Mountain Lion installation failed

I not sure why people who were running a previous version and upgrade to MB suddenly belive there problem is memory.

I think the most likely cause of problems is a corruption of the new M.L. download. There should be a software application that can verify the downloaded software is valid. Once that is oonfirmed it leaves two possibilities, software bug or hardware problem.

I had this situation with a MacBook and got a ton of help from this forum, so I want to share my experience. In short, there was an incredibly simple fix that worked after several days and several trips to the Genius Bar, where they told me that I needed a new hard drive- I did not.

I tried to upgrade from SL to ML, and got the HD error message/stuck in the install loop. Here's what worked for me (and many thanks to Famaman who posted a version of this idea originally):

- Booted up from the original SL DVD

- Ran disk utility- Verify found issues and first try at repair said that I had HD problems that could not be repaired. Hit repair disk again anyway and it now was able to make repairs, and I got the green ok message.

- Ran Verify Permissions and found a ton of issues. Hit repair and it the progress bar said 90 minutes, so I just stopped it.

- Went back to the menu and selected Startup Disk, and my regular HD still running 10.6.8 was available, so I gave it a shot. Computer restarted back into SL as if nothing ever happened.

I'm of course very happy that this worked but am frustrated that Apple was telling me that I needed a new hard drive. This wasn't after a rudimentary hardware test either- I was told that they did more advanced testing on the drive and it was failing. I don't think anyone was trying to cheat me or anything (I really don't think Apple is trying to make money off of pushing $200 hard drive replacements), but clearly there is a major problem in their repair/replace protocol, because the drive is working fine. Just glad I took the macbook home and didn't spend the money for a HD replacement...

Hope this is helpful.

Hi Jnanesh

I have the exact same problem as you described (not able to select HDD in step 5). Did you ever find a solution to this?

Txs

thanks for the tip Jack, did reset the PRAM and seems to be working for me as well, the installation restarted and goes fine till now! fingers crossed !

macfrombrampton wrote:

I not sure why people who were running a previous version and upgrade to MB suddenly belive there problem is memory.

Because ML requires more Ram than previous OSX versions.

Thanks! This worked like a charm.

I am reinstalling Mountain Lion from an SD card that I created from the downloaded app store package. I got scared when suddenly the installation option was gone and I was only seeing the warning message. I feared that I had to first install using my original DVD, then download the update again and then create an installation DVD and then do the clean install again.

You saved me some precious hours of work!

I was able to get my MBP working just by resting the PRAM: (Command-Option-P-R).

This is what you should do:

1. have your bottable USB already plugged in to a USB port.

2. Do the PRAM (Command-Option-P-R) and keep holiding the keys until you hear the second "bong" .

3. The next thing you will see is the Insallation Window.

4. Choose your language,

5. Mountain Lion will be installed after that.

4. Done!

Hey I heard you guys were having problems with ml install,I had the exact same problem and I was confused,I read some forums saying apple will make you buy a new hard drive and you have to do something complicated. if anyone I'd updating please use time machine like I did .Once we saw it said it failed I broung it into aple and they fixed it with info from there servers and they said out computer was okay.Then when we got home we used time machine.So if you have the ML install don't worry and if you didn't make a time machine back up apple can save you data because you data is still on the drive,so don't worry is this problem happens to you:)

Hey everyone, I have never written on one of these before but just thought I'd share given my recent experience with this same issue. My computer is Macbook Air mid 2011, absolutely no issues at all and super happy until I downloaded OS X ML installer and tried to install, which resulted in error saying that my hard disk was damaged and couldn't be repaired, and then stuck in endless loop going into installer everytime I restarted no matter what. Tried everything, on phone with apple for 45 minutes, explaining that I'd read all of these comments with people with same issues and being told that hard drive failed but drive was fine and that ML installer was the issue. Of course they said I needed to take it to Apple store to genius bar, and sadly they could not do anything at all. They said they couldn't even do an erase and install on my system because it wouldn't let them. I'm not that Mac savvy since this is my first Mac, but they told me that hard drive (which they inspected and physically was fine) needed to be replaced and it was going to be at least $300 (this is after an overnight stay at the store). Knowing based on these prior comments that my HD was fine and that ML was the issue, I decided to take it somewhere else. Random (and awesome) indie mac repair guy, left it with him and within an hour he called me saying my computer was fixed! Yes he had to reformat drive, which was fine because I had TM backup so I had all my data. But I wanted to share this mainly to reinforce to everyone to NOT believe Apple when they say that this problem is due to faulty hard drive that can't be repaired. Too much of a coincidence that all of a sudden my hard drive is the issue right when I try to install an upgrade, same as many others have described. I unfortunately don't know the details of what the guy did to fix it (unlocking? I know it involved taking the drive out of my system and using another machine running my drive to fix it), but this is definitely an ML installer issue since he was able to fix it so readily. I was super let down by Apple on this one. Had been a convert since getting this first Mac, but if things are going to fail like this then I'm really not seeing the benefit of having this over a PC. Good luck!

Firstly, the solution to your problem was probably the PRAM reset. Apple wasn't entirely wrong in saying it was your hard drive, because solving the issue actually had something to do with formatting it. I agree the installer could be better, or at least provide some way to reset the whole thing, but then again imagine having no idea about computers, having it fixed overnight is fine, the only crazy thing is the $300. Beats companies like Acer though who take weeks. Sounds like you should have just hung up and call again to get someone more knowledgable on the phone.

Aside from what the issue actually was you figure that some issue with ML's installer is worth having to deal with Windows's bad UI, unclear user interaction, viruses, hacks, etc? This sounds very unlogical to me.

Next time ask here before spending $300.00

I too had a week of failed installs of Mountain Lion, putting original 2 x 2GB samsung RAM back into the my 2010 27" imac solved problem straight away. So I certainly see some correlation in RAM and Mountain Lion install problems.

Resetting PRAM -> JUST holding down the Command, Option, P, R keys continuously while the machine rebooted four times. It worked !