MacBook Alu (late 2008) won't boot from USB harddisks

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MacBook Alu (late 2008) won't boot from USB harddisks

My Alu MacBook (late 2008) won't boot from any USB harddisks. I've tried diffrent types of external USB harddisks (2,5' 3,5' with/without external power supply) but with no success. If i boot up my MacBook holding down the alt button the boot manager shows me all available and bootable USB volumes, but when i select one of those the MacBook just performs a restart and that's it (of course booting from the internal harddisk then). The same USB harddisks with the same OSX installation on it will start on my Alu iMac (late 2007) without any problems. I've also tried to install OSX directly from my MacBook to a USB harddisk, but after a succssesful installation the MB will not boot from it.

I've allready installed the newest EFI firmware update for my MacBook (Boot-ROM-Version: MB51.0073.B06)but this also dosen't solve the problem. Any ideas?

iMac, MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Dec 11, 2008 4:47 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 11, 2008 4:17 PM in response to Mr.Ash

No answer here.

But I want to confirm that the same thing happens to me and I did the firmware updates as well.

The USB drive boots fine from my 2.16 ghz Macbook Pro, but no soap on the new Macbook.

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Answer 2

myca

Level 1

20 points

Dec 11, 2008 8:37 PM in response to Mr.Ash

Maybe you could try a firewire drive, oh shizzle I forgot, they dropped firewire....

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2008 10:50 AM in response to Mr.Ash

It sounds like your disks have been formatted using a GUID partition scheme but was the operating system on them built using the version of 10.5.5 supplied with your MacBook? Earlier builds of 10.5.5 ie pre-MB release, are not fully compatible with those machines.

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Answer 4

Dec 12, 2008 1:46 PM in response to Michael Blake

Interesting.

The USB flash drive was built before I bought the new Macbook.

Can I rebuild the USB flash drive using the discs that came with the new Macbook and if so, would they be the resulting USB flash drive be backwards compatible with my older Macbook Pro?

Thanks!

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Answer 5

Dec 12, 2008 5:02 PM in response to David Winograd

Can I rebuild the USB flash drive using the discs that came with the new Macbook and if so, would they be the resulting USB flash drive be backwards compatible with my older Macbook Pro?

Yes. The version of Mac OS X that shipped with the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros is newer (even though it's still numbered 10.5.5) than the version of 10.5.5 that's available from software update. You will have to startup the MacBook from the original install disk that came with it and choose to install Mac OS X onto the USB drive. NOTE: If you want to keep any software or files that were already saved on the drive, choose only "Archive and Install" or "Update" options. (Not the "Erase and Install" option.) In my experience, though, the only option was to "Archive and Install".

-Doug

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Answer 6

Mr.Ash Author

Level 1

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Dec 14, 2008 4:43 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

Now i've tried to install OSX directly from the install DVD which was shipped with the alu MacBook. The installation on the external USB harddisk went without any problem but my still won't boot from this harddisk. Everything my MacBook does is still automaticly reboot after selecting the external USB harddrive as the startup volume. Any other ideas?

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Answer 7

Dec 14, 2008 4:54 AM in response to Mr.Ash

I'd double check the partition scheme using Disk Utility - it should be GUID.

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Answer 8

Dec 14, 2008 9:30 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

It worked for me.
Doing an archive and install on the flash drive from the alum macbook disks gave me a flash drive that boots both the alum macbook and my older Macbook Pro.

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Answer 9

Mr.Ash Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2008 1:40 PM in response to Mr.Ash

Yes, the partition map is GUID. But now for some reason it worked on an other USB HD. Funny thing is, that the installation on the first HD will boot on my iMac without a problem but not on the MB. Now with the second HD i can boot from both machines. Tanks for the help you all.

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Answer 10

Dec 16, 2008 1:08 AM in response to Mr.Ash

How about the Build numbers, are they the same on both disks? (select "About this Mac" and click on the OS Version number).

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