Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation stuck at Language Selection screen.

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grishester Author

Level 1

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation stuck at Language Selection screen.

Hi guys,

Here is the scenario that I am facing:

- Bought MacBook Pro 13" in October 2009, with 1-year warranty

- Trackpad issues during the year of warranty

- March 2011: while downloading a series on iTunes, the laptop got stuck

- Shut down the laptop manually (pressing the power button)

- Restarting, a blinking question mark appeared

- Tried start+C, start+Option, nothing

- Boot from Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD, holding C button

- After 3 minutes, the logo screen appears

- After 2 minutes, the progress circle stops spinning

- Waiting for 5 more minute, the blue screen appears

- 2 more minutes and the Language Selection screen appears.

- From there, even after waiting 20 minutes, impossible to do anything. Clicking, typing won't work.

- DVD does not seem to be spinning from there.

Any idea? The laptop is out of warranty and I would like to be sure to do everything possible before bringing it to an Apple Center.

Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on May 1, 2011 4:46 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Mark Hanks

Level 1

20 points

May 1, 2011 5:20 AM in response to grishester

Hi grishester,

Try running Apple Hardware Test located on your MacBook Pro install DVD. Insert the disc and reboot the MBP holding down the D key. This will boot AHT and check your hardware.

If it comes back with an error code ring your local authorised Apple repair centre and report the code to them. They will then be able to advise next steps.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 6:59 AM in response to Mark Hanks

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your answer. Here is what I have done:

- Turned off the laptop (pressing power button)

- Started, holding D button

- After a while, the following screen appears:

- Held down the Power Button until it turned off

- Turned again

- The same screen appears.

Did I miss something?

Thanks again a lot.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 1, 2011 7:16 AM in response to grishester

The hardware test is not on the installation DVD. It's on the Applications DVD that came with the machine. Insert that disc and restart while holding down the D key.

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Answer 4

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 7:23 AM in response to Mark Hanks

Hi.

- Restarted in Verbose Mode (Press Command-V during startup)

- Got the following screen (with my face 🙂):

The last lines say:

Bug: launchctl.c:2325(23930):30: (dbfd = open(g_job_overrides_db_path, O_RDONLY | O_EXLOCK | O_CREAT, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR)) != -1

systemShutdown false

NVDANV50HAL loaded and registered.

Previous Shutdown Cause: 3

DSMOS has arrived

Warning - com.apple.driver.InternalModemSupport declares no kernel dependencies; using com.apple.kernel.6.0.

Sound assertion "0 == fMikeyDriver" failed in "/SourceCache/AppleHDA/AppleHDA-174.1.1/AppleHDA/AppleHDADriver.cpp" at line 1180 goto handler

From there it stays stuck.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 1, 2011 7:34 AM in response to grishester

Are you trying to boot from a retail Snow Leopard disc or from the gray installation disc that came with the machine? If it came with a 10.6 installation disc, you have to use that, not the retail disc.

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Answer 6

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 7:46 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi again.

I started from the DVDs that came with the machine.

After inserting the Application DVD and pressing the D button, I could perform a quick AHT.

"No trouble found":

Is there anything else that could be done?

Thanks again a lot.

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 1, 2011 8:05 AM in response to grishester

If you were able to boot from the Applications disc, that pretty much rules out a problem with the optical drive. The AHT isn't very reliable, and if it doesn't find anything that doesn't necessarily mean nothing is wrong. If you're going to run it at all, you should you run the extended version.

If you're using the right installation disc, and it isn't scratched or dirty, yet you can't boot from it, then you do have a hardware problem. Some people might tell you to reset the SMC and/or the PRAM, and I guess you might as well do that since you have nothing to lose by it, but I doubt it will help.

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Answer 8

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 8:24 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks Linc.

- Reset PRAM

- Reset SMC

Still when I try to restart from OS DVD, it stays stuck on the Language Selection screen.

😟

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Answer 9

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi again.

FYI, after performing the extended AHT (which took 27min43s), the report still says "No trouble found".

Thanks again in advance for helping.

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 1, 2011 9:25 AM in response to grishester

The only idea I have left is to disconnect all peripherals, and I do mean all, and try again to boot from the installation disc. If it fails again, then I have nothing else to suggest. Take it to an Apple Store.

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Answer 11

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 9:29 AM in response to Linc Davis

You mean disconnect everything internally?

Yes if there is not other way, I will bring it to an Apple Store. It's just not that easy to find in France. And it's a bit expensive to have Mac stuff fixed here.

Thanks a lot.

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Answer 12

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 1, 2011 9:36 AM in response to grishester

You mean disconnect everything internally?

No, I mean external devices.

And it's a bit expensive to have Mac stuff fixed here.

It's expensive to have Macs fixed everywhere. If I knew of a better solution, I'd tell you.

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Answer 13

May 3, 2011 7:07 PM in response to grishester

Were you able to figure out how to solve this problem? I am having exactly same issues and can't get past language selection screen when trying to boot from the Install DVD.

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Answer 14

grishester Author

Level 1

0 points

May 4, 2011 9:25 AM in response to gmonacelli

Hi there.

Unfortunately, I could not get it fixed yet.

I am into completing the last try: "find somebody nearby who would be ok to lend me his Mac" so that I can connect it as external HDD (with Firewire) and format it from there.

Surely will do it over the week-end and update you.

Thanks.

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