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User profile for user: Robin Curtis1
Robin Curtis1 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

"An error occurred while installing OS X"

After a freeze for no apparent reason last week we were unable to move beyond the grey start up screen.


I am working with a MacBook Pro 13 inch mid 2011 (with a cd-drive, shipped with snow leopard).


It had been running Mavericks for some time prior to that after an interim upgrade to Mountain Lion and then to Mavericks, once that became available.


Now I am also getting the error message regarding the unavailability of recovery mode on the hard drive.


It is not possible to download that in the recovery version that I am able to load from the cd-rom (snow leopard). I have completed the updates available for snow leopard.


I have erased/reformatted the hard drive. There is nothing I need to save on the laptop. This can be a clean install.


I can neither install mountain lion nor mavericks: I receive the same error message either way - due to the lack of a recovery.


I have tried starting in safe mode, doing an internet installation, installing from an external hard drive... Nothing has been successful.

At present I am running a Disk Permissions verification in safe mode and am fixing the permissions.

I have reset the PRAM, reset the SMC/PMU, repaired the boot volume.


Any suggestions? I am pretty much at wit's end.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), (at present after restoring system)

Posted on Sep 25, 2014 1:18 AM

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7 replies
User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Sep 25, 2014 1:23 AM in response to Robin Curtis1

Clean Install of Snow Leopard


1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.


2. 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.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.


3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.


4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same

username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup

Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh

install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software

Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.


Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Sign into the App Store, click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar, re-download Mavericks.

If for some reason you are unable to reinstall Snow Leopard, then you may well have a failed hard drive.

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User profile for user: clintonfrombirmingham
clintonfrombirmingham
User level: Level 7
30,100 points

Sep 25, 2014 1:24 AM in response to Robin Curtis1

If you still have the discs that your Mac shipped with, you can try booting from Disc One, formatting the drive with Disk Utility and then installing SL as the OS.


Or you could try Internet Recovery, booting from Apple servers, by holding down the command, option and R keys whilst booting. This will take much longer.


But either choose is an option that you can at least attempt.


Clinton


MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X 10.??, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

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User profile for user: Robin Curtis1
Robin Curtis1 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Sep 25, 2014 1:59 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Hi all,

thanks for these very quick responses.


Indeed I had already used the original CD-rom provided to boot and restore the original system and am working from Snow Leopard at the moment, as I mentioned.


I have just now tried to re-install Mavericks, since writing my original posting (and since having fixed the disc permissions).


I just got the message: "Install Failed: OS X could not be installed on the the disk Macintosh HD, because a recovery system can't be created."


I will try going back to the beginning with your detailed description, Kappy, and paying attention to the issues around user name and password, since i am not sure I used the identical original ones when re-installing Snow Leopard these last few times in the last days. I'll let you know what happens!

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"An error occurred while installing OS X"

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