so ive searched the internet endlessly for a solution, and have come across many people with similar issues but nothing that has helped me solve my problem.
my MBP - late 2006 intel C2D 2.16 3G-RAM - was running leopard until the hard drive went. i put in a 500G 7200RPM western digital hard drive and then tried to load up a retail version of Snow Leopard on to the new drive. ive had the 'disc spinning a few times then getting spit out' problem many people have had, so i decided to use the grey install DVDs that came with my computer. they're tiger discs, but they should be the only grey discs that should work with my machine, correct? so, they spin a few times and then get spit out. this is where i assumed it was the optical drive. just to be sure, i took grey install discs from a friends 2009 MBP and tossed it into my computer. next thing i know, it asks me to select my language and then says "cannot install OS X on this computer" which, if im not mistaken, is because the discs aren't for my machine. fine. at least its not the optical drive. but i went to utilities, disc utility and it showed my new drive; i verified it and it said it was OK. i plugged in an external HD with a backup of my old drive, and chose "restore from backup" under utilities, but it didnt do anything. as if when i clicked i just clicked dead space. also, when the computer starts with no disc, it just has the flashing folder with a question mark in it. is that not because there is no OS on the new drive?
next i turned my computer on while holding T and it went into target disc mode. i went firewire 800 to firewire 800 on a brand new imac, but it wouldnt mount my MBP on the imac. the Snow leopard disc mounts on the imac, so the disc is fine. the hard drive, when verified, is fine. and the optical drive is fine, but seemingly selective.
now im stuck at where to go from here. any help would be appreciated. just cant seem to get to the bottom of this.
my MBP - late 2006 intel C2D 2.16 3G-RAM - was running leopard until the hard drive went. i put in a 500G 7200RPM western digital hard drive and then tried to load up a retail version of Snow Leopard on to the new drive. ive had the 'disc spinning a few times then getting spit out' problem many people have had, so i decided to use the grey install DVDs that came with my computer. they're tiger discs, but they should be the only grey discs that should work with my machine, correct? so, they spin a few times and then get spit out. this is where i assumed it was the optical drive. just to be sure, i took grey install discs from a friends 2009 MBP and tossed it into my computer. next thing i know, it asks me to select my language and then says "cannot install OS X on this computer" which, if im not mistaken, is because the discs aren't for my machine. fine. at least its not the optical drive. but i went to utilities, disc utility and it showed my new drive; i verified it and it said it was OK. i plugged in an external HD with a backup of my old drive, and chose "restore from backup" under utilities, but it didnt do anything. as if when i clicked i just clicked dead space. also, when the computer starts with no disc, it just has the flashing folder with a question mark in it. is that not because there is no OS on the new drive?
next i turned my computer on while holding T and it went into target disc mode. i went firewire 800 to firewire 800 on a brand new imac, but it wouldnt mount my MBP on the imac. the Snow leopard disc mounts on the imac, so the disc is fine. the hard drive, when verified, is fine. and the optical drive is fine, but seemingly selective.
now im stuck at where to go from here. any help would be appreciated. just cant seem to get to the bottom of this.