Grey startup screen

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Grey startup screen

I recently cleaned my hard drive and went to reinstall snow leopard and it came up with a failure cannot read supported files or something of that sort so I ordered a new cd to see if that was the problem. I just got the cd in the mail. I put the new disk in I now can't get past the grey screen. The loading wheel keeps spinning and it sounds like the disc drive keeps spinning too. Could it be the DVD drive not being able to load the cd or is it something more? It is a late 2007 MacBook with nothing ever done to it. It's been perfectly fine until I had the bright idea to clean it out.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.3), Late 2007

Posted on Jun 12, 2013 1:24 PM

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Answer 1

DQuail Author

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Jun 12, 2013 1:30 PM in response to DQuail

Will an external optical drive help?

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Answer 2

Eric Ross

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Jun 12, 2013 1:38 PM in response to DQuail

If you have the correct DVD for the model then it could be your DVD drive is not working. You should try an external drive. Just to make sure when you restart your computer you are holding down the "C" key?

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Answer 3

DQuail Author

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Jun 12, 2013 1:51 PM in response to Eric Ross

I haven't held down the "c" key no... And now you have me thinking I do not have the original cd that my computer came with I upgraded it to snow leopard and that's the one I'm using...

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Answer 4

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Jun 12, 2013 2:06 PM in response to DQuail

In order to start the computer with the DVD, you will need to hold down the "C" key while the system restarts. Once the system starts from the DVD you can erase the hard drive then reinstall Mac OS X. If you have Mac OS X 10.6 DVD try using that it will save you the time of updating from your original OS to 10.6. Take a look at this link, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3910?viewlocale=en_US

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Answer 5

DQuail Author

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Jun 12, 2013 2:13 PM in response to Eric Ross

So i put in the original cd that i was using before i bought the other one and when the grey screem trouble started and now im back to the install portion. but my orginal problem was this error about 5 minutes into the instal "Install Failed: The installer could not copy the necessary support files". So that's why I tried a new cd because this one is pretty scratched...

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Answer 6

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Jun 12, 2013 2:16 PM in response to DQuail

You should verify/repair your hard drive with disk utility first then try the install.

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Answer 7

DQuail Author

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Jun 12, 2013 2:28 PM in response to Eric Ross

Thanks so much for helping me work out this problem I ran out and got an external and so far the install is going well. I just don't understand why the other disc which is the same as the old one as far as versions go wouldn't let me get to the install screen.

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