Macbook1181 new hardrive problem

f85pat · Mar 4, 2012

My aunt gave me a non-working computer and I replaced a hardrive on a 1181 macbook 13" and purchased a OS X pair of install discs.
Using an external cd/dvd player/writer the loadin screen comes up and I chose English.
It goes to Mac OS X installer page, $:\$ :Confused:

then to the agreement page and then to select a destination volume to install... but the area is blank?
Can anyone help me with this?

cwa107 · Mar 4, 2012

Assuming those are grey system discs, you may find that they don't work for that machine as they're often tailored to the machine they're sold with.

But it sounds like the new hard drive may just not be formatted. And if that's true, you can open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and format the drive. Then, it should show as an available option for setup.

f85pat · Mar 4, 2012

did that and it only shows the external writer?

f85pat · Mar 4, 2012

Does the hardrive need to have the apple logo on it?

cwa107 · Mar 4, 2012

f85pat said:
did that and it only shows the external writer?

Perhaps you chose the wrong format option, or you chose to partition the drive without setting the partition type to GUID.

Reference this article under "Formatting your drive for a Mac":

How To Reformat Your Drive | Seagate

cwa107 · Mar 4, 2012

f85pat said:
Does the hardrive need to have the apple logo on it?

No, it does not. Any healthy drive should do.

f85pat · Mar 4, 2012

Do I feel dumb. The rubber on one side where the HD slides in had come loose and bunched up at the end, not allowing the sata to seat completely. Am now loading in OS X, thanx for the help...Pat.