02-22-2011, 09:09 PM

Hi there.
I have tried several different methods but can't succeed.
I have a macbook c2d 2.4 4gb ddr3 nvidia 320m.
Everything was working fine, i had Snow Leopard installed plus windows 7 via bootcamp. I wanted to reinstall Snow Leopard from the retail disc, because I wanted a fresh new install. My problem is that there is no way of booting from the gray dvd that came with my macbook, it starts to load and then it gives me Kernel Panic, saying that i have to power of the system by pressing and holding the power button.
I already checked the hd for problems with apple key + s and also reseted the memory with the other combination (apple key + option and stuff...). The problem persists. Tried with another copy of my dvd (10.6.3) and same happened, tried with a copy of 10.6 and again the same.
I tried installing a fresh copy of Windows 7, and surprisingly, it installed without any problems.
Is there any known issue that could be causing that i can't get the snow leopard dvd to boot? I can not even get to the language menu selection, again, it gives me kernel panic with that message of power off the system after reading the install disc for a minute or so.
If you could give me some clue, i would be really grateful. I really want to install Snow Leopard on my mac.
Regards!

02-22-2011, 10:21 PM

kernel panics are usually hardware related.

Resolving Kernel Panics

try unplugging anything in external inputs (usb firewire etc)

02-23-2011, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by robduckyworth

kernel panics are usually hardware related.

Resolving Kernel Panics

try unplugging anything in external inputs (usb firewire etc)

I opened it up, and tried swapping the memory modules (2x2gb), tried one at a time, and problem persist. I also unplugged the hdd, but nothing new happened.
No other hardware is connected, and i still get the kernel panic when i try to load the snow leopard installation dvd. however, windows 7 installs just fine.
Is there any other thing I can do? Regards.

02-23-2011, 10:14 AM

what happens when you hold down just option at startup with the OS disc inside?

02-23-2011, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by robduckyworth

what happens when you hold down just option at startup with the OS disc inside?

It gives me the option to boot from the install DVD. Then it starts to read the disc for a minute or so, and then kernel panic.

02-23-2011, 12:17 PM

Everything was working fine, i had Snow Leopard installed plus windows 7 via bootcamp. I wanted to reinstall Snow Leopard from the retail disc, because I wanted a fresh new install.

If everything was working fine, why did you want a fresh new install? If something is working right and isn't broken, why attempt to fix it?

Tried with another copy of my dvd (10.6.3) and same happened, tried with a copy of 10.6 and again the same.

I don't understand this. How many copies of Snow Leopard do you have? The gray SL DVD that came with your machine is specific for that machine. In order to reinstall SL with it, you first must erase the hard drive, re-format, and then install.

Anyway, first make sure you're using the correct DVD to boot your machine. If Windows 7 could be installed, then you know the disk drive and the hard drive are OK. That leaves the Snow Leopard DVD. It almost sounds like you're trying to boot the machine with a version of Snow Leopard that is not for that machine.

02-23-2011, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

If everything was working fine, why did you want a fresh new install? If something is working right and isn't broken, why attempt to fix it?



I don't understand this. How many copies of Snow Leopard do you have? The gray SL DVD that came with your machine is specific for that machine. In order to reinstall SL with it, you first must erase the hard drive, re-format, and then install.

Anyway, first make sure you're using the correct DVD to boot your machine. If Windows 7 could be installed, then you know the disk drive and the hard drive are OK. That leaves the Snow Leopard DVD. It almost sounds like you're trying to boot the machine with a version of Snow Leopard that is not for that machine.

I have the dvd of 10.6.3 that came with my macbook, a copy on a dvd dl that i made of this just in case the original disc cant be used for any reason.
I also have a 10.6 dvd from another mac, didn't know you have to use the dvd that came with your mac. anyway, that's the one im using right now, but i can't erase the hard drive because i can't get into that screen, the kernel panic happens before the language selection menu that appears when you boot from the dvd. the kernel panic that im talking about is the one of a gray screen with a message in different languages, telling that you have to power off the system by holding the power button down.

02-23-2011, 12:40 PM

I also have a 10.6 dvd from another mac, didn't know you have to use the dvd that came with your mac. anyway, that's the one im using right now, but i can't erase the hard drive because i can't get into that screen, the kernel panic happens before the language selection menu that appears when you boot from the dvd. the kernel panic that im talking about is the one of a gray screen with a message in different languages, telling that you have to power off the system by holding the power button down.

Try this: Boot with the correct DVD but don't allow the installation to proceed; instead click on the top menu "Utilities", then click on "Disk Utility". Can you get to that? Let us know and we'll go from there.

02-23-2011, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Try this: Boot with the correct DVD but don't allow the installation to proceed; instead click on the top menu "Utilities", then click on "Disk Utility". Can you get to that? Let us know and we'll go from there.

I just figured out, i'm not using the dvd that came with my mac. A friend of mine took it by mistake, and left me his.... as i said, didn't know you have to use the specific dvd that comes with you apple computer. So, if i happen to lost that dvd, i will not be able to reinstall OSX never again? How about the OSX dvds that the macstores sell? Can those be used in every mac? Regards.

02-23-2011, 01:57 PM

OK, that makes sense now. Not a problem.... just go to the nearest Best Buy or Apple Store and buy a retail upgrade copy of Snow Leopard for $29 and use that. It will work. Let us know if you have any more difficulties and again, there is no reason to be reinstalling the operating system if everything is working OK.

As an alternative, you can call Apple Customer support and ask them to send you a replacement set of DVDs for your model computer. It will probably cost around $20. The replacement set is better because it also contains iLife.

02-23-2011, 05:04 PM

Glad I found this thread. I am having the exact same problem, but I'm sure I'm using the original Mac install DVD that came with my MBP.

I am having some disk issues and ran Disk Utility, which said that I had errors and needed to boot from the install DVD and run Disk Utility to repair.

I can boot holding Option and choose to boot from the DVD. When I do, the DVD spins and few moments later I get the same kernel panic as the original poster.

I can boot normally from the HD and the DVD loads properly, gets launched by Finder, etc. when I do. So I know the DVD and the drive are good. I just get the panic when trying to boot from the DVD.

I'm at a loss for why I can't boot from this DVD. My end goal is to run Disk Utility from a source other than my HD so that I can repair my HD disk. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

07-20-2011, 02:05 PM

hey, i have almost the same situation lol,
So i just bought a mac from a friend, checked it out had SL on it so just for fun and to check mac out for the first time, i upgraded it to Lion, (cause i wanted to format it anyway). So everything went well, but it kinda suck so i want to go back to SL.
Now im stuck lol, i want to format it with a SL orginal DVD but, somehow i always get an error when im trying to boot from that DVD, telling me that my computer needs a reboot, so a continuous loop. It's some sort of kernel pannick after some google.
So i can't boot from an external drive and i already erased the Mac HD drive, so everything is gone exept the recovery HD.

I think if i remove that partition i can boot from my DVD, cause some say lion OS makes it impossible to install SL.
So is there some way (USB bootable software or something)to format the whole drive, without the original SL DVD? Something like partition magic for windows lol :p

Thanks!