02-07-2012, 02:46 PM

hi, i'm having similar problems with my iMac (i7, late 2010). Occasionally, I need to run Snow Leopard or Leopard. Have lots of external drives, two opticals.
SL Install DVD does NOT boot in any optical drive. No way: press C, press Alt, NVRAM, PRAM.

Found an old 40 GB drive out of my PowerMac, containing 10.5.8.
Connect, select as start volume, boot => Halfway (system hangs after half a boot).
Re-try => system boots.

Now (3 days later) again no boot.

Currently cloning said 10.5.8 drive, to have a backup.

Will post results, if any.

Best, Felix

02-12-2012, 10:22 AM

Guys, has there been any success with this?

I have a Mini, couple years old, and recently installed Liar...sorry, Lion. It totally sucks and im starting to hate wild cats.

Other forum suggested to wipe the drive clean and reinstall SL. But, like everyone else here, I cant seem to boot from the SL disc either with hold C or holding Option.

I get the message "you need to restart your computer...blablabla." grey screen of death.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, i've been preping for this downgrade for over a week.

BTW, I called Apple and asked for a refund because Lion sucks so much and it took away Front Row which is a deal breaker for my media center setup. Anyways, I got the refund and you should too!

02-12-2012, 10:40 AM

You should be able to boot from your Snow Leopard DVD provided it's the correct one for the Mini. Try doing a PRAM reset first, then see if it will boot.

To reset your computer’s PRAM:
Shut down the computer.

Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

Turn on the computer.

Immediately press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

Release the keys.

Let us know if that works.

02-12-2012, 10:57 AM

Sorry to hear that your Lion experience has been less than stellar. While Lion did break Front Row there was a fix posted quickly Get Front Row for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. That discussion includes a link to a discussion of Plex as an alternative.

I know this may not help you / change your mind but perhaps it will be useful for those whose only gripe is loss of Front Row.

02-13-2012, 08:44 AM

Ok, I had success. I was trying to reinstall SL with a copy I purchased but it never worked. I then found a set of discs that came with my Mini, which was SL but the disks looked different.

Anyways, I used the discs that came with my machine and everything went well, I was able to boot to the disc, format the drive and reinstall SL!

Im so happy to have SL back, Lion was a train wreck for me.




ps. now that I know only the discs that came with our computers will work for a recovery I highly recommend making duplicates since they will be impossible to find replacements incase of damage.

05-03-2012, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by oceandigital

Ok, I had success. I was trying to reinstall SL with a copy I purchased but it never worked. I then found a set of discs that came with my Mini, which was SL but the disks looked different.

Anyways, I used the discs that came with my machine and everything went well, I was able to boot to the disc, format the drive and reinstall SL!

Im so happy to have SL back, Lion was a train wreck for me.




ps. now that I know only the discs that came with our computers will work for a recovery I highly recommend making duplicates since they will be impossible to find replacements incase of damage.

Actually, you can order your machine-specific recovery discs for any Mac that was released with SL or below (they don't make them for Lion) directly from Apple. I believe it was $16.00 +tax per disk the last time I ordered a set. Just call Apple and after they give you the Applecare spiel, just tell them you need to order recovery disks and they'll pass you off to sales.