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igalarzab Author

Level 1

12 points

There was a problem installing Mac OS X

Hi there,

I have a problem with my macbook pro (2011 series).

I wanted to make a clean install of Lion so I burned the internal DMG of Lion (InstallESD.dmg) to a DVD (and to a pendrive, and to a partition).

Also, I check that the md5 sum of the file is correct (comparing with a friend)

Then I deleted all the partitions and I tried to install Lion, but didn't work.

There is an error in the instalation, before starting. "There was a problem installing Mac OS X. Try reinstalling".

In the install log there are two errors, but I think they are normal, because the instalation process want to find a partition with MacOS Server. The errors are:

Failed to locate volume with UUID AA438896-3641-B662-C0760B37587D

Couldn't find Mac OS X (Server) install data.

The HDD it's in good state (I passed the tests of the Disk Utility).

Now I have a very expensive stone :) without an OS, and I can't install anything on it, because the Lion Instalation DVD doesn't want to work and my DVD of Snow Leopard is 600 kilometers far away (not my lucky day ;) )

Any ideas?

Thank you!!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 24, 2011 12:43 PM

Top-ranking reply

austingaijin

Level 1

15 points

Posted on Jul 24, 2011 6:13 PM

Here's the crucial bit. I got myself into this boat. After wiping my entire drive, I wondered "HOW can it possibly be finding any remnants of Lion?" The answer is PRAM. You need to reset your PRAM.

Follow this article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

After doing this, and restarting, I got a different error and a window displaying a log containing details of the failed installation. It doesn't matter. Just select a new startup disk, or do the "hold the Option key during boot" trick to select your USB install image, and when you restart, you'll get the normal "clean installer" options.

Brett

View in context

72 replies

Mar 13, 2012 6:41 AM in response to igalarzab

Hello,

I can also prove that the fix described in this article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

helped to re-install my iMac (2011 model). In my scenario I installed OS X Lion (10.7.3.) from netboot (netinstall) onto a USB drive connected to the iMac.

To get the Lion installer I used the trick to reinstall a Mac from Internet without Recovery partition.

Cheers

Robert

Mar 17, 2012 4:47 PM in response to Robert Assum

Thank You ALL! I've spent 2 hours trying to do a fresh install on a 2007 macbookpro. I've got it now thanks to a quick search and this post.

trk3263

Level 1

0 points

Mar 18, 2012 7:19 PM in response to austingaijin

You are the best austingaijin Thank you been trying to figure this out since last night. Worked great! Thanks again!

Mar 19, 2012 1:46 AM in response to trk3263

np. Glad it worked.

Duh Dun

Level 1

0 points

Apr 23, 2012 10:54 AM in response to igalarzab

This worked like a charm, thank you so much! I thought my sisters MacBook pro was a gonna for sure, stuck in limbo.

May 1, 2012 7:41 PM in response to igalarzab

And another happy customer!

Many thanks for the PRAM tip - been struggling for a couple of days to do a clean install after a disk crash..

Many thanks,

xnorfbug

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2012 12:58 PM in response to igalarzab

This worked for me. I couldn't reinstall with my USB distribution that I bought from Apple. I couldn't reinstall with command-R recovery mode. I boot with command-shift-P-R to reset the NVRAM and reinstall worked. Thanks!

Jun 19, 2012 9:33 PM in response to austingaijin

Thank you austingaijin! Just saved my business laptop from being a paper weight. After hours this fixed my problem. +1 for PRAM fix! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!