downgrade possible from 10.6.4 to 10.5.4???

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I have a license for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4. The user of this laptop had a license for 10.6.4 and proceeded to upgrade his laptop. Now he is gone and I would like to downgrade this to 10.5.4 to match the rest of the machines that the users are using.
However, the laptop sees the DVD but will not boot from it. From what I have read, Macs will not boot from a OS less than what it is currently using?
Any suggestions would be helpful. I just want a formatted hard drive and a clean install.
THANKS
~D
 

pigoo3

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It may depend on how old/new the laptop is. If the laptop never shipped with a version of OS 10.5...then that may explain why it won't boot from the CD/DVD.

A second reason may be that you have a "gray-colored" CD/DVD for OS 10.5. These gray disks are model specific. If this is not the disk that came with the laptop model that you are trying to downgrade...then that's the reason why it won't boot from it.

HTH,

- Nick
 
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It is not a gray disk. It was an actual upgrade disk ordered from Apple. this MacBook Pro is no more than 2 years old and if I am correct, no more than 12 months old.

If I find the "gray disk" that is associated with this specific machine, will it boot from it then?

I am in the process of organizing this mess so it is frustrating!

THANK YOU
~D
 

pigoo3

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It is not a gray disk. It was an actual upgrade disk ordered from Apple. this MacBook Pro is no more than 2 years old and if I am correct, no more than 12 months old.

If I find the "gray disk" that is associated with this specific machine, will it boot from it then?

I am in the process of organizing this mess so it is frustrating!

THANK YOU
~D

If this MBP is 12-18 months it probably shipped with either OS 10.5.4 or 10.5.7...if it's between 18-24 months old it may have shipped with OS 10.5.2.

If your 10.5 install disk is older (such as 10.5.0 or 10.5.1)...this could explain why it's not booting from the 10.5 disk you have.

As far as the gray disk for this MBP. If you can find it...it certainly should boot from it...and then that would also tell you what the minimum version of the Mac OS it can run.

HTH,

- Nick
 
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chas_m

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Other than your ocd desire to have it run the same version as other machines, what exactly is the big deal?

How will this machine running Snow Leopard affect the other machines, or your life in any material way?
 

dtravis7


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Other than your ocd desire to have it run the same version as other machines, what exactly is the big deal?

How will this machine running Snow Leopard affect the other machines, or your life in any material way?

That was the very question I was going to ask. Why downgrade? What about 10.6 is getting in the way? There is not that much Interface difference between 10.5 and 10.6.
 

pigoo3

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chas_m & dtravis7...it appears to me that the OP may be some sort of "administrator" of some kind of a bunch of Mac laptops (maybe a high school or something).

Maybe the OP would like all the laptops to be running the same OS version...to make things easier & consistent from a support standpoint. Maybe the previous user (a student)...upgraded this one laptop to 10.6...making it "inconsistent" with the rest the laptops the OP is managing.

Just a thought,:)

- Nick
 

pigoo3

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It is not a gray disk. It was an actual upgrade disk ordered from Apple.

Is this OS 10.5 Leopard disk a "full" install disk or a true "upgrade" disk?

Apple did distribute a 10.5 upgrade disk that required the computer to have OS 10.4 "Tiger" be present before the "upgrade" to 10.5 could take place. So if you're trying to "downgrade" a computer from 10.6 to 10.5 using a 10.5 "upgrade" disk...it won't work since the upgrade disk is looking for 10.4 on the hard drive.

I believe Apple actually called this a "Drop-In" Leopard (10.5) install disk.

Of course if your 10.5 disk is a full install disk...then that's a different matter.

- Nick
 
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chas_m

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chas_m & dtravis7...it appears to me that the OP may be some sort of "administrator" of some kind of a bunch of Mac laptops (maybe a high school or something).

Yes, maybe -- but I learned a long time ago that not making inferences and asking questions is the best way to engage the OP and get them to give you more solid information so you don't have to guess so much.
 

pigoo3

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Yes, maybe -- but I learned a long time ago that not making inferences and asking questions is the best way to engage the OP and get them to give you more solid information so you don't have to guess so much.

Of course I was just guessing at the OP's situation & motivations. It seemed like you & dtravis7 were a bit confused as to why the OP wanted to downgrade this one computer...so I was trying to offer a possible explanation (considering that the OP hasn't responded back with more info).

If I was managing 100 laptops for a bunch of (for example) high school students...and 99 of them had OS 10.5...and one had 10.6 on it...I think from a consistency & problem solving standpoint I would want the 100th laptop to have OS 10.5 on it as well.:)

- Nick
 
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Other than your ocd desire to have it run the same version as other machines, what exactly is the big deal?

How will this machine running Snow Leopard affect the other machines, or your life in any material way?

That was the very question I was going to ask. Why downgrade? What about 10.6 is getting in the way? There is not that much Interface difference between 10.5 and 10.6.

Why are we asking WHY he wants to downgrade to a earlier version ??
We are not here to question everyone that doesnt want the latest and greatest ...
Lets just try and answer the question the OP posted :)

Cheers
 
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I am also curious why the downgrade kinda like swapping steak for hamburger.
 
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Wow guys... I was out of office and look at all the discussion! By the way, this he is a SHE.
And yes, I work for a school and wanted everyone on the same OS for ease of support on myself. THANKS Nick :)
Anyways, as far as our IT team goes, no one wants to tackle our design side of the school, I do. I want to learn more about Mac's. And our Design school is all Mac's.
This laptop was an instructors and he upgraded it himself. The school does not have the license for the 10.6. I just wanted it all the same to make it easier on myself.
It really is NOT a big deal, but it is a learning experience on my side. So quit ripping on the new chic trying to learn! O:)
~D
 

dtravis7


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I was just curious and now I know. I hope your Mac is old enough to let you downgrade.

Can you give us the exact specs?
 
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SPECS:
MacBook PRO
2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
500GB Hard drive

OK. So this MacBook PRO currently has OS X 10.6.4
All my other machines (G5's) have OS X 10.5.6

The problem I am having - I insert the GRAY disc that came with the MacBook Pro and it will not boot off of it. I have even tried with an external USB CD/DVD reader and it still won't boot. It recognizes it when I press and hold C, but when I select the disc it just reboots over and over again.
(are the gray disc's machine specific as in serial # specific? because 3 of these were ordered at the same time and I just have one set of the gray disc's)

Same thing if I place the disc in when the computer is running. It says to hit RESTART to begin installation, but then it just reboots over and over.

I know this is a mess guys and I appreciate your help! Again, just trying to learn!
THANKS!
~D
 
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I got it. Well, it looks like I had the wrong Gray disk all along. In some cleaning and organizing of software, I have found the disk that goes to this laptop. Problem solved. Thanks guys. Expect future dumb posts/questions from me :)

~D
 

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