Clean install, Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer

Question

Clean install, Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer

I just bought a macbook pro, 17" dual core intel w/2 gigs RAM, 149GB hd space, firmware completely up to date, on an estate sale. Disk utility says the hd is fine.

Went through all the steps to erase/repartition the hard drive. 1 partition, GUID, extended w/journaling.

I have snow leopard family pack with one or two licenses remaining. Trying to do clean install, keep getting message, "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. Spoke with tech services, they confirmed that computer hardware is completely compatible with snow leopard.

I NEED HELP GETTING THIS THING UP AND RUNNING! Just trying to do a simple upgrade from OS X 10.4.11 that came on the notebook to snow leopard so I can do one or two more software updates.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6), Clean install failing

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 2:27 PM

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Answer 1

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patriotmacuser Author

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Jul 2, 2015 2:58 PM in response to patriotmacuser

PS - I zeroed out the partition as well.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,069 points

Jul 3, 2015 8:15 AM in response to patriotmacuser

Is the problem solved or not?

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Answer 3

Jul 3, 2015 12:15 PM in response to Eric Root

NO.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,069 points

Jul 4, 2015 7:35 AM in response to patriotmacuser

While booted off the DVD, have you tried running Disk Utility/Repair Disk until you get no errors? Also try running repair permissions.

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Answer 5

Jul 4, 2015 5:01 PM in response to Eric Root

Yes. Because the hard drive has been wiped, zeroed out, and repartitioned, there were no errors of any sort. Clean bill of health.

I am almost at a point of picking up a firewire cable, hooking up to my imac (running OS X Lion), and seeing if I can somehow get things started that way, although at this point I'm not holding my breath. I'm afraid a trip to the genius bar is coming up.

This was, according to Apple techs on the phone, supposed to be a simple operation. Follow the instructions to wipe the hard drive, then do a fresh install of SL.

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