OSX or something else. If Apple does not change hardware between MBP revisions may be old drivers on the old DVD will work and it will boot - but the Unibody is a complete new hardware so it did not work.

Hopefully it is clear now 😉

Well, what will be clear is whether Apple support knows what they're talking about or not (and I don't have total faith in that to begin with).

Their solution, after me explaining the situation, was to replace the computer and not that my DVD is potentially outdated. Seems odd they'd go to those lengths if the simple answer is - the DVD is too old.

A week's time will tell. When the replacement arrives by then, I'll test it out again. If the same issue comes up then it seems the problem would indeed be the retail DVD being too old. If not, then it was a hardware issue.

parry_pb wrote:

It doesn't matter - OSes require drivers be it Vista/OSX or something else. If Apple does not change hardware between MBP revisions may be old drivers on the old DVD will work and it will boot - but the Unibody is a complete new hardware so it did not work.

Hopefully it is clear now 😉

That is not the reason it didn't work. Here is the actual clarity:
*A retail Leopard DVD should be able to boot a new Macbook Pro unibody.*

After talking with Apple support, whom after some discussion on the subject forwarded me to a technician specialist, they both confirmed that yes, the new MBP should indeed be able to boot from an older Leopard DVD and there's no reason it shouldn't. In essence, they said you could downgrade the OS to a previous Leopard version if you really wanted to. There may be a few drivers missing from the older DVD, but doing a Software Update would then solve that. That would be a total of 5 Apple techs whom have reported this.

The key difference here is that if you used an older version, some new hardware may not be supported - however, the computer *should still boot from the DVD*, which is the subject of this discussion.

On my way home, I stopped at a Mac store and asked them to test this. They successfully booted a new Macbook Pro unibody from an older Leopard DVD. And this is why Apple is replacing my computer, because it is a hardware issue, not a software one.

Hopefully that is clear now 😉

Raj wrote:

That is not the reason it didn't work. Here is the actual clarity:
*A retail Leopard DVD should be able to boot a new Macbook Pro unibody.*

So you are saying even if the driver for the controller on which the DVD drive sits is not available in the Leopard DVD you are using because the hardware was not manufactured at the time the Leopard release on the DVD was made, the OS should magically just boot? How is that possible? Unibody MacBook Pros have entirely NEW AHCI chipset - for which there won't be any drivers on the older Leopard DVD and as such the DVD wont be detected once the OS on the DVD loads. In cases where the chipset used is same (as in previous generations of MBP) it will boot.

The key difference here is that if you used an older version, some new hardware may not be supported - however, the computer *should still boot from the DVD*, which is the subject of this discussion.

The OP said that his computer boots from the DVD that came with the computer - just not with the old retail Leopard DVD. Also - what should happen if the new hardware happens to be the controller on which the DVD drive is sitting? How will it be able to read the DVD? What about the graphics card? If the drivers on the old leopard disk do not recognize the new graphics card - how is the OS going to display on screen?

On my way home, I stopped at a Mac store and asked them to test this. They successfully booted a new Macbook Pro unibody from an older Leopard DVD. And this is why Apple is replacing my computer, because it is a hardware issue, not a software one.

Again - you fail to understand that whether or not the old DVD boots on a new machine all depends on how much hardware has changed and what hardware has changed. It may boot on some generation of machine because the basic chipset and graphics did not change or were handled generically by the drivers on the older DVD but it may totally refuse to boot on new gen machine which has totally different / incompatible hardware.

So your claim that any old Leopard DVD must continue to boot on any new machine is not really technically explainable.

See the below links for more proof that older OSX DVDs will not necessarily boot on newer Apple hardware -

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=452483
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=590714

Each one concludes the same thing - missing drivers for new hardware due to the retail DVD being older than the machine manufacture date.

Rest your argument already pal!

This is amusing.

My laptop was exchanged this evening at an Apple store, and the Leopard DVD boots it. Problem solved.

Fill yer boots... "pal" 😉