iMac can't upgrade to 10.6

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iMac can't upgrade to 10.6

Hi -

I had some disk troubles with an Intel iMac lately. Replaced the disk, and installed 10.5 on it. Upgraded today to 10.6.3 via Apple DVD. Tried to run the combo install to 10.6.8 and it failed without much of an error message.

So, I went to the download center, got the 10.6.4, installed it. All fine. Did the same with 10.6.5; same thing -- all fine.

Tried to do the same with 10.6.6, and got an error at the very end (after the "moving items into place" message.

Don't know what gives here. It's possible that when I was moving stuff off the old disk (I had to do this manually; please don't ask) I may have inadvertently overlaid some system or library files. But...it worked fine on 10.5, and then on 10.6.3.

Any ideas what's causing this now, and what might be a good course of action?

Thank you.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 22, 2012 12:16 AM

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Answer 1

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Silly rabbit

Level 4

2,985 points

Mar 22, 2012 12:27 AM in response to mzimmers

Hi,

Upgrade installs have always been a source of trouble, especially upgrading from Leopard. Your best solution is to do a complete erase and install of Snow Leopard and start from scratch.

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Answer 2

mzimmers Author

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Mar 22, 2012 12:39 AM in response to Silly rabbit

Ugh...so are you saying I need to wipe the disk clean before using the 10.6 DVD? Or, is there still some kind of "clean install" option during the install?

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Answer 3

Mar 22, 2012 12:55 AM in response to mzimmers

Hi ..

I edited my post..

Might be a good idea to run Disk Utility and check the startup disk.

Launch Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities

Select the start up disk on the left then select the First Aid tab.

Click: Verify Disk (not Verify Disk Permissions)

If the startup disk needs repairing, follow the instructions for Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks

While you have the startup disk selected in Disk Utility, check Capacity & Available at the bottom of the window. Make sure there's a minimum of 15% free disk space.

And make sure where you see: S.M.A.R.T status; it says Verified.

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Answer 4

mzimmers Author

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Mar 22, 2012 12:55 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Hi, Carolyn -

Pretty much did everything you suggested. Disk came back as OK.

I've decided to erase it and reinstall...guess we'll soon see how effective TM is as a user and application backup.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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Answer 5

Mar 22, 2012 12:58 AM in response to mzimmers

Hi ...

Just a suggestion... hold off restoring from a backup until you're sure the operating system is stable. And make sure there's plenty of free disk space.

edited by: cs

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Answer 6

mzimmers Author

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Mar 22, 2012 1:00 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Yeah, the plan is to install 10.6.3, then do the combo update, then restore from TM. There's plenty of space; the disk only had about 60GB used and it's a 320.

Guess we'll see in about an hour; shall I put on a pot of coffee?

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Answer 7

Mar 22, 2012 1:01 AM in response to mzimmers

Java works for me 😉

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Answer 8

mzimmers Author

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Mar 22, 2012 1:54 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Well, I'm further than I was before...the combo update did install on top of the clean install. I'm running Software Update again, and getting a few more straggling updates in. I guess I'll be ready for TM in about 10 minutes...

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