Macbook 2007 A1181 HDD trouble

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Macbook 2007 A1181 HDD trouble

Hi, I am relatively new to mac, but love my Iphone, I was getting my wifes old macbook ready to sell, its a 2007 A1181.

I didn't know how to reset it back to factory so I started to delete private files, well she screamed when her 399 contacts disappeared from her iphone due to iCloud, I was in the dog house for a couple of days.
So a friend was eager to buy the macbook so I read a little on how to reinstal a fresh mac OS and as we didn't have the disks due to buying it s/h I tried to reload it from the partician on the drive that I believe had the OS on, well somehow I dragged the Locked partician in to the OS partician for some stupid reason and now there is no OS and the partician is locked so I can not delete or format the partician at all through Disc Util,
I have been trying to work this out for days with enough info to get in to trouble and gave up, Today I tried to put an SSD in and instal windows 7, well I have had no luck there either due to not being able to boot from the disk and maybe the SSD not being formatted correctly.
Oh I did try to reinstal lion from the network cable but both mine and my wifes Apple I.D.'s didn't work,
I can not believe how stressed I have let this old macbook get me and to add insut to injury I am extremely compident when it comes to the standard PC, I feel like a yellow belt that was successful against the other yellow belts and then had a fight with a ninja.

I would be very interested to hear any advice or suggestions, except for the bit that suggests I never do any work on a mac again, thats my new rule after I finalise this situation, even if it is to teabag it in the pool with the power on,,,,

I hope I have explained things enough but I am sure there would be some technical info I have left out but I probably don't understand it anyway, even iCloud beat the crap out of me.

MacBook

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 4:08 AM

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Answer 1

squirralien Author

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Oct 26, 2013 7:43 PM in response to squirralien

I am figuring that I need to put a new HDD in the macbook now and buy mountain lion from apple for $20.99 to get a disk and then install the software,,,
My new question if someone can help me is how do I format the HDD so the macbook can see it and so I can instal the software, remembering that the macbook isn't working and if I put its original HDD back in all I get is the disk Util and I can't format the new one with the old one in the macbook,,,
Surely this problem should be easier to over come,
Hope someone can help I would hate to see this macbook in the pool

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Answer 2

ZintainUSA

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Oct 26, 2013 8:00 PM in response to squirralien

When you get the disk from Apple, you will put that in your computer, and while it is booting, press and hold the "C" key. This will cause the computer to boot from the CD. Once in the Installer, just click on the menu right next to the apple and you will see "Disk Utilities". In there, you'll have all the options you need, while the disk utilities is open, you can click on the drive that you install into the computer, and then click format, and pick Mac OS Journaled, and you'll be able to then exit out of disk utilities after the format is finished, and then install the OS to that drive all from the CD.

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Answer 3

squirralien Author

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Oct 26, 2013 8:04 PM in response to ZintainUSA

Thank you ZintainUSA, that all makes sense, I wasn't sure if the HDD would have to be formatted before it went in but you have answered the question with clarity, thank you,,, I will order the CD today and get another HDD,

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Answer 4

squirralien Author

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Oct 26, 2013 8:05 PM in response to squirralien

I will reply within a week or so when everything is running smoothly just to let you know it worked (positive thinking)

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Answer 5

ZintainUSA

Level 5

6,349 points

Oct 26, 2013 8:08 PM in response to squirralien

You are welcome. The drive does not need to be formatted before it goes in, the Mac itself will format it for you. Before ordering a new drive, I would order just the CD's and see if that will get you to a point where you can format the drive already in the computer. If you are trying to access Disk Utilites from within the OS itself, you won't be able to format the main partition as it knows that is part of your OS. You'll have to boot from a CD and get into the Disk Utilities before being able to format the drive that way. If you have Lion or Mountain Lion installed on that computer, you should be able to press and hold Command + R while the computer is starting right after the chime and get into the OS X installer from there. If you have Snow Leopard or any other version of OS X before that, then you won't be able to do that and you'll need a CD.

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Answer 6

squirralien Author

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Oct 26, 2013 8:42 PM in response to ZintainUSA

Thanks I will let you know how I go once I get the CD,, I think it should be easy sailing with your info,

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Answer 7

squirralien Author

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Nov 4, 2013 3:07 PM in response to squirralien

Well Snow Leopard arrived yesterday so last night I started the process off by erasing the partician and in the window that I suspect also renamed the partician I called it the same thing Mac OS X Base system, thismorning it shows that basically the whole disk is free except for a few mb,,, time for the leopard,, start the process off and I select English as the main language, goes on and I accept conditions then go to select where to instal the OS and only one drive pops up which I expect and it is the Mac OS X Base System,, I clicked continue after selecting that disk and went to get up to come and write another thank you and an update to it all working and that last minute double check gives me the finger hahaha,,, then it tells me that Snow Leopard can not be started from this disk, aaahhhh,,, I guess I will go back and start again, might try naming the drive after erasing it again name it something different maybe OS X HDD or something similar incase base system is something I don't understand,,,

I hope something makes sense to someone,,, if that doesn't work I will consider spending more money and buying another HDD and crossing my fingers ????

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Answer 8

squirralien Author

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Nov 4, 2013 3:06 PM in response to squirralien

Just to add to my confusion, I have to select where to instal the OS X and when you select the only option it then says that OS X can not start up from this disk,, thats a reply as if you had to select the CD and you selected the HDD in my way of thinking but it does ask where to install it, the more I think about it the more I think calling it the Mac OS X Base System was the wrong thing to do,, maybe someone could let me know what I should call it or if it is to be anything but that

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Answer 9

squirralien Author

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Nov 9, 2013 6:53 AM in response to squirralien

Even after renaming the partician which I left it as Mac OS it still will not instal the Snow leopard on it, when I go to the instal bit this is the screen I get before even trying, the thing that confuses me is it says it can not start up from this disk, do they mean boot from there if it was installed ? it shows the disk is virtually empty, any further suggestions would be appreciated,,,

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Answer 10

squirralien Author

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Nov 12, 2013 3:44 AM in response to squirralien

This issue is officially CLOSED after installing a new HDD and everything went like clockwork,

thanks for the help

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