Mac Mini ejects DVD Install Disc No Matter what

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Hi everybody,

I'm at my wits end here. I am trying to reinstall OS X Leopard (in addition to wiping and partitioning the HDD of course) in order to sell my old Mac Mini...specs are as follows:

Mac Mini A1176
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 GHz
OS X 10.5.8
2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 RAM
80 GB 5400x Hitachi HDD

Now, I checked that this DVD was not scratched and working properly. It was read and opened without a hitch on another mac with the same OS (not that that matters). Also, I inserted a CD and DVD into the SuperDrive and it read and played them flawlessly. So I know it isn't an issue with the Install DVD or the optical drive. I tried holding "option" at startup and the menu for where to boot from comes up. However, even if the disc is inserted during, before, or after the startup menu appears it is ejected. Please note: the disc is always in the drive for around a minute before being ejected and there is ALWAYS reading and loading sounds before it is ejected. It actually sounds extremely close to being read before it is ejected.

I also tried holding various keys at startup (I focused on "c" because it was recommended along with "option"). I can't find any more helpful advice online so I came here.

Any help is appreciated.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
Try running a cleaning disk in the slot loading drive. They tend to get dirty, and when dirty reads will fail (well, so will writes)
 
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Try running a cleaning disk in the slot loading drive. They tend to get dirty, and when dirty reads will fail (well, so will writes)

I'll give that a shot but I doubt it will do anything because the drive had no trouble reading DVDs,CDs,and another DVD-R without an OS on it

@gsahli: That doesn't help for my situation but it will be extremely helpful in the future..thanks. BTW I'm trying to install OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard (I lost my original install DVDs when I moved :\
 

RavingMac

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Your Mac's Specs
16Gb Mac Mini 2018, 15" MacBook Pro 2012 1 TB SSD
I'll give that a shot but I doubt it will do anything because the drive had no trouble reading DVDs,CDs,and another DVD-R without an OS on it

@gsahli: That doesn't help for my situation but it will be extremely helpful in the future..thanks. BTW I'm trying to install OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard (I lost my original install DVDs when I moved :\

Is the OS X 10.6 you are trying to install from the retail disk from the Apple Store, or did it come with a Mac?
 

RavingMac

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It's the Retail Disc

I'd have to go with an Optical Drive problem then, though it might be worth trying to see if you can clean the disk and try again.

You have the hardware specs and the white retail OS disk. It should install.
 
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Thanks a lot guys

It just needed to be cleaned. I guess optical drives can reject certain discs if they're dirty. The more ya know..
 

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