Upgrade Crisis

Greetings,

Have a MacBook Pro bought new circa 2008...last year bought and upgraded to SnowLeopardo.... no problem with the installation ...The next day i found out the it did not recognize my HP printer ( via BlueTooth)..decided to revert back to 10.5.. did a clean install and went back to the original software...*** Flash forward to yesterday...Tried to reinstall 10.6 ...went through the install and at the end I got a screen that said "Install failed"...ejected the SnowLeop. disk and restarted ...took a long time and then got a blank screen with a flashing folder with a question mark... What can I do to either get back to where it was before the install or actually accomplish the upgrade to 10.6 ???

Any suggestions would be tremendously helpful!

Sounds like your most recent OS install did not finish...that's why you got the flashing "?" icon.

You said 10.6 wasn't a good upgrade for you before (HP printer problems)...then you reverted to 10.5...and 10.5 would run fine. Why did you try to upgrade to 10.6 again?

Just to be sure...what sort of disk are you using to upgrade to 10.6? Is it a grey colored disk...or the "whitish" one with a Snow Leopard on it?

As far as getting back to where you were before...I assume you were running 10.5. So you would have to get your OS 10.5 install disk...and do a 10.5 install. Or try using your 10.6 disk again.

Finally...are there files or applications on this hard drive that you are afraid of losing (hopefully you have a backup)...or could you reformat it if you wanted to?

- Nick

What kind of SL disk are you using and how are you trying to reinstall Snow Leopard? If you have the Snow Leopard upgrade DVD, it should install itself over Leopard and carry forward any settings and programs that are compatible. Otherwise, you can do a clean install with the SL DVD by first erasing the drive.

Make sure you have a good Time Machine backup if you use the clean install method as that will allow you to restore during the installation.

Thanks Nick, Needed to get to 10.6 in order to upgrade iTunes in order to use my new iPhone.

The disk is the white-ish one ...

TimBuk2 said:

Thanks Nick, Needed to get to 10.6 in order to upgrade iTunes in order to use my new iPhone.

The disk is the white-ish one ...

Click to expand...

Is the disk dirty or damaged?

- Nick

Thanks, chscag... Installing from a DVD directly onto the laptop...Problem right now is that when i start up the computer all I get is the gray screen with the flashing question mark folder... What do I need to do to revert back to the normal start-up screen and then either re-try the 10.6 or just get back to 10.5....

TimBuk2 said:

Thanks, chscag... Installing from a DVD directly onto the laptop...Problem right now is that when i start up the computer all I get is the gray screen with the flashing question mark folder... What do I need to do to revert back to the normal start-up screen and then either re-try the 10.6 or just get back to 10.5....

Click to expand...

You need to boot your computer from the 10.6 install disk.

- startup the computer
- insert the 10.6 disk
- hold down the "c" key until you get a startup screen

- Nick

Nick,
If need be, I would be will to lose the stuff on the drive ...Any suggestions at to how to get the start-up screen ?? Should I try re installing Snow Leop. again !!! Disk is clean and in good shape...I will try to clean it ,just in case

TimBuk2 said:

...Should I try re installing Snow Leop. again !!!

Click to expand...

Already suggested that.

- Nick

Nick, I really appreciate all of this info...Once I start up from the 10.6 disk as you instructed..what next...will I be able to install 10.6 ?? or will that just get me to my original start up screen??? What will happen when I shut down after starting up from the 10.6 disk ?

Sorry for this barrage of questions, but I'm kinda freakin' out.

TimBuk2 said:

...Once I start up from the 10.6 disk as you instructed..what next...will I be able to install 10.6 ?? or will that just get me to my original start up screen??? What will happen when I shut down after starting up from the 10.6 disk ?

Click to expand...

If you follow the procedure I mentioned above...this is the process to boot from the 10.6 disk...in order to install 10.6. You just follow the onscreen prompts.

If the 10.6 install finishes completely...then your computer should reboot from the newly installed OS 10.6 on the hard drive...then you should be good to go.

- Nick

Nick,
Being a pessimist for a second here...since the install didn't work yesterday, what are my options if the same thing happens again ???? I'm thinking that I might end up with the gray screen and the flashing question mark folder again...I guess I'm asking if I should continue to try starting up from the 10.6 disk or would I need to try a plan B. Any idea what will happen if the install fails again....how do I get back to 10.5??

TimBuk2 said:

Nick,
Being a pessimist for a second here...since the install didn't work yesterday, what are my options if the same thing happens again ???? I'm thinking that I might end up with the gray screen and the flashing question mark folder again...I guess I'm asking if I should continue to try starting up from the 10.6 disk or would I need to try a plan B. Any idea what will happen if the install fails again....how do I get back to 10.5??

Click to expand...

I've done many many OS installs over the years...and sometimes they fail on the first try & are successful on the 2nd attempt. Maybe this happens due to a dirty or damaged disk. It sounds like you were able to successfully install OS 10.6 the first time around (last year)...and then you downgraded back to 10.5 due to your printer issues.

So it would seem (at least last year) that this disk was fine...and maybe you should have stuck with the successful 10.6 install...and tried to figure out the printer issue.

In any case...if the 2nd 10.6 install attempt doesn't work...then you could try to:

- reinstall 10.5 like you did before
- go to the Apple Store and purchase another OS 10.6 install disk (maybe the current one is damaged in some way)

The worst case scenario is maybe your hard drive is failing (it's always a possibility)...and this would explain the install problems. If this is the case...it's REALLY easy to replace the hard drive in a MacBook...and it would only cost around $50.

HTH,

- Nick

A thousand "ThankYou's" for your patience and expertise. I kind of thought that since the SnowLeop. disk I bought was a "single use" version that it might see it as having already been installed and refuse to do it again...You get my REPS.

TimBuk2 said:

A thousand "ThankYou's" for your patience and expertise. I kind of thought that since the SnowLeop. disk I bought was a "single use" version that it might see it as having already been installed and refuse to do it again...You get my REPS.

Click to expand...

What do you mean by "single use version"? No Apple OS install disks are "single use"...maybe what you mean is you're only supposed to use the disk to install the OS on only one Apple computer.

In any case...please let us know how things go.

- Nick

- p.s. Regarding the condition of the hard drive. When you "boot" from the 10.6 install disk...before you start the install...you could go up to where the drop down menu's usually are (you won't see them until you move the mouse curser up there)...and launch "Disk Utility". Then scan your hard drive to see if it's ok. Disk Utility will say whether it's good or "failing" (in red).

You are correct about the OS install on one computer NOT single use. what would be the case if this disk HAD been used to install on another computer (my son's ??? maybe he's the culprit here ) Would it cause this computer to do what it did??? I will get back to you after I try all that you have suggested... I might be buying a new SnowLeop. install disk !

TimBuk2 said:

You are correct about the OS install on one computer NOT single use. what would be the case if this disk HAD been used to install on another computer (my son's ??? maybe he's the culprit here ) Would it cause this computer to do what it did??? I will get back to you after I try all that you have suggested... I might be buying a new SnowLeop. install disk !

Click to expand...

If I understand what you're saying...you're thinking that your son may have used this disk to install OS 10.6 on another computer. If that is correct...no...this wouldn't cause any "actual" install issues with the computer you're trying to install OS 10.6 on.

But from an Apple EULA (end user license agreement) perspective...installing the Mac OS on more than one computer at a time (with a single user license disk) is not allowed.

- Nick

p.s. I'm recommending that you run Disk Utility before trying to install the OS again...just in case there is a problem with the hard drive.

Nick, yeah I'm still hangin' around... I WILL run Disk Utility and then flog my teenager !! Can't thank you enough...

TimBuk2 said:

Nick, yeah I'm still hangin' around... I WILL run Disk Utility and then flog my teenager !! Can't thank you enough...

Click to expand...

Good luck.

- Nick

Just a final note...Thanks for your input..very helpful...In the end the MB Pro went into the shop for a technician to evaluate the situation/problem...it'll be captive for at least a week...