An Error occurred while installing OS X
I have been trying to re-install Mavericks on my 2011 MacBook Pro.
I am unable to continue the discussion begun yesterday. Here is a link to it: Re: "An error occurred while installing OS X"
Unfortunately Kappy's detailed suggestion did not work. I have received the message again, after following his instructions very precisely.
This is my original question:
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)
This is Kappy's response:
Kappy Sep 25, 2014 1:23 AM
Re: "An error occurred while installing OS X" 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.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), (at present after restoring system)
