Erased my OS X lion by mistake when wiping the Macs memory.

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Erased my OS X lion by mistake when wiping the Macs memory.

I decided to make clean slate with my Mac Book Pro (mid 2009), and I erased the O SX by mistake! How do I repair my blunder?

I know that I had the lion OS X installed, and the mac I have does only ONE GB of RAM (Yes it should be impossible),

When started, my computer gets to a menu with 4 decisions.

1. Restore from Time Machine Backup; I have none

2. Reinstall Mac OS X "Mac OS X 10.7 requires at least 2 GB of memory"

3. Get Help Online Here I am at the present

4. Disk Utility I have attempted to solve the problem plenty of times by my own research about similar cases, but mine seems unique, and thus I haven't managed to solve it.

I know that I used a flash drive to upgrade to Mac OS X lion, back in the days when it was launched, and I couldn't find the drive, but I did manage to find the actual file that I used to do it, and I made a new flash drive, but although I know I did everything as described on the community, it reverts me to the part where the computer needs 2 GB of memory.

I ask myself, "how can this be possible, when both me, my sister, my mother, and my brother all have older macs with 1 GB of memory, and all used the previous flash drive to upgrade to lion, and no here I am, not capable of installing an OS X that already existed on my computer before I wiped its memory."

And the best part, I am a college student that just received a assignment involving a lot of writing, I decided to make my computer a little bit crisp, and here I am, feeling as if I decided to chop of all my fingers...

Please apple community, is there anyway of reverting this to its previous glory, or otherwise install an older OS X?

Since I'm a student I'm on a meagre budget and can't afford buying services and components, to bring my faithful companion back from the dead.

I'm all yours.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009), Used to have OS X lion

Posted on Sep 3, 2015 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Sep 3, 2015 2:49 PM in response to Heimdahl

You will probably have to use whatever method you used previously for getting Lion on there, particularly since you were somehow working around the RAM requirements.

Usually when Apple says "minimum" RAM they really mean it. You can perhaps type a term paper in a simple text editor but trying to do anything more will be painfully slow. RAM upgrades are relatively inexpensive these days and you could likely take your computer to at least double that for $30-$40.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 3, 2015 2:46 PM in response to Heimdahl

You never had Lion installed on a computer with only 1GB of RAM since the version requires at least 2 GBs. In your case you need to reinstall your original OS X that came on the software restore discs that were included with the computer when it was new. Or, install a retail version of Snow Leopard. If you do not have a Snow Leopard installer DVD then you can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store:Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order. After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8.

If you have proper installer discs, then do the following:

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. 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.

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Sep 3, 2015 2:52 PM in response to Kappy

Kappy wrote:

You never had Lion installed on a computer with only 1GB of RAM since the version requires at least 2 GBs.

Uh, with about 30 seconds of searching on the web I found at least 2 ways of getting a computer to have Lion on it and 1GB RAM, but I would strongly recommend against it. Even Snow Leopard is happier with at least 2GB RAM.

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Answer 4

Heimdahl Author

Level 1

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Sep 3, 2015 3:11 PM in response to Limnos

That's what I have been trying to do, but to no avail, I believe that I was able to pull it off since I already had an OS X installed, but now when I have none, it is impossible, and thus I need to install the OS X that came with the computer, that sadly, is half a world away....

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Answer 5

Heimdahl Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2015 3:12 PM in response to Kappy

I will try to attain my original disks, although I am very unsure about if they are still at my parents house, since they usually clean out anything that has been laying still to long.

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Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 3, 2015 3:49 PM in response to Limnos

Yes, I'm aware of them. I would prefer they be ignored. Such hacks are nothing but trouble.

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Answer 7

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 3, 2015 3:53 PM in response to Heimdahl

You can buy a copy of Snow Leopard from Apple. Order it from this link. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

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Answer 8

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 3, 2015 4:00 PM in response to Csound1

Hey. Already provided the link in my initial reply.

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Answer 9

Heimdahl Author

Level 1

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Sep 3, 2015 4:02 PM in response to Heimdahl

After some more attempts to resolve this I now have on start up, a flashing folder with a question mark in it..... what does this mean?
My friend believe that she has a friend with a snow leopard disk, would that one work as boot disk for mine?

I think that I read somewhere that I can boot from a disk if I hold cmd - c during start up, is this true?

Thanks for your quick replies!

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 3, 2015 4:10 PM in response to Kappy

Mine's nicer 🙂

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Answer 11

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 3, 2015 4:15 PM in response to Csound1

But, I'm nicer. 😀

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Answer 12

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Sep 3, 2015 5:47 PM in response to Heimdahl

Flashing ? = cannot find boot system (because you deleted it).

Check your exact model Mac and the original system version supplied with it on the everymac.com web site. If it came with Snow Leopard and your friend has a retail version disc (white I believe) it may not work. If your friend has a gray colored disc supplied with your friend's computer it will only work if your s is an identical model. Non-retail discs are supplied for specific computers, not general use.

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