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Trouble reinstalling 10.5 on Macbook

Hi all,


I have a 2009 13" Macbook. The hard drive got fried a few weeks ago and I ordered a new one to replace it.

I have the grey install DVD that came new with the computer. I booted from the DVD and I get the error that "mac os x cannot be installed on this computer."

I tried a GUID partition, but no luck. Any help would be appreciated!


Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 10, 2013 1:16 PM

Reply
22 replies

Jan 10, 2013 1:19 PM in response to crispycreme

Be sure you prep the new one:


Drive Preparation


1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.


2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.


3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.


4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.


5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.


6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.


7. After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Install Leopard.

Jan 10, 2013 3:29 PM in response to crispycreme

You may need to follow this process to reinstall. Do this if you don't want to erase the drive. If you don't care about what's on the drive, then select the option Erase and Install.


How to Perform an Archive and Install


An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.


1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.


Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions


Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.

If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.

3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.

4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.

5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.

6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Jan 10, 2013 9:08 PM in response to crispycreme

You don't have anything on the new drive. My being just stupid.


Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Erase and Install or just Install option. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.

Jan 11, 2013 11:28 AM in response to crispycreme

Did you go through the process of click on the destination drive, then clicking on the Options button?


If you still get the warning, then all I can think of is whatever version of Leopard you are trying to install, it is the wrong version for that computer or the hard drive is not properly partitioned and formatted.

Jan 11, 2013 1:59 PM in response to Kappy

I am not being given the option of choosing a destination drive; the first thing to appear on the screen after my language option is "Mac OSX cannot be installed on this computer." This is really weird.. I've gone ahead and written out my exact procedure so you can see if I have perhaps mistepped.


From the Mac OSX Installation menu, I selected Utlities and then selected Disk Utilities. Selecting my hard drive I selected the Partion tab. I partioned off one, GUID scheme, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format volume. I selected my created volume, and clicked on Erase and I erased it with the "Zero Out Data" setting selected under the Erase tab, and I clicked Repair Disk under the First Aid tab and my volume was deemed to be ok. I couldn't select Repair Permissions, as stated, and so I exited the disk utility and returned to the OSX Installation window. Nothing appeared automatically so i went under Utlities and selected Startup Disk which gave me the option of using either the installation disk or to have the computer search for a volume (?) (a purple, round shaped symbol with a white question mark on it). I restarted the computer with both of these options but got the original "Mac OSX cannot be.." error immediately after the language selection each time. I have re-partioned the hard drive twice, to make sure that I was following your instructions on how to prepare the drive correctly. I suppose the problem could be with the Install Disk but im positive that these disks came with my computer originally, and i don't see any scratches on them.


Thanks,

Jan 11, 2013 2:26 PM in response to crispycreme

What do you see printed on the installer disc itself (this should be labeled as Disc One.) It should say the OS X version and, I beleive, the model they are for.


There aren't many causes for this alert, and the only one we haven't explored is that the hard drive is bad. After that I haven't a clue what would cause you to get such an alert. I can only come up with the possible idea that the new drive was originally formatted NTFS. If it was then you may have to first fomat the drive MSDOS using the MBR partition scheme. Then once that's done repartition to drive using GUID and reformat for Mac OS Extended, Journaled.


OS X cannot write to an NTFS formatted drive, so it's possible this is prevented the drive from appearing as a drive for OS X, hence the alert dropping down before you even get to the part of disk selection in the installer.

Trouble reinstalling 10.5 on Macbook

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