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Stuck on gray screen on install of snow leopard server....

6 core 3.3 ghz, Mac Pro, running snow leopard server.


I need to change from my current RAID5 config to RAID0. How I wanted to proceed;

1) make TM backup

2) reinstall 10.6 server from installer disk (not the machine specific one, as I lost it, and apple made me pay for a new copy even though Im still under applecare)

3) change RAID config during install

4) repopulate from TM during install


Unfortunatly.....


The installer never got past the initial apple gray screen (no time bar either).


So.....


I tried cloning the installer disk to an external usb, and booting from that.......no luck


I tried removing all my drives except 1 (3 were in raid 5, 1 was stand alone), and trying to boot off both the the usb and the dvd, no luck.


(note, when I hold down option during startup, it does see the dvd installer in the drive, and it allows me to boot from it, it just never starts the installer)


Then I tried...


Cloning a minimum version of my current system onto a usb, booting from that, then formatting my 4 drives and RAIDing them to RAID 0.


Then booting the installer.....no luck


Then I repopulated the new RAID0 array with my minimum system version, so that I had an OS back on the RAID array


Then booting the installer......no luck


(and reset PR all the time....)


***??????


I do not want to go through and drag and drog hundreds of folders from TM to the new system.


I want to resintall from scratch, and have the installer repopulate from my TM backup (because that's its job!)


any suggestions?


(frustrated)


-a

3.33 GHz 6-Core, OSX Server 10.6

Posted on Feb 26, 2013 3:46 PM

Reply
17 replies

Feb 26, 2013 4:44 PM in response to A Flinders

You are not getting out of the gate on that Server Installer DVD.


My guess is that the version of Mac OS X on that Server disc is too old to boot your Mac. (It appears to require minimum custom 10.6.4 for a Mac Pro 5,1).


So instead, Install "regular" Mac OS X, Update it with Software Update, and then install only the "Server" software. There should be a separate sub-Installer that installs just the server-part, on top of a pre-Installed Mac OS X.


Post back if you need more help, I run Server 10.6.8 and can look on the release discs for stuff.

Feb 26, 2013 5:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Just got off the phone with apple enterprise support......they think it's a faulty install disc, given the tactics I tried......


But now that I look at the install disk, and see that it says 10.6.3 Im getting worried....


Do they have a server install dvd for 10.6.4?


Do I call Apple support back and have them send me > 10.6.3 sever/nonsever snow leopard edition?


(it took me an hour to get to the point where they would send me a second disk, as they already sent me one already)..

Feb 26, 2013 5:34 PM in response to A Flinders

The Server software consists of a perfectly ordinary 10.6 Install, PLUS: a multi-package off the Installer DVD, which will then update with software Update. There are TWO ways to Install Server:


1) Insert the Server DVD and tell it to Install. This is not working for you because your Mac Pro 5,1 shipped with 10.6.4 as a minimum.


2) Install regular 10.6, update to 10.6.8, THEN add the Multi-package Installer from the DVD that contains only the Server "magic", no OS.


I am hunting down the DVD and will add more info within an hour.

Feb 26, 2013 6:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I know the name of the package with the server "stuff" and where it is:


Mac OS X Server Install Disc /System/Installation/Packages/ServerEssentials.pkg


I am working on how to Install it.


Mac OS X Server 10.6: Installing Mac OS X Server on a Mac OS X computer



The movie version: Double Click on the Install Mac OS X Install Application on the DVD. If it cannot RESTART, the Button will say INSTALL and if you are running 10.6, when you click it will do just that.

Feb 26, 2013 7:05 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hmmm.....


When I insert the disk, I see this;


User uploaded file

If I click "install" it will then restart the computer, and try and boot off of the DvD and then hang, as described..


Within the DvD the contents are;

User uploaded file

Within the package contents of "Install Mac OSX Server" is;

User uploaded file

So......I do not (unfortunatly) see this as a solution. (unless I'm missing something?)

Feb 26, 2013 7:11 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yes, you are missing something. You only get the Install Button (as opposed to the Restart button) When 10.6.8 is ALREADY on the Drive you are running from.


If you have the original-issue 10.6.4 that shipped in the Mac Pro box, that could also be used directly. If you bought this Mac as a server, it may have only shipped with a Server disc.


_OR_ You can get an "ordinary" 10.6.8 image on that disk by using a "Full Retail" Installer (these contain drivers for every appropriate Mac), Installing on another computer, then Software update to 10.6.8. Then swap drives or clone onto the Server startup drive, or start from an external.


Then use the article above to ADD server to the 10.6.8 already installed.

Feb 26, 2013 7:10 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hmmm......


"You can get an "ordinary" 10.6.8 image on that disk by using a "Full Retail" Installer (these contain drivers for every appropriate mac)"


So I need to request a non-server addition "Full Retail" snow-leopard installer DvD from Apple?


"Installing on another computer, then Software update to 10.6.8. Then swap drives or clone onto the Server startup drive, or start from an external."


I'm confused on why I would need to install it on another machine, then clone to my original. Wouldnt my machine be able to install a "Full Retail" snow-leopard DvD? Then I could upgrade to server?


(thank you by the way for your leg work)

Feb 26, 2013 7:13 PM in response to A Flinders

By the way......the whole point of this was to have the installer handle the repopulation of my drives from my Time Machine back up....


If I have to install on another machine and then clone to my original machine, I would still have to repopulate from my TM backup manually, which defeats the purpose.


I have already reRAID'd my machine and put a bare bones version of my oringal system via a previously cloned drive (cloned to external usb and then transferred) (see oringal post)

Feb 26, 2013 7:15 PM in response to A Flinders

"Yes, you are missing something. You only get the Install Button (as opposed to the Restart button) When 10.6.8 is ALREADY on the Drive you are running from."


It got hung up on install from the DvD BOTH when I had no system installed on the machine and when I had wiped the machine to have no OS on it.....


"If you have the original-issue 10.6.4 that shipped in the Mac Pro box, that could also be used directly. If you bought this Mac as a server, it may have only shipped with a Server disc."


I bought this as a server, could not find the original installer, and Apple sent me a 10.6.3 server installer...

Feb 26, 2013 7:22 PM in response to A Flinders

Look at that article. It says if you have a Mac OS X 10.6 running on your Mac's Hard Drive, and double-click on Install Mac OS X Server Icon on the DVD, it will give you a INSTALL button instead of a RESTART button (beacuse you have a LATER version of Mac OS X already Installed on the Hard drive).


Do you have your "bare-bones" Mac OS X fully updated to 10.6.8? If not, I suggest you do that first.


I have pre-installed Mac OS X and then added the ServerEssential.pkg later. They used to have that package sitting out in the open, and it made this much easier.

Feb 26, 2013 7:24 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

"Look at that article. It says if you have a Mac OS X 10.6 running on your Mac's Hard Drive, and double-click on Install Mac OS X Server Icon on the DVD, it will give you a INSTALL button instead of a RESTART button (beacues you have a LATER version of Mac OS X already Installed on the Hard drive)."


Yes, that's what I see now, and it hangs as stated.


Even if it says "Install" when you click "Install" it then goes on to inform you, that it will restart to begin the installation (where it hangs)

User uploaded file


BUT I also tried WIPING the entire system (no OS whatsoever), reformatting the drives using a bootable usb (so NO OSX running on my Mac's hard drive), and it still hung.


The bottom line is, no matter how you install, it has to restart the machine in order to unmount the startup disk, and boot from the DvD.


Booting from the DvD, makes it hang


"Do you have your "bare-bones" Mac OS X fully updated to 10.6.8? If not, I suggest you do that first."


Yes it is.

Stuck on gray screen on install of snow leopard server....

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