Snow Leopard Install Failed on my MacBook Pro - How I fixed it!

Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
4
Reaction score
4
Points
3
I powered up my Apple 17” MacBook Pro with Mac OSX10.5.8, installed the Snow Leopard disk and started the install. I answered the licensing agreement and pressed continue. At this point I walked away for a few minutes to let the install continue. I returned a few minutes later to a completely black screen! What is this? Oddly my AC power light was RED but other than there were no signs of life.

I Pressed the power button – nothing. Hmmm…held down the power button for a long time (6-8 sec) and I got the machine to boot. The Apple logo showed on a gray screen with the small circular progress circle. After 10 secs the machine turned off! I tried this again several times with the same results. I then held down the power key while holding the option key and got the icon for the hard drive with EFI boot and the DVD boot icon. I tried the EFI boot option and got the same results. The machine just keep turning off. I repeated this method and selected the DVD boot option…same thing.

At this point I was seriously regretting installing a brand new OS on MacBook Pro and I set the machine aside so I could come back later with a solution. Meanwhile I search the internet for anyone else with this problem. I could not find any posts related to my problem.

An hour later, I went back to my machine to try again. I noticed the laptop was very warm. Very odd considering it was off….or so I thought! It was actually on but there was no LCD backlight! I got out a flashlight so I could see what was on the screen and what do you know?...the Install screen was there. The Power light was still RED not GREEN. I used the flashlight to finish the install. When it finally rebooted, the LCD turned back on and my upgrade was complete: data & apps in tact! There is obviously a problem on some Mac laptops where the proper video driver is not working during the install process.

I hope this helps anyone with a similar problem.
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Great of you to come post this merlin!!
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Nice job figuring things out...using the flashlight.

Sounds like it was some sort of screen brightness issue...I'm curious...did you try using the screen illumination keys on the keyboard to increase brightness before using the flashlight?

Glad to hear the install went well...after initially seeming like it was going to be a nightmare!;D

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
4
Reaction score
4
Points
3
Yes , I tried increasing the brightness but nothing I did would get the LCD to illuminate. Very odd!
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Yes , I tried increasing the brightness but nothing I did would get the LCD to illuminate. Very odd!

Thanks for confirming! Is everything working normally now relating to screen illumination (can adjust using the keys)?

Thanks,

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
4
Reaction score
4
Points
3
Yes, everything seems normal now all function keys including illumination...even the bug Adobe CS3 scare seems invalid. Things in the suite seem to work fine. I had a full backup and a mirrored 2.5 drive just in case. I have not run VMware Fusion yet but all other apps seems to be working (at least with a cursory overview). I highly recommend a full backup before attempting a 10.6 upgrade!
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
MacBook Pro Snow Leopard Upgrade --- Black Screen - No LCD Backlight

I experienced the exact same issue on a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro.... computer seemed on...but I looked at a seemingly black screen (brightness buttons had NO affect) ..worried that the computer had gone into sleep mode. I then realized that there was a dim install screen image waiting for me to click "Continue" on closer examination by putting the screen under a bright direct light...obviously the backlight on the lcd was not functioning but the computer was on and waiting for my input...it took quite a bit to find the mouse under the no light circumstances..but I did..hit "continue" and the install progressed. On final reboot of the install the Snow Leopard home screen came up (although it was very dim..this time I could adjust the light brightness button and it worked) and I had upgraded successfully and have no problem since.

I powered up my Apple 17” MacBook Pro with Mac OSX10.5.8, installed the Snow Leopard disk and started the install. I answered the licensing agreement and pressed continue. At this point I walked away for a few minutes to let the install continue. I returned a few minutes later to a completely black screen! What is this? Oddly my AC power light was RED but other than there were no signs of life.

I Pressed the power button – nothing. Hmmm…held down the power button for a long time (6-8 sec) and I got the machine to boot. The Apple logo showed on a gray screen with the small circular progress circle. After 10 secs the machine turned off! I tried this again several times with the same results. I then held down the power key while holding the option key and got the icon for the hard drive with EFI boot and the DVD boot icon. I tried the EFI boot option and got the same results. The machine just keep turning off. I repeated this method and selected the DVD boot option…same thing.

At this point I was seriously regretting installing a brand new OS on MacBook Pro and I set the machine aside so I could come back later with a solution. Meanwhile I search the internet for anyone else with this problem. I could not find any posts related to my problem.

An hour later, I went back to my machine to try again. I noticed the laptop was very warm. Very odd considering it was off….or so I thought! It was actually on but there was no LCD backlight! I got out a flashlight so I could see what was on the screen and what do you know?...the Install screen was there. The Power light was still RED not GREEN. I used the flashlight to finish the install. When it finally rebooted, the LCD turned back on and my upgrade was complete: data & apps in tact! There is obviously a problem on some Mac laptops where the proper video driver is not working during the install process.

I hope this helps anyone with a similar problem.
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
i tried this with my problem and it does not seem to work on my machine, unfortunately. still have a ways to go before my meeting. cleaver though!
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks Merlin !!!

Yes, everything seems normal now all function keys including illumination...even the bug Adobe CS3 scare seems invalid. Things in the suite seem to work fine. I had a full backup and a mirrored 2.5 drive just in case. I have not run VMware Fusion yet but all other apps seems to be working (at least with a cursory overview). I highly recommend a full backup before attempting a 10.6 upgrade!


Thanks Merlin !!! I was stuck with this issue for the past 6 hours...
I knew the machine is still working (based on the DVD sound), but didn't think about a flashlight...

Well done man.
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
wow..

I just tried to upgrade my Macbook Pro's OS and has the same result. But I did not think to use a flashlight, i restarted my computer as it has become unresponsive.

This should be in bold on the box. Or the OS should be shipped with a flashlight. I guess thats what people get for installing a .0 OS. We are the guinea pigs..
 
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Tampa, FL
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro
Ok I had a similar problem. I have a brand spankin' new MacBook Pro (13-inch, core 2 duo, aluminum) that I bought about 3 weeks ago. The only things I've installed on it are Adobe Reader and Xcode. I intentionally did not install a bunch of stuff, because I knew I was going to upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as soon as it came out. Well I got my installer DVD today, I booted up and inserted the disc. The installer seemed to start fine. After about 5 minutes into the install, it rebooted the machine. It showed the Apple logo and spinning circle thingy for about a minute (what it normally shows at bootup). Then, suddenly, the screen went totally blank. I could hear the DVD drive making some noises every couple of minutes, so I just waited patiently, and did NOT hit the power button or anything. However, after about 20 or 30 minutes, I could not hear anything, so I hit the space bar several times. I wonder if hitting the space bar effectively clicked the OK/Proceed button (that I couldn't see, due to the blank screen), because a minute later I heard the CD/DVD drive spinning again, and a couple minutes later it rebooted the machine again. This time the screen was not blank, and it started up and showed some video/animation with music, obviously something on the install disc.

I really hate to do something major like upgrade an Operating System, and NOT receive some kind of positive acknowledgement or feedback indicating that it completed successfully. Call me insecure, but I would very much prefer to see a big green checkmark, with a message that says "Installation completed successfully!" Did Apple not test this upgrade on the new MacBook Pro's? How can I be sure that everything got installed/upgraded properly? I go to "About the Finder" and it shows 10.6 -- but then, that's just the Finder version... This is a bit disconcerting. I am thinking about doing a complete re-install. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
if you open up terminal and issue the following command it will show you what version you are running.

sw_vers -productVersion

output as follows.
mikeMbp:~ mike$ sw_vers -productVersion
10.6

clicking on the Apple then "About This Mac" provides the same information.
 
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
147
Reaction score
5
Points
18
Location
Cape Cod
Your Mac's Specs
2005 G4 Mini & 2014 Mini & 2020 M1 Mini
I have a first generation macbook and just installed snow leopard from tiger yesterday and had no issues at all. I could see the progress bar the whole time. I did put the disk in first then turned my mac off and booted up and installed from the dvd.
 
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
this also happened to my upgrade of snow. i have a first generation intel macbook pro. just like merlin i followed the snow upgrade and everything seemed to be ok the screen went black but i thought thats ok to save the screen from being on for so long. but things seem to stop at some point and the installation stopped. i wasnt sure if im having a hardware issue or the install just got stuck on something.

reading the above post helped a lot thanks for posting. tonight i used a flashlight to see whats going on and it turned out that the installation did complete ok but the install failed to turn the brightness levels up so i couldnt see it was stopped on the login screen...

anyway i took these iphone shots so everyone could see this can happen and its not a big deal just login and turn up your brightness.
btw to select my login user in that dark screen i just typed the first character of my name and pressed enter...

1- snow when it started for the first time was completely dark
http://www.austinphotonet.com/arc/other/snow/snow_1.jpg

2- after i look with the flashlight i see the login screen.
http://www.austinphotonet.com/arc/other/snow/snow_2.jpg

3- after login i turned the brightness up and everything just fine
http://www.austinphotonet.com/arc/other/snow/snow_3.jpg


thanks again for the top post it helped me move on and complete the install
 
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Whoo Hoo! At long last. Finally finished the installation. Same problem with my MBPro. Screen went blank until I accidentally shone my desk lamp on to the screen and found there was something there. Had tried 3 installations of Leopard to try and get it back and got nowhere. **** of a job finding the mouse in the dark but finally got there. I was just about to chuck it off the balcony. :Shouting:
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Not sure if i'm posting correctly to the site but, to resolve the install issue when your screen goes black and the multimedia disc player is still running just reboot and hold after the first start up chime the "P, R, command and options key" to reset the RAM. while holding those keys down you will here another start up chime then you can let the keys lose and it will start to the "Install" page where you can continue. Hope this helps those who are new to the problem and don't have a flashlight handy ;) ..
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks! This happened to me literally a second ago, googled it, found this, got out the flashlight, waited for the the install to stop, restarted and I CAN SEE AGAIN!
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I have had the same problem after the installation with my screen going black from time to time. It just seems to happen arbitrarily.

The fix: Plug the DVI dongle in, wait for the screen to turn back on, then unplug it.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
58
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Bremm (Mosel), Germany
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro (late 2011) Latest 10.12.5, 2,4 Ghz, Intel Core i7, RAM 16G GB 1333 MHz 1TB SATA Dis
Snow Leopard won't install

You would think with a name like Snow Leopard it would be beautiful and pure but it seems to be quite the opposite!!!! :(

My installation started like Marlin's below (mine is a white MacBook 3.1, Intel Core 2 Duo, OS X 10.5.8) starts off with an installation time of 55 mins and when it gets to 47 mins it reboots and am back to square one again at the beginning of the installation screen. I have tried to install at least five times but get no further than the first 8 mins. The installation went smoothly on my iMac, although there are some issues but I'm concerned with the MacBook. What now.... any ideas please?


I powered up my Apple 17” MacBook Pro with Mac OSX10.5.8, installed the Snow Leopard disk and started the install. I answered the licensing agreement and pressed continue. At this point I walked away for a few minutes to let the install continue. I returned a few minutes later to a completely black screen! What is this? Oddly my AC power light was RED but other than there were no signs of life.

I Pressed the power button – nothing. Hmmm…held down the power button for a long time (6-8 sec) and I got the machine to boot. The Apple logo showed on a gray screen with the small circular progress circle. After 10 secs the machine turned off! I tried this again several times with the same results. I then held down the power key while holding the option key and ...

At this point I was seriously regretting installing a brand new OS on MacBook Pro and I set the machine aside so I could come back later with a solution. Meanwhile I search the internet for anyone else with this problem. I could not find any posts related to my problem.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top