13" MacBook with White Screen of Death

Ok. So I told a friend I'd help format and reinstall osx on his MacBook.

I have done this numerous times. Usually I make the machine to be refreshed into an exernal HDD and format and load osx from another machine.

I went to do that on the MacBook and then noticed it didn't have a firewire port. When I took the battery cover off I saw starting back at me the HDD with one screw to remove.

I'm thinking "great I have an esata to usb cable I'll just pull the drive and do what I normally do.

Format the drive, load OSX while still plugged into my iMac.Take the drive reinstall into the MacBook.

Power Up. Boom Apple tone and White Screen of death.

thew machine won't boot from the optical drive. can't go into diagnostic mode. Really can't get it to to anything. The white screen of death reboots after 1minute or so. I got it to go into slave mode a few times, but without a firewire port I'm lost. (thinking of ordering a firewire to ethernet adapter)

Now I will also say that I was loading 10.5 onto a machine that originally had 10.6. Not sure If i'm missing a step or firmware/drivers.

I know the HDD is good because I've pulled it a few times now and plugged into my iMac through USB.

I doubt its the logic board because the machine was working when he gave it to me. He just bought the machine and wanted to start from scratch.

I think it could maybe be the esata cable the MacBook has in it. $40- part no biggy but I'm really not sure.

If he just bought the machine he should have the original Snow Leopard DVD set. Use that to erase the hard drive and start over with a fresh install.

Why install Leopard? And why do you need a FW port? Also, there is no need to remove the hard drive.

Hate to ask such pointed questions, but it seems like you're making things a lot harder than need be. Just boot the machine with the Snow Leopard DVD or even the Leopard DVD and install OS X.

Regards.

I've always use the target disc mode (holding f when you boot) to turn the drive into an external hdd. Then load the os and other software through it. When I saw there was no firewire port on the macbook and saw how simple it was to pull the drive. I just new I could use my sata to usb cable.

My buddy doesn't have the rocovery disk as he bought the computer used (great).

So I had a copy of 10.5 figured I could start there but no dice. I've formatted and now the macbook won't even boot off of the cd or do anything other than give me the white screen of death.

I'm going to try loading 10.6 onto the drive and maybe it has the drivers need to jumpstart the bootup.

fingers crossed.

anyone know of a source that has recovery disks or their images?

It's easier to purchase a copy of Snow Leopard. The upgrade version is only $29.99, however, since he bought the machine used and has no disks, he will most likely need the full boxed set version which includes iLife 09. Currently the full boxed set is $169.00 from the Apple store. It may be possible to buy an original recovery set of Snow Leopard DVDs from Apple. Give their customer service a call - include the model, year, and SN of the machine and ask for an original install - recovery set.

Regards.

I thought of loading 10.5 then upgrading it to 10.6 while tethered. Not sure how different that is from the full version. I've even seen websites that sell the recovery disks for $40-.

what to do what to do

You can not load 10.5 Leopard on his machine if that's your copy. If it's a retail Leopard version that belongs to him, that's fine. But it sounds like you're thinking about loading a copy of Leopard that's licensed to you. That is against the Apple EULA and it probably won't work anyway since your copy may be machine specific.

Do the right thing for your friend. Just tell him he needs to purchase a copy of Snow Leopard and follow the advice I gave you in the previous reply.

Regards.