Can't reinstall Snow Leopard

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Level 1

8 points

Can't reinstall Snow Leopard

I have an iMac 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo running 10.6.8. I have recently been getting the spinning beach ball a lot. I ran "Verify Disk" and it said everything is OK. I ran the "Apple Hardware Test" and it said everything was OK. So I decided to reinstall 10.6.8. I used the Snow Leopard install disk and double-clicked on the install icon. It showed "about 59 minutes" for the install. At the " 49 minute" mark it just hangs and does nothing. Any ideas? Also any ideas on what might be causing the beachball a lot? It's a 2007 machine but the hard drive is only 4 years old.

Posted on Jul 12, 2014 1:14 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 12, 2014 1:47 PM in response to ecport

Did you prepare a bootable backup/clone of your existing system before embarking on this venture? If so, manually shut down the machine, restart it, holding down the OPTION key, and select the bootable backup/clone. If not, then manually shut down the machine and restart it. Hopefully, it will start up into its previous state.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), SL & ML, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

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Answer 2

ecport Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 12, 2014 2:03 PM in response to baltwo

Sorry, I should have added that I shut it down after the reinstall hangs and it starts up fine. I've tried the reinstall multiple times but I can't get past the "49 minute" mark before it hangs. Is there another method I should be trying to reinstall the OS?

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 12, 2014 2:20 PM in response to ecport

Thanks for clarifying. If you have a bootable backup/clone that you've ensured boots the machine, then you can try installing on it, vice the int HD. If you can't reinstall, then I suspect that the SL install disc might be faulty. You could call AppleCare and request a replacement disc. Alternatively, for the SBBOD stuff, see http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

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Answer 4

ecport Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 12, 2014 5:10 PM in response to baltwo

I went to the XLAB site you provided and as I read down thru it, all of the items listed for SBBOD happen on my machine. Before I originally upgraded the OS to 10.6.8, I upgraded the RAM to 3 gig. The first few months under SL everything worked fine, then SBBOD events started to happen. I took it to the MAC Store and they rebuilt the directory which seemed to correct the problems but in a few weeks it was back to the same. Now it is almost totally useless. The odd thing is my laptop which I am using to communicate to you on is now starting to act the same way. Any chance both machines are corrupted by something or is it just their age?

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 12, 2014 6:04 PM in response to ecport

Rebuilding the directory requires running something like DiskWarrior. Normally, not age, but corruption somewhere along the line.

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Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

684,063 points

Jul 13, 2014 9:02 AM in response to ecport

Do you have a backup you can restore from?

If so, you can try booting off the DVD, then use Disk Utility to Repair Disk and Repair Permissions. You can then erase and reformat the drive (Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Then try installing 10.6. Restart and use Setup Assistant to Recover your data.

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Answer 7

ecport Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 13, 2014 11:05 AM in response to Eric Root

Eric, I have a good backup of the drive. I've repaired permissions a number of times and the "Verify Disk" doesn't show any problems. If something (file, directory, etc) is corrupted, can I erase, reformat and then use Recover to restore the drive and would this correct the corrupted problem?

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Answer 8

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Jul 13, 2014 11:41 AM in response to ecport

ecport wrote:

Eric, I have a good backup of the drive. I've repaired permissions a number of times and the "Verify Disk" doesn't show any problems. If something (file, directory, etc) is corrupted, can I erase, reformat and then use Recover to restore the drive and would this correct the corrupted problem?

I don't think we are in a position to say it will fix it, but I can describe what happens when you reformat & restore…

Erasing the disk is best done in Disk Utility by deleting the partitions when booted from your backup (or install disk). Select the correct disk (disks have partitions indented below them). Select the 'Partition' tab, edit the layout and make at least one 'Macintosh OS extended (Journaled)' volume for the OS.

Applying that will erase the disk catalog & create a new on on each of the volumes.

Then you can use the 'Restore' tab to copy the backup data onto the new volume. Drop the backup partition into the Source field, and the destination is the new volume you just created. That will copy the files back into that volume.

Boot that and see if it is still unstable. It is entirely possible that the issues are due to some other piece of software (which has been restored from the backup).

P.S.

I'd avoid choosing OS X's 'reinstall' feature it will leave the user & application files in place & will not indicate if a 'clean OS' works on the Mac. I would erase the boot HD in Disk Utility and perform a clean install - at least you can see if the Mac is OK before migrating an data back onto it. If the disk is failing a clean OS is likely to also have issues.

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