Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
So today i've been trying to get my mid 2009 white macbook to boot into my ei captain installer, but half way through, it stops and shows a prohibited sign. please send help quick as if my 2011 MacBook pro dies then i hav nothing else to use.
MacBook
You are better off installing OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard using a retail DVD installer which you will need to purchase online most likely from eBay (you don't want the gray DVD which only works for a very specific model). If you want this laptop to access websites, then OSX 10.6 is your only option as no current browsers are supported on OSX 10.7 Lion, but there is a backported version of Firefox which works with PPC Macs called TenFourFox that may work with OSX 10.6 using Rosetta. Rosetta is found on the installation DVD as an optional component to install.
People have lots of issues trying to install OSX 10.7 Lion so you are not alone.
Another option if you are willing to learn a new OS is to install Linux on the 2008 MacBook which gives you an up to date non-Apple OS that supports the current versions of the common web browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, and Vivaldi), plus includes access to a lot of other free open source software such as LibreOffice. Linux Mint, or one of the Ubuntu flavors such as Kubuntu or Ubuntu-MATE are good choices since they are easy to install on a Mac and work with the limited resources of an older Mac. These "Live" installers also include an option to test drive the OS from the USB stick installer although it will be extremely slow compared to installing to the internal hard drive/SSD.
You are better off installing OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard using a retail DVD installer which you will need to purchase online most likely from eBay (you don't want the gray DVD which only works for a very specific model). If you want this laptop to access websites, then OSX 10.6 is your only option as no current browsers are supported on OSX 10.7 Lion, but there is a backported version of Firefox which works with PPC Macs called TenFourFox that may work with OSX 10.6 using Rosetta. Rosetta is found on the installation DVD as an optional component to install.
People have lots of issues trying to install OSX 10.7 Lion so you are not alone.
Another option if you are willing to learn a new OS is to install Linux on the 2008 MacBook which gives you an up to date non-Apple OS that supports the current versions of the common web browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, and Vivaldi), plus includes access to a lot of other free open source software such as LibreOffice. Linux Mint, or one of the Ubuntu flavors such as Kubuntu or Ubuntu-MATE are good choices since they are easy to install on a Mac and work with the limited resources of an older Mac. These "Live" installers also include an option to test drive the OS from the USB stick installer although it will be extremely slow compared to installing to the internal hard drive/SSD.
Try using another USB stick especially a different brand since the quality of USB sticks is extremely poor.
Did you use these Apple instructions to download and create the bootable macOS 10.11 USB installer?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
When do you get the prohibitory sign? While booting the installer and before getting to the tools screen? Or during the first phase of the install or after the installer reboots?
If it occurs during the second phase of the install after the reboot, then it may indicate the laptop has a failing hard drive.
I Have Just Found Out that the macbook is actually a Early 2008, so that is problably the problem, but i have another problem. That macbook can only go up to lion, and i have a Late 2011 Macbook pro. so i bought a 128gb ssd drive to install on the macbook. but when i connect it through a usb cable to the Late 2011 macbook pro. i boot into internet recovery to intall MacOS X Lion on the hard disk to put in the macbook. it will say -2billion hours, then 0 sec. it goes on for a while and then say can't download additional componets needed to install MacOS X. Does anyone know how to solve this?
White macbook cannot boot from bootable installer
