Reinstall OSX from external dvdrom

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Hello,

I am not new to this forum, but I could not remember my old password, and was not sure which email I used. :)

My question is can I reinstall OSX from an external dvdrom. I have a intel duo core Mac Mini and the dvdrom went out a while back & I been meaning to get buy an external replacement.

My problem is I got the dreaded grey screen, circle with an line through it. I have done a reset SMU. And if I boot up holding the <option> key I can see my hard drive.

I have also, done a few other things I have read. This gave me an kernel error.

I think my hard drive is still ok, maybe corrupt?

I have a time machine backup on another external drive, so what I would like to do is start with a fresh install of OSX.

But, my dvdrom is bad! I have read some say you can install with external dvdrom, and others say no??

Thanks for any ideas or help.

Stuart
 
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G'day and welcome to the forums.

Connect up your external DVD, preferably by Firewire, however try USB2, and see if you can boot from your install disc and run Repair Disc before you do anything to see if the drive is actually okay. Rarely does OS X require a clean install.

You do have the install DVD?
 
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Yes, I have install cd.

I don't have an external DVD. Thus, why I am wanting to know if it will work. ;-)
I do not want to throw out the dough if it will not work! :)

So, are you saying it will work?

Thanks, Stuart
 
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Yes, I thought about buying an internal till I saw the price.
I don't want to put $250 in a DVD player, and then another $100 for a hard drive, if it's bad?
I would buy a new one before I put $350 into a machine that is 2 years old.
 
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I was thinking if I got an external for $90, in hopes the hard drive was ok.
That would be a affordable risk.
 
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Well give it a try and suggest finding a Mini users forum to ascertain if an external, USB2 or Firewire, is bootable. Problem with all slot loaders is they are not near as reliable as tray loaders alas.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2 Mini's (1.83(2GB ram/320GB HDD & 2.26 GHz 2GB ram/160GB HDD))
stuarts,

The 'stop' symbol usually indicates a problem with the kernel is having problems loading and is probably something software related.

When did the problem start? had you done any software updates (apple or any other company)?

Try holding down the shift key while it powers on, this will attempt to start the mini in safe mode. If this works it might be a problem with one of the KEXT files. Let's see what happens here, we will continue with more pd steps after you report back on what happens here.

Guess mods didn't like the link since it said something bad even though it didn't have anything to do with the subject.

Here is a cut n' paste of what that page contained:

Kext file is a kernel extension. They’re generally used for device drivers and other things that need to modify the system at the lowest level. They’re not the same as classic Mac OS extensions, as many of the things that classic Mac OS extensions did are done differently in Mac OS X.Since kernel extensions aren’t protected by Mac OS X’s memory protection, developers are encouraged to stay away from writing them unless they absolutely have to. Even then, Mac OS X can dynamically load them, so chances are you’d rarely have to add anything to Mac OS X’s Extensions folder.

What is KEXT?
KEXT stands for Kernel Extension, this means that whatever needs to run in the kernel (OS core) environment can be written as extension and then loaded, even after the OSX has finished loading, this mostly answer the needs for hardware drivers.

Where are kext located?
kext are not files rather a folder (disguised as a file),

Leopard holds kext files/folders in the /System/Library/Extensions folder,
at boot time the relevant kext are uploaded from Extensions.mkext this is a cachefolder that contains kext related to the installed hardware,

you can delete it, if Leopard can’t find it, it will create it again,


Mark
ACSP 10.5
 
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Let me first start by saying thanks for the help.

Ok, today I got the great idea to use my old laptop dvdrom I had laying around in my Mini. This works great, I just cant put the case back on! :)

With a good dvdrom I can now use my install disk to get to the disk utility. The problem is my drive shows up in the list on the left, but the partition where OSX is installed does not show up. :-(

Also, it will not let me erase the drive, I get a "resource busy" error.

As for safe mode. Nope will not go into safe mode. :-(

The problem started after I dropped a book on the mini. Sorry, I forgot to list that before. It shut down, and has not started back.

Do you think my hard drive is bad? Or could it be something else?

Thanks, Stuart
 
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Yes does not sound good for the hard drive and perhaps the impact has jarred something loose.
 
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Yes, I'm afraid your right. If I do t get any good ideas by morning I plan to go to bestbuy and buy a new drive.
I will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks, Stuart
 
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Ok, I bought a new drive and it is installing OSX now. :)

I do have a question. How should I go about restoring my time machine back-up? And how long should this take for 100 gig back-up?

Thanks, Stuart
 
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Cannot help sorry as do not like Time Machine, personally find SuperDuper simpler, faster and it is much easier to clone the drive to an external,. operating system and all. If you were using SuperDuper with a 100GB back up with a registered version of Smart Backup, about 45 minutes.
 
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Harry, No problem.

I found it under the installer / utilities / Restore system from Backup.

I also found a internal DVD drive for less than $100. A new DVD drive and a new 500gig hard drive and it should be like a new machine again. :)

Thanks for all your help.

Stuart
 

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